BEAUMONT, Texas – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team extended its historic win streak out to 11 victories in a row, holding Lamar under .100 hitting in two of the three sets in a 3-0 (25-21, 25-10, 25-12) win over the Cardinals Thursday night at McDonald Gym.
The first set proved to be the closest of the match. Lamar jumped out to a 7-5 lead before a
Jacqueline Arrington kill started a 4-1 Southeastern run which put the Lady Lions up 9-8 after a Cardinal attack error. With the set tied at 12-12, a LU serve error put SLU up to stay as that was followed by a kill by
Lily Morgan which made it 14-12. With the Lady Lions up 15-14, another Morgan kill started another 4-1 Southeastern run with
Kailin Newsome capping it with a kill to make the score 19-15. Lamar scored the next three to make it a one-point game again, but two straight kills by Newsome and a block by
Hannah Brewer reestablished the four-point lead at 22-18. That push became 5-1 as another Cardinal attack error gave SLU its largest lead of the set while also putting the Lady Lions on set point. Three rallies later, Morgan finished it off with a kill, winning the set 25-21 and going up in the match 1-0.
Southeastern never trailed in the second set, jumping out to a 5-2 lead on a kill by Brewer. Lamar answered with a 3-1 run to cut the SLU lead down to 6-5 before a kill by Morgan got the Lady Lion offense in rhythm, scoring the next six points with a kill by Newsome making it 12-5 Southeastern, a run which eventually extended out to 10-1 as a Newsome kill gave the Lady Lions their first double-digit lead of the night at 16-6. The Cardinals scored the next two points before another Newsome kill started an 8-0 Southeastern run, bringing SLU to set point on yet another kill by Newsome. Three rallies later,
Rachel Hartmann got the kill to put the set away at 25-10 and give Southeastern a 2-0 lead in the match.
Looking to avoid the sweep, Lamar scored the first two points in the third set, but soon enough, another Hartmann kill tied the set at 2-2. After the Cardinals reclaimed the lead with a kill, Morgan started a 3-0 Lady Lion run with a kill, a run which gave Southeastern the lead for good in the match. Brewer and Arrington got up to block a Lamar attack to put SLU up 5-3. With Southeastern leading 6-5, a Cardinals service error started the run that all but put the match out of reach as the Lady Lions ran off six straight points and nine of the next 10 to take a 15-6 lead as another Cardinal attack missed the court. Lamar scored on four of the next six rallies in the hope of starting a comeback, but another Hartmann kill started a match-ending 8-2 run as
Ryley Boyne banged an attack off the Cardinal block which went flying out of bounds for the kill on match point.
Newsome got her 11
th double-double on the season, hitting an efficient .433 in the match to pick up a match-best 16 kills to go with 11 digs. She also had a serve ace, two assists, and a block assist.
Ansley Tullis and
Lexi Gonzalez each had 12 digs to lead the team with Gonzalez adding three service aces and a kill. Tullis also had a service ace. Brewer had six kills and five total blocks, three solo and two assisted. Hartmann finished with eight kills and five digs.
Gracie Duplechein picked up 37 assists to go with seven digs and a kill.
Southeastern hit .354 as a team in the match, getting 45 kills to 11 errors on 96 total attacks while also adding seven service aces as a team. Lamar was held to just .173 hitting as a team, getting 29 kills with 12 errors on 98 total attacks with just two service aces in the match.
The Lady Lions (17-4, 8-1 SLC) look to make it a dozen wins in a row on Saturday and in the process avenge their lone loss in Southland Conference play and most recent loss overall when Northwestern State comes to Hammond, America. Opening serve of the match against the Lady Demons (9-11, 5-4 SLC) is set for 11:00 a.m. in the Pride Roofing University Center. The match will be live streamed on ESPN+ with an audio broadcast also available on KSLU 90.9 FM in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide on LionSports.net/ListenLive and on the Lions Gameday Experience app.
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.
