HAMMOND, La. – The Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team, winners of 22-straight matches, look to keep their winning ways going as the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball National Championship Tournament begins on Thursday with a first round match in Eugene, Ore. against #6 Oregon.
 
Thursday's match between Southeastern (28-4) and Oregon (26-5) is set for 7:00 p.m. PST/9:00 p.m. CST in Matthew Knight Arena on the Oregon campus and will be live streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available as well. The winner of the match between the Lady Lions and Ducks will advance to Friday night's second round match against the winner of the other first round match between (RV) Iowa State and Hawaii.
 
The Lady Lions earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southland Conference Championship Tournament for the second straight season, defeating McNeese in four sets in the semifinals before sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Championship Match. For her efforts, Kailin Newsome was named the MVP of the SLC Tournament while Cicily Hidalgo and Gracie Duplechein joined Newsome on the All-Tournament Team.
 
Through the Conference Tournament matches, Newsome averaged 4.55 points per set in 2023, collecting 3.98 kills per set on a .238 attack percentage while getting the most service aces in the conference with 50 at a clip of 0.45 per set, which also led the SLC. Newsome was also second on the team in digs at 2.8 per set and had 23 total blocks on the year.
 
Rachel Hartmann, the SLC's Newcomer of the Year, took the conference by storm, averaging 3.8 points per set with 3.23 kills per set on a .345 attack percentage Her 28 service aces and 68 total blocks on the year are both third-most on the team. She had the fifth-highest dig per set average on the team as well, sitting at 2.4.
 
Hidalgo continued her sensational run as a Lady Lion in 2023-24, averaging 3.13 points per set with 2.72 kills per set on a .258 attack percentage with 16 service aces and 41 blocks. Her 2.73 digs per set is the third-best average on the team.
 
Jacqueline Arrington made the most of her first season in the green and gold, averaging 2.52 points per set on 1.96 kills per set and a .348 attack percentage. But, as she did at UIW, she made her name on the block, sending back 110 opposing attacks for SLU points during the season, nearly a block per set.
 
Arrington's top helper on the block was Hannah Brewer, who had 79 blocks on the year while averaging two points per set and 1.32 kills per set on a .309 attack percentage with 31 service aces as well, which was second most on the team.
 
Duplechein set the offense in motion for Southeastern. She averaged 10.67 assists per set, second-most in the SLC, while getting 30 kills of her own, 25 service aces, and 28 blocks with a 2.5 digs per set average.
 
Ansley Tullis kept the ball alive the most for SLU as she averaged 3.52 digs per set to lead the Lady Lions. She even had two kills on the year as the libero while scoring 18 service aces.
 
As a team, the Lady Lions average 14.18 kills per set on a .275 team attack percentage with 1.72 service aces per set, scoring 17.91 points per set.
 
#6 Oregon earned an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament with a second-place finish in the Pac-12 regular season as the conference's automatic qualifier spot went to the regular season champion, Stanford, since the Pac-12 does not hold a postseason tournament. The Ducks, who went 16-4 in Pac-12 play in 2023, were named the #2-seed in the Wisconsin quadrant in the tournament bracket, earning the right to host first and second round matches.
 
The Oregon offense has been led by Mimi Colyer, who scores 4.4 points per set with 3.7 kills per set on a .206 attack percentage. She also led the Ducks with 41 service aces, had 2.32 digs per set, and had a hand on 65 total blocks on the year.
 
Morgan Lewis scored 3.28 points per set, tallying 2.84 kills per set on a .332 attack percentage while getting the rest of her points on the block as she was part of 90 total blocks on the year.
 
Gabby Gonzales averages 3.23 points per set, scoring 2.87 kills per set on a .258 attack percentage. She added 22 service aces to her total while having at least part of 33 blocks on the year.
 
The block for the Ducks was manned by Kara McGhee and Karson Bacon, who both averaged over a block per set on the year with McGhee getting 135 blocks at a 1.26 block per set average while Bacon had 117 blocks for a 1.33 per set average.
 
Hannah Pukis runs the offense for Oregon, averaging 10.95 assists per set while also having 90 kills and 29 service aces. She also has 3.06 digs per set and 75 total blocks on the year.
 
Georgia Murphy is the top backline defender for Oregon, averaging 3.46 digs per set while also getting a pair of kills and 20 service aces.
 
Should SLU advance to the second round, the Lady Lions would take on either Hawaii (20-9) or (RV) Iowa State (23-8) on Friday at 7:00 p.m. PST/9:00 p.m. CST at Matthew Knight Arena on the Oregon campus with the winner of that match advancing to next weekend's regional semifinal at Wisconsin, should Wisconsin advance out of its own first and second round bracket this weekend.
 
This is Southeastern's second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and second in program history. After winning the 2022 SLC Tournament in the Pride Roofing University Center, the Lady Lions were sent to Minnesota where they fell in three sets to the Golden Gophers in the NCAA Tournament first round.
 
All first and second round matches of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament will be live streamed on ESPN+ with live stats also available for all tournament matches.
 
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.