COMMERCE, Texas – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team completed a second-straight season sweep and hit the 20-win milestone for the eighth time in program history and second season in a row while winning its 14
th-straight match with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 25-15) win over the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions Saturday at The Field House.
The first set couldn't have started much better for Southeastern with
Gracie Duplechein getting a service ace to open the match. That propelled the Lady Lions out to a quick 7-1 lead on a kill by
Hannah Brewer. The advantage quickly extended out to nine points as
Cicily Hidalgo dropped an attack down for a kill and a 13-4 SLU lead. The lead hit double-digits right at set point as
Jacqueline Arrington and
Rachel Hartmann blocked back a Commerce attack for a 24-14 Lady Lion lead. Commerce fought off three set points, but a service error gave SLU the final point needed to go up 1-0 in the match as the set ended at 25-17.
It was a much more even start to the second set as Southeastern would jump out to a small lead only to see Commerce answer to tie the set back up. That would lead to the score being tied eight times through the opening 26 rallies as a SLU attack error tied the score at 13-13. But a kill by Arrington on the ensuing rally started the big push which blew the score open as Southeastern scored four-straight, the last an
Ansley Tullis service ace, before a Commerce kill ended that run only to see a Newsome kill start another run of four-straight Lady Lion points as another Newsome kill made the score 21-14 at the end of the 8-1 SLU run. Seven rallies later, another Commerce attack error supplied Southeastern with the point needed to hit the mark, finishing the set at 25-17 and giving SLU a 2-0 lead in the match.
Duplechein opened the third set much the same way she opened the match, scoring a service ace to kick off an extended Lady Lion run as another Commerce attack missed the court to put Southeastern up 7-2. But this time, SLU could not break away as Commerce rallied to tie the score at 13-13 on a block of a Southeastern attack. Three rallies later, Commerce took their first lead of the match on a kill, making it 15-14 in favor of the homestanding Lions. Southeastern fought back and looked to be in a good position to finish the match in three sets as a kill by Brewer gave the Lady Lions a 21-18 advantage. But it was Commerce which found the finishing push, scoring seven of the final nine points in the set with a contested set point going Commerce's way on replay to force a fourth set with a 25-23 score.
The fourth set started much like the second set, with Southeastern enjoying small leads but unable to fully pull away from Commerce. SLU got the lead out to 10-6 as Brewer and Hartmann blocked back a Commerce attack, but Commerce rallied with a 7-3 run of their own to tie the set up at 13-13 on a block of their own. But that's where Southeastern was finally able to pull away. Newsome collected back-to-back kills before a Commerce kill made it 15-14 SLU. From that point on, it was all Lady Lions as Newsome had back-to-back kills again, followed by Hartmann getting back-to-back kills that opened a match-ending 10-1 Southeastern run. Hartmann closed it out with a kill on match point to finish things at 25-15 and a 3-1 match score.
Hartmann had her third 20-kill match of the season, finishing with a match-high 22 kills on a .476 attack percentage. She picked up her seventh double-double of the season with 15 digs while adding three block assists, a service ace, and an assist. Newsome capped off a solid week of her own with 19 kills on a .222 attack percentage and had her 14
th double-double of the season by collecting 12 digs. She also added an ace and a solo block. Hidalgo had her sixth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 16 digs with an assist. Duplechein set a new single-match career high by assisting on 60 Lady Lion kills on the day. She was the fourth SLU player to get a double-double on the day by having 10 digs for her eighth double-double on the year while also dropping in two service aces. Tullis had 14 digs, two service aces, and two assists.
Lexi Gonzalez added a service ace as well. Brewer filled up the stat sheet with seven kills on a .368 attack percentage, seven digs, and two block assists.
Southeastern hit .284 in Saturday's match, collecting 67 kills with 21 errors on 162 total attacks. SLU also scored seven aces and four total blocks as a team. Texas A&M-Commerce had 45 kills with 18 errors on 149 total attacks for a .181 attack percentage. The Lions in blue had five aces and blocked back 13 Southeastern attacks.
The win got SLU to 20 wins on the season for the eighth time in program history, while the 24 matches needed to get there represents one of the fastest runs to 20 wins in program history.
"This has been a special season so far," said SLU head volleyball coach Jeremy White. "I'm proud of the way our athletes have handled adversity throughout the year and the growth we've made as a team from both a volleyball and culture standpoint."
The Lady Lions (20-4, 11-1 SLC) look to keep the winning ways going on Tuesday, looking to sweep the three-match road trip when they head down I-55 and head to New Orleans and look to finish the season sweep of UNO. Opening serve of Tuesday's match against the Privateers (4-18, 2-9 SLC) is set for 6:30 p.m. in UNO's Human Performance Center. The match is set to be live streamed with live stats also available.
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.
