THIBODAUX, La. – The defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team extended its longest win streak since the spring of 2021 to seven match and completed its sixth-straight sweep while winning sets 19-21 in a row, both the longest since the team joined the Southland Conference, in a thorough 3-0 (25-14, 25-9, 25-18) win over the Nicholls Colonels Thursday night at the David R. Stopher Gymnasium.
Southeastern couldn't have asked for a much better start as
Gracie Duplechein opened the match with a service ace. That kicked off a 5-1 Lady Lion push to start the match as
Rachel Hartmann's kill on the match's sixth rally to put SLU up by that score. Nicholls went on a 4-1 run to cut that lead down to 6-5 before a Colonel serve error started a 4-1 Lady Lion run to reestablish a four-point lead at 10-6 as
Gracie Duplechein blocked a Nicholls attack. The Colonels cut it back down to two points several times over the next six rallies, but then Southeastern blew the set open as another Hartmann kill started an 11-2 SLU run as back-to-back kills by
Jacqueline Arrington put the Lady Lions up 23-12. Four rallies later, Arrington finishes the set with another kill for a 25-14 score and a 1-0 lead overall.
Nicholls had the early advantage in the second set, getting the first point and trading points with Southeastern over the first five until the Colonels held a 3-2 lead. However, a kill by
Kailin Newsome started a SLU run of four straight and seven out of eight to take a 9-4 lead following a service ace by
Cicily Hidalgo. The Colonels scored three of the next four to cut the Southeastern lead down to 10-7, but from there the Lady Lions could not be stopped, scoring 15 of the final 17 points in the set, including the final nine in a row, as Arrington ended another set with a kill for a 25-9 win in the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set proved to be the most competitive with the two teams trading points back and forth until Nicholls held an 8-7 advantage. SLU scored the next four to jump out to an 11-8 advantage after Newsome and Arrington blocked back a Nicholls attack. The Colonels battled back to tie the set at 13-13. But Southeastern made the big push again as a kill by Hartmann started a 10-3 Lady Lion run which pushed the lead out to 23-16 as Arrington and
Alexis Logarbo sent back another Nicholls attack. Four rallies later,
Hannah Brewer and
Ryley Boyne blocked another Colonel attack on match point to finish the dominant win.
Hartmann had an outstanding night on the attack, getting a match-high 14 kills with just two errors on 17 total attacks for a .706 attack percentage on the evening. She added two service aces, four assisted blocks, and six digs in the match. Newsome had nine kills on a .316 attack percentage and moved up to eighth on the SLU career kills list during the match. She also had an ace, six digs, and two block assists in the win. Arrington had eight block assists to go with seven kills. Duplechein had 30 assists, two service aces, a solo block, two block assists, and seven digs.
As a team, Southeastern had its highest attack percentage of the season, getting 43 kills to just seven errors in 80 total attacks for a .450 hit percentage while getting seven service aces and 12 total blocks. Nicholls was held to a negative hit percentage in the second set on its way to a .068 attack percentage as a team, getting 25 kills to 19 errors on 88 total attacks.
The Lady Lions (13-4, 4-1 SLC) wrap up its three-match week on Saturday, returning home to take on the Southland's other Lions, Texas A&M-Commerce. Opening serve of Saturday's match against the A&M-Commerce Lions (7-10, 3-1 SLC) is set for 11:00 a.m. at the Pride Roofing University Center. Live stats for the match will be available on LionSports.net.
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.
