CONWAY, Ark. – The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team found the hot hand of
Rachel Hartmann early and battled through some issues in the serve to end their first day at the Central Arkansas Invitational with a 3-1 (25-13, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22) win over the Little Rock Trojans Friday afternoon at the Prince Center on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.
The opening set couldn't have started much better for Southeastern as Hartmann and
Hannah Brewer combined to block back a Trojan attack for a Lady Lion point on the match's first rally and never looked back. That was the first of three straight SLU points and was part of a much bigger run as the Lady Lions scored on 10 of the match's first 12 rallies as a kill by Brewer gave Southeastern a 10-2 lead.
With the Lady Lions up 14-6, a service ace by
Gracie Duplechein and a solo block by
Cicily Hidalgo tallied two of a four-point run by SLU which pushed the advantage into double digits for the first time at 18-6. The Trojans got it back down to a seven-point Lady Lion lead at 20-13, but the Southeastern closed out the set by going on a five-point run thanks to two kills by
Jacqueline Arrington along with kills by Hartmann and Newsome for the 25-13 result.
The second set saw the first bit of adversity for the Lady Lions as SLU found itself chasing for the first half of it. Trailing 16-12, a kill by Hartmann seemed to wake up the Southeastern offense as the Lady Lions scored on seven of the next eight rallies with back-to-back kills by Newsome breaking a 17-17 tie to put SLU up 19-17, just enough breathing room to not surrender the lead again as a kill by Harmann ended the set in Southeastern's favor at 25-22.
SLU took the early advantage in the third set as an ace by Brewer gave the Lady Lions a 5-2 lead in the opening moments and seemed to put Southeastern on a path to closing out the sweep. But the Trojans fought back and took their first lead of the match as a three-point run gave UALR its first lead of the set at 9-7. For the rest of the set, the lead switched back and forth as the teams answered each run the other put together until finally a kill by
Alexis Logarbo evened the score at 21-21. However, this time it was the Trojans who finished out the set, scoring four of the final five points to take the 25-22 win and force a fourth set.
The early portion of the fourth set continued the trend from most of the third set with the two teams trading small runs and swapping the lead. With the Trojans up 13-12, a set error by UALR tied the score and kicked off a three-point run for the Lady Lions which gave Southeastern the lead for good in the match as a
Lily Morgan kill put SLU up 15-13.
With SLU holding on to an 18-17 lead, back-to-back kills by Brewer was followed by a Trojan attack error for another three-point Southeastern run, finally opening up a gap in the score in the favor of the Lady Lions. UALR did make one final push, cutting the SLU lead down to one point at 22-21 but another Hartmann kill helped keep the Lady Lions in front with the end of the set nearing. A Southeastern attack error made it a one-point set again at 23-22, but a Trojan set error put SLU on match point and Newsome brought secured the match victory with a service ace for the 25-22 score in the fourth set.
In her fourth match as a Lady Lion, Hartmann picked up her fourth double-double of the season as she finished with a match-high 13 kills on a .407 attack percentage to go with 11 digs. She also had two service aces and two block assists, accounting for 16 total points in the match. Brewer had nine kills on a .533 attack percentage and had a team-high three service aces in the match while finishing with 12.5 total points. Hidalgo had eight kills on a .227 attack percentage, 11 digs, three service aces, and two solo blocks to finish with 13 points in the match. Newsome finished her day with eight kills, two aces, and four digs, accounting for 10 total points. Duplechein had 39 assists while also getting three kills from her setter position and a pair of service aces to go with 11 digs as well.
Ansley Tullis led the team with 15 digs in the win.
Southeastern finished with 53 total kills as a team, hitting .269 overall and had 13 service aces. But the serve was not always friendly to SLU as the Lady Lions committed 15 service errors in the match. Six of SLU's 13 service aces in the match came in the first set where Southeastern held UALR to a -.107 attack percentage before the Trojans rebounded to finish the match with a .137 attack percentage.
The Lady Lions (2-2) wrap up their weekend at the Central Arkansas Invitational on Saturday with a match against the host Central Arkansas. Opening serve against the Sugar Bears (1-3) is set for 1:00 p.m. at UCA's Prince Center. The match will be live streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available as well.
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.
