CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team found the late points when they were needed and the result was several late rallies to knock off Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in straight sets to extend the longest win streak of the season out to five matches, defeating the Islanders 3-0 (29-27, 25-23, 25-21) Saturday afternoon at the Dugan Wellness Center.
The first set the tone for what would happen throughout the match, the two teams continually trading points and the lead. Southeastern enjoyed its largest lead of the set as an Islander attack missed the court and put the Lady Lions up 13-10, capping a run of four of out five points which went SLU's way. A&M-Corpus Christi answered with their own run of four out of five to tie the set back up at 14-14 before Southeastern did another four out of five push to reclaim a three-point advantage at 18-15 after another Islander attack missed.
But that's when the Islanders went on their big run and looked to take control of the set, scoring seven of the next eight, including the final five in a row, to go up 22-19. The Lady Lions answered with four straight, which included a kill by
Rachel Hartmann, an ace by
Hannah Brewer, and a block by Hartmann and Arrington to give Southeastern the first set point of the match. Over the next seven rallies, A&M-Corpus Christi would tie the set back up, only to see the Lady Lions win the next point to go right back onto set point. This continued until the score was 27-27 and then
Kailin Newsome scored back-to-back kills to finally end the set in Southeastern's favor at 29-27 to go up 1-0 in the match.
SLU couldn't have asked for a much better start to the second set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead thanks to two kills by
Cicily Hidalgo, one by Newsome, and another Islander attack error. But A&M-Corpus Christi wouldn't be put away that easily, scoring five of the next six to get the set back even at 5-5. The Lady Lions would go back up three points as a kill by Hartmann made the score 12-9 Southeastern. After trading points to 14-11 SLU, which came on a kill by Arrington, the Islanders went on another run, this one a 6-2 push, to reclaim the advantage at 17-16. Southeastern answered with five of the next seven to get the advantage back as a Hidalgo kill made the score 21-19 SLU. A&M-Corpus Christi scored four of the next five to retake the lead at 23-22, but Southeastern proved clutch yet again, scoring the final three points of the set on a kill by Arrington, an A&M-Corpus Christi attack error to put the Lady Lions on set point, and then a block by Arrington and
Gracie Duplechein to end the set in SLU's favor at 25-23 for a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set started much like the match had been, with the two teams trading point and the lead until finally Southeastern went on a run of four out of five to take a 12-8 lead after a kill by Hidalgo. SLU seemed to be in control of the set, up 16-12 following a kill by Brewer, but that's when the Islanders went on their big run, scoring six straight to take an 18-16 lead. But the Lady Lions had another answer as another A&M-Corpus Christi attack missed the playing surface, setting off a match-ending 9-3 Lady Lion run as Hidalgo banged an attack off the Islander block and down onto the floor on the A&M-Corpus Christi side on match point to secure the victory.
"Today was one of our best team wins of the season if not the best," said SLU head volleyball coach Jeremy White. "Our energy was great all match and we did a great job picking up each other after mistakes which I think is a huge part of our current run. Great teammates make great teams."
Hidalgo had her best match of the season, hitting .406 with a team-high 14 kills with just one error on 32 total attacks. She also had her fourth double-double of the season with 11 digs, added two assists, and had a solo block and an assisted block as well. Newsome had her eighth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs while adding an assist, an ace, and a solo block. Hartmann hit .304 with eight kills and one error on 23 total attacks while also contributing an assist, an ace, and five total blocks, one being solo, in the match.
Ansley Tullis had 22 total digs and Duplechein had 35 assists, both of those numbers led SLU in the win.
"I thought we came up really clutch in defense today," continued White, "which allowed is to stay in rallies long enough to get the looks we needed to score late in sets. We got clutch swings from different players in every set. It was a great team win."
Southeastern finished the match hitting .208 as a team. A&M-Corpus Christi had more kills than SLU in the match, 49-47, but also had five more attack errors, 22-17, and finished the match hitting at a .197 clip.
The Lady Lions (11-4, 2-1 SLC) return home after a month away for their Southland Conference home opener on Tuesday night as New Orleans comes to town. Opening serve of Tuesday's match against the Privateers (2-11, 0-2 SLC) is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Pride Roofing University Center and the match will be live streamed on ESPN+.
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.
