HAMMOND, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team continued its hot streak, winning its 14
th-straight match with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-21) win over the Nicholls Colonels Thursday night at the University Center.
Southeastern (14-4, 6-0 SLC) was led by
Cicily Hidalgo, who continued her trek up the SLU record books. She finished with a match-high 12 kills on a .385 attack percentage and had three blocks, one of which was solo. That ended her night with a match-high 14 points, bringing her career total to 1,407 points scored as a Lady Lion and moving her past Angel Mauterer into fourth-place on the SLU career points scored list just one match after taking over fifth-place from Dina Donalson.
Kyra McKelvey had 11 kills on a .474 attack percentage with a block assist to end her night with 11.5 points.
India Bennett tied her season and career high with 10 kills while picking up a block assist for 10.5 points in the match.
Hannah Brewer had four service aces in the match, all in the first set, while being a part of two blocks. Along with being the team leader in aces, Brewer also led the team in digs with 12.
Lexi Gonzalez had 10 digs in the contest.
Ashley Richardson had a team-best 27 assists.
SLU finished the night with 44 kills to just eight errors for a .350 attack percentage on 103 total attacks. The Lady Lions also scored on eight service aces and blocked back seven Nicholls attacks for points. The Colonels (6-10, 1-4 SLC) finished the night with a .112 attack percentage, scoring 30 kills and had 19 errors on 98 total attacks.
Thursday's win is the 14
th in a row overall for Southeastern, 23
rd in a row in Southland Conference matches, and 26
th in a row against SLC teams regardless of whether the match is in or out of conference play.
The Lady Lions took control of the first set immediately as a Nicholls attack error on the match's opening rally began an 8-0 Southeastern run. The run included two of Brewer's aces, two kills by Bennett, a kill by Hidalgo, and a block split between Bennett and
Alexis Logarbo.
SLU's lead in the set only continued to grow as a kill by McKelvey and a block by Brewer and
Keira Beverly gave the Lady Lions a 14-3 lead. Southeastern's lead in the set hit its peak at 14 points, the first at 23-9 on another McKelvey kill. The two teams traded points over the final four rallies, the last coming as Brewer and Beverly sent back a Colonels attack on set point to give SLU a 25-11 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Bennett opened the scoring in the second set, but Nicholls scored the next two to take its first lead in the match at 2-1. But that Colonels momentum was short-lived as the ensuing serve went over the end line for an error, starting a 3-0 Southeastern run and Nicholls would not lead again in the match. Hidalgo scored a kill and then blocked a Colonels attack to put SLU up 4-2.
Leading 5-4, a kill by Beverly started a run of six-straight Lady Lion points, the last being another block, this one involving Hidalgo and Beverly, which gave Southeastern an 11-4 advantage.
Nicholls trimmed the gap down to five points several times, the last coming at 16-11. On the next rally, an attack by Hidalgo pulled a Colonels player into the net for the kill and the first of four-straight Lady Lions points which would balloon into a bigger 6-1 run.
Peyton Stokley ended the run with a service ace, giving SLU its first double-digit lead of the set at 22-12. Seven rallies later, the set came to a close as McKelvey scored the final point with a kill, giving Southeastern the 25-16 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was looking very much like the first in the beginning as Southeastern scored on eight of the first 10 rallied with another McKelvey kill putting SLU up 8-2. Leading 9-4, a Nicholls attack error started a 6-2 Lady Lion run which Bennett ended with back-to-back kills to give SLU a 15-6 lead.
With Southeastern up 18-11, another kill by McKelvey started a push of four-straight Lady Lion points. Back-to-back service aces by
Taylor Stockwell gave the Lady Lions another double-digit lead at 22-11.
But Nicholls battled back, scoring the next eight points to cut the Southeastern lead down to just three at 22-19 before another Colonel serve went too long to end the run. The two teams would trade the serve back-and-forth over the final four rallies with Hidalgo ending the night by scoring a kill on SLU's second match point attempt, securing the set with a 25-21 score and the sweep for the win.
The Lady Lions end the three-match-in-five-day homestand on Saturday, looking to complete the season sweep of McNeese, who comes to Hammond, America from Lake Charles. Opening serve of Saturday's match against the Cowgirls (7-10, 3-2 SLC) is set for 12 p.m. in the University Center. The match will be televised on ESPN+ with live stats also available on LionSports.net. It will also be camp reunion day as the team recognizes all the young volleyball players who took part in SLU volleyball camps this year.
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.
