SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team kicked off the first full weekend of the Southland Conference schedule by jumping all over Incarnate Word early and rolling to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-18) sweep of the Cardinals Thursday night at the McDermott Center.
The first eight rallies of the match were evenly split at 4-4 before
Rachel Hartmann and
Jacqueline Arrington got the first of three-straight Southeastern blocks to kick off a run of five-straight Lady Lion points, which eventually grew to 12 of the next 15 going SLU's way to blow the set open at 16-7 following a kill by
Kailin Newsome. UIW scored two of the next three points, but Southeastern put the hammer down again as a kill by Hartmann sent the Lady Lions on a set-ending 8-4 run with Arrington putting SLU up 1-0 in the match with a kill on the third SLU set point.
UIW opened the second set by scoring on eight of the first 12 rallies to jump out to an early 8-4 lead. The Cardinal lead grew to as much as five points at 14-9 before Southeastern started to battle back into the set as another Arrington kill started a run of four-straight Lady Lion points to make it a one-point deficit at 14-13 following a service ace by
Peyton Stokley. UIW pushed their lead back out to three at 16-13 before
Alexis Logarbo put down an attack to start another four-point SLU push to put the Lady Lions in front for the first time since 1-0 as an ace by
Cicily Hidalgo put Southeastern up 17-16. UIW scored the next two and three of the next four to reclaim the lead at 19-18, but a
Hannah Brewer kill started a three-point push by SLU with a kill by Newsome giving the Lady Lions a 21-19 lead which they would not relinquish. Those three points were the first three of a 7-3 SLU run to close the set as Hidalgo's kill on Southeastern's second set point put the Lady Lions up 2-0 in the match.
It was another tight start in the third set as the two teams traded points until UIW held a 6-5 lead. But when Newsome put down a kill on the next rally to tie the score at 6-6, it was the beginning of the end of the match as Southeastern went on an 8-1 run to bust the set open as another kill by Newsome made the score 13-7 Lady Lions. The SLU lead peaked at eight points as a Cardinal set error put Southeastern up 19-11. From there, it was all about making sure to close things out, which the Lady Lions did over the course of 13 rallies to get the final six points as Logarbo closed it out with a kill on SLU's second match point to secure the win.
Newsome had her most efficient match of the season, getting a match-high 19 kills and just five attack errors on 33 total attacks for a season-best .424 attack percentage. She also collected an assist, a block assist, and five digs in the match. Hartmann finished with 11 kills and only two errors in 25 total attacks for a .360 attack percentage on the evening to go with three block assists and two digs. In her return from injury,
Gracie Duplechein picked up her fourth double-double of the season with 28 assists and 10 digs while also picking up a kill.
Ansley Tullis had a team-high 15 digs. In her return to where she played for the last three seasons, Arrington finished seven kills and seven total blocks, two solo and five assisted. Stokley was credited with three service aces in the match.
Southeastern finished the match with 50 total kills and hit .354 as a team in the win. Incarnate Word had 34 kills and was held to a .198 attack percentage in the match.
The Lady Lions (10-4, 1-1 SLC) look to continue their longest winning streak of the season on Saturday as they finish off their 12-match road trip with a match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Opening serve against the Islanders (6-7, 1-0 SLC) is set for 12:00 p.m. at the Dugan Wellness Center. The match will be live streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be 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.
