HAMMOND, La. – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team officially clinched a share of the 2023 Southland Conference regular season championship, winning its 19
th match in a row by sweeping the Lamar Cardinals 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-10) Thursday night on Senior Night at the Pride Roofing University Center.
With the win, the Lady Lions (25-4, 16-1 SLC) also clinched the #1 seed in next week's Southland Conference Championship Tournament and a double-bye to the semifinal round. Southeastern's semifinal match at the SLC Championship Tournament will take place on Saturday, November 18
th while the time for it is still to be announced. The 2023 Southland Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament will occur at the Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi, Texas on the campus of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. This is the first SLC regular season championship, shared or outright, in program history.
Following the senior night festivities, SLU needed a moment to get going as Lamar jumped out to the early lead, getting up as much as three points in the opening moments at 8-5 and 9-6. But a kill by
Rachel Hartmann started to right the ship, kicking off a 7-0 Lady Lion run, which ended with a kill by
Cicily Hidalgo to put Southeastern up 13-9. The Cardinals would not go away easy in the first set, eventually getting the SLU lead down to a single point at 20-19 following a Lady Lion attack error. However, a kill by
Gracie Duplechein started the final push for Southeastern as SLU scored on three-straight as another Hartmann kill pushed the lead back out to four at 23-19. Four rallies later, a Lamar serve sailed over the back line and out for a service error on set point to secure the set for the Lady Lions at 25-21.
The Lady Lions again had to work from behind as Lamar held a 1-0 and 2-1 lead in the set. However, that's where Southeastern started to roll as a Lamar service error started a 6-0 run for SLU with another Hartmann kill making it 7-2. The Cardinals stayed within striking distance for a while as a Cardinals kill make the score 12-9, but a kill from
Hannah Brewer on the ensuing rally started another big Lady Lion run, this one taking the next seven points as another Hidalgo kill got the SLU lead up to double-digits for the first time in the match at 19-9. The two teams traded the serve back-and-forth over the next five rallies before another kill by Hidalgo kicked off a final 4-1 push for Southeastern with a kill by
Jacqueline Arrington on set point securing SLU a 25-13 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
After Lamar took the first point of the third set, the set quickly became a coronation for the Lady Lions as a Lamar ball-handling error started a 10-2 Southeastern run which was capped by a Cardinals attack error which put SLU up 10-3. Lamar scored three of the next four to cut the Lady Lion lead down to 11-6, but a kill by
Kailin Newsome followed and kicked off a run of five-straight Southeastern points as a kill by Brewer got the lead into double digits at 16-6. Lamar scored two of the next three to make it 17-8, but that's when Newsome started the championship-clinching push as her kill started a match-ending 8-2 run. With Southeastern on match point, the Cardinals could not cleanly receive
Calli Collins's serve, ending the set at 25-10 and officially clinching the sweep and at least a share of the SLC regular season championship for 2023.
"I'm just proud of out team's focus and resiliency," said SLU head volleyball coach Jeremy White. "This has been a special season with a special group, but I know we're all thinking the same thing, that our job is not done. This is a huge accomplishment for the direction we want to continue to take this program. We'll celebrate tonight but tomorrow we will shift our focus to McNeese and then the conference tournament."
Hidalgo led the way for Southeastern on the night, finishing with a match-high 13 kills to go with six digs and a solo block. Newsome was right on her heels, finishing with 12 kills and three service aces on the night with five digs and an assist. Both Hidalgo and Newsome hit .333 in the match. Brewer had perhaps the best match of her career as she tied her single match career-high in kills, tallying 10 kills on an error-less .714 attack percentage, while also getting three serves down for aces and blocking four Cardinal attacks back down for Lady Lion points, two assisted and two solo, while also adding six digs. Duplechein picked up her 10
th double-double of the season, getting match-highs in both assists, 35, and digs, 13, while also getting a pair of kill and collecting a block assist on the night. In the process, Duplechein moved up to fifth on the SLU career assists list.
Ansley Tullis collected eight digs, also moving her up to fifth on the SLU career digs list, while also getting five assists on the evening.
Southeastern finished the match with a .365 team attack percentage, getting 48 kills to 10 errors on 104 total attacks. The Lady Lions also accumulated eight service aces and recorded five blocks back for points. Lamar finished the night with 30 kills to 11 errors on 89 total attacks for a .213 attack percentage. The Cardinals did not record a service ace and blocked back two SLU attacks for points in the match. Thursday's result also officially eliminated Lamar from SLC Tournament contention.
With the SLC Tournament top-seed now secured, the Lady Lions will look to make the SLC regular season championship solely their own on Saturday as the team heads to Lake Charles for the regular season finale against McNeese. Opening serve of Saturday's match against the Cowgirls (15-15, 13-4 SLC) is set for 11:00 a.m. in the Legacy Center. The match will not be live streamed, nor will a radio broadcast be available, though live stats will be through the host institution.
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.
