NEW ORLEANS, La. – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team took little time to finish off the season sweep of New Orleans by taking care of the Privateers in straight sets, winning 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-12) Tuesday night at the UNO Human Performance Center for the team's 15
th-straight win.
After
Kailin Newsome opened the match's scoring with a kill on the opening rally, Southeastern (21-4, 12-1) and New Orleans traded points until UNO took a 5-4 lead after stringing back-to-back points together for the first time. SLU responded with three-straight points as a kill by
Gracie Duplechein was followed by two straight Privateer attack errors, giving Southeastern the lead for good in the set. UNO kept things close for a bit, getting the deficit back to a single point at 11-10 on a SLU service error. But that's where the Lady Lions started to pull away as a
Rachel Hartmann kill kicked off a 5-1 SLU run with
Jacqueline Arrington scoring a kill to put the Lady Lions up 16-11. Leading 19-14, another kill by Newsome started the closing spurt as Southeastern scored six of the final seven points of the set, ending on a Privateer ball handling error on set point to give SLU a 25-15 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
New Orleans opened the scoring in the second set on a Southeastern attack error, but back-to-back kills by Newsome and Hartmann put SLU up 2-1 before a service error tied the set back up. But a kill by
Cicily Hidalgo started a 10-2 Lady Lion run to blow the score open as another Newsome kill made it 12-4 Southeastern. Leading 15-7, another Newsome kill opened a run of five-straight Lady Lion points as Hartmann and
Hannah Brewer blocked back another Privateer attack for a SLU point, making the score 20-7. UNO made a run to get the deficit under double-digits, scoring on six of the next eight rallies to make it 22-13. But the Lady Lions allowed no more as an Arrington kill got the serve back for SLU, a Newsome kill got Southeastern on set point, and a UNO attack error ended the set by a 25-13 score and a 2-0 lead in the match for SLU.
Newsome started the third set with a kill, the first of four straight Southeastern points to kick off the third set as a Hidalgo kill made it 4-0 Lady Lions. Three rallies later, an Arrington kill put SLU up 6-1. New Orleans responded with a 6-3 run of their own to cut the deficit down to two at 9-7. However, the score opened up starting with the next rally as a Privateer attack error started a 6-1 Lady Lion run as a Newsome service ace made it 15-8 SLU. Four rallies later, another kill by Arrington opened the lead to nine points at 18-9. Leading 19-11, a Hidalgo kill started the final push to the finish by SLU as the Lady Lions scored on six of the final seven rallies as
Ryley Boyne's kill on match point finished the third set at 25-12 to complete the sweep.
Both Hartmann and Arrington hit over .600 on the attack as both finished with a match-high 11 kills in the match. Arrington's 11 kills came on just 14 attacks for a .643 attack percentage and had one block assist. Hartmann's 11 kills came on 16 attacks with no errors for a .688 attack percentage and had an assist, two block assists, and five digs. Newsome was right behind with 10 kills on a .429 attack percentage with an ace, an assist, a block assist, and four digs.
Gracie Duplechein finished with 35 assists and
Ansley Tullis had 11 digs. Brewer had two kills, led the team with three service aces, and two digs.
Southeastern had 46 kills to just six errors on 84 total attacks to finish with a highly effective .476 attack percentage. SLU had one ace and blocked five Privateer attacks for points. New Orleans had just 17 kills in the match and made 16 errors in 72 total attacks for a .014 attack percentage. UNO had two service aces and blocked three Southeastern attacks.
The Lady Lions now head home for four-straight matches, the final four home matches of the season, starting on Thursday with a match against Nicholls. Opening serve of Thursday's match against the Colonels (3-20, 1-12 SLC) is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Pride Roofing University Center. The match will be live streamed on ESPN+ with live stats also available online while a radio broadcast will also be available on KSLU 90.9 FM in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide at LionSports.net/ListenLive.
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.
