QUEENS, N.Y. – The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team closed out tournament play at the Jack Kaiser Classic with a 25-11, 21-25, 25-21, 25-14 victory over Bryant Saturday morning at Carnesecca Arena.
The Lady Lions (8-2) closed out a season-opening stretch that saw them play nine of their first 10 matches on the road on a high note. SLU hit .298 on the way to dropping Bryant to 6-5 overall.
A total of four Southeastern players finished with double-doubles in Saturday's win.
Cicily Hidalgo (14 kills, 14 digs) hit .406 to pace SLU.
Kailin Newsome (13 kills, 10 digs),
Gracie Duplechein (25 assists, 16 digs) and
Peyton Stokley (17 assists, 10 digs) also posted double-doubles in the victory. Ainsley Tullis led the Lady Lions with 20 digs and narrowly missed a double-double of her own with nine assists.
Karlee Wilkerson contributed 11 kills, while
Hannah Brewer paced Southeastern with five blocks.
Riley James led Bryant with 12 kills and 13 digs. She is one of two BU players with a double-double along with Mia Cergol (35 assists, 13 digs).
Southeastern held Bryant to a -.148 attack percentage on the way to a dominant first-set performance. The Bulldogs bounced back to hit .408 in the second set to even the match.
SLU was efficient the rest of the match. The Lady Lions hit .288 to retake the lead with a 25-21 third set, while converting with a .423 success rate in the deciding fourth set.
Southeastern will return home to host the Battle of the Boot next week in the University Center. The Lady Lions will open the tournament with a 6:30 p.m. contest versus Northwestern State Thursday, which doubles as the Southland Conference opener. The SLU-NSU matchup is scheduled to be televised on ESPN+.
DIGGIN' IT CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the Southeastern volleyball program are encouraged to join the Diggin' It Club. Lion volleyball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
All membership fees and donations to both the Diggin' It Club and S Club (volleyball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern volleyball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at
laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting
www.LionUp.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lady Lions Volleyball, follow @LionUpVB or @JWhiteSLU on Twitter, @LionUpVB on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
