LAKE CHARLES, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team extended its win streak to a dozen as
Cicily Hidalgo and
Hannah Brewer both notched double-doubles in a 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-14, 25-17) win over the McNeese Cowgirls Thursday night at the Legacy Center.
Hidalgo's double-double was her eighth of the season as she led Southeastern (12-4, 4-0 SLC) with 20 total points on 17 kills, two service aces, and a solo block while getting 14 digs on the night.
Brewer's fourth double-double of the season came off of 15 kills with a team-high 19 digs while her 17 total points included two assisted blocks and a service ace.
Keira Beverly scored 10 points on the night on nine kills and two block assists.
Other team leaders on the night included
Gracie Duplechein, who joined Hidalgo with two service aces in the match while also having a team-best 28 assists.
Peyton Stokley had 20 assists.
Lexi Gonzalez ended the night with 16 digs.
SLU finished the contest hitting .206 as a team, ending the night with 60 kills on 170 total attacks with 25 errors. The Lady Lions also scored with seven service aces and 10 total blocks.
McNeese (4-10, 0-2 SLC) was held to a .076 team attack percentage on the night with 39 kills and 27 errors on 157 total attacks. The Cowgirls ended the night with four service aces and six total blocks on the night.
Southeastern started the night fighting from behind as McNeese jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Brewer got the Lady Lions on the board with a kill. SLU got the score back level at 7-7 on a Cowgirl attack error, and took its first lead of the set during a 3-0 Southeastern run as a
Keira Beverly kill put SLU up 12-10.
Leading 13-12, another Brewer kill kicked off a 5-0 Lady Lion run, a run she also capped off with another kill to push the SLU advantage to 18-12.
McNeese rallied, scoring nine of the next 13 to cut the Southeastern lead down to 22-21, but a Cowgirl attack error ended that run and SLU would not give the Cowgirls the serve back. A Hidalgo kill put the Lady Lions on set point, and an
Alexis Logarbo kill ended the first set with a 25-21 score, giving Southeastern a 1-0 lead.
A Brewer kill gave SLU the first point of the second set, but it was the Cowgirls who jumped out to the early edge in the second set, getting out to a 5-3 lead before a Hidalgo kill and a
Peyton Stokley service ace tied the score back up. The Lady Lions reclaimed the lead at 7-6 on a kill by
Kyra McKelvey.
But McNeese had the next big run, scoring six of the next seven points to jump out to an 12-8 lead. Brewer ended that run with a kill which also started a 3-0 SLU run as a Logarbo kill made it a one-point deficit at 12-11. Southeastern evened the score on another 3-0 run as a Cowgirl attack error made the score 14-14.
The Cowgirls again opened the advantage by scoring four-straight to turn a 15-15 tie into a 19-15 Cowgirl lead. After trading points, a kill by Hidalgo started a 5-0 Lady Lion run as Southeastern reclaimed the lead at 21-20 on a kill by
India Bennett.
SLU would hold onto that edge to get to set point at 24-23 on a kill by Beverly, but McNeese found a final run to steal the set as two Lady Lion attack errors were sandwiched around a kill by the Cowgirls for the 26-24 score, tying the match at a set apiece.
Southeastern took control of the third set early, jumping out to a 7-1 lead on a Beverly kill, and made sure there would be no doubt about which side would go up 2-1 in the match. Leading 9-5, a McNeese service error started a 6-0 SLU run as a solo block by Bennett gave the Lady Lions a double-digit lead at 15-5.
The Cowgirls would only get as close as seven points the rest of the way at 18-11. From there, Southeastern needed just 10 more rallies to close out the set as Bennett blocked back another McNeese attack on set point to end the set with a 25-14 score to give SLU the lead back in the match.
McNeese scored the first point in the fourth set, but SLU looked set on making the fourth set look like the third as the Lady Lions scored on eight on the next 10 rallies to take an 8-3 lead following four-straight kills by Hidalgo.
Leading 13-9, the Lady Lions opened the score up as a kill by Hidalgo started another 4-0 SLU run, making it a 17-9 Southeastern lead on a service ace by
Lily Morgan.
McNeese made a run, scoring the next five points to cut that lead down to three points at 17-14, but it was Bennett who put the brakes on it with a solo block of an attack. The teams traded the next five points until the score was 20-17 SLU, but a kill by McKelvey started the final push for Southeastern. The Lady Lions rattled off the match's final five points with Brewer, Beverly, and Logarbo all getting kills during it. It was Logarbo's second-straight kill which came on match point to complete SLU's 12
th-straight victory and 21
st-straight win in Southland Conference play.
Southeastern now comes home for three-straight matches, starting with the annual Think Pink match on Tuesday as New Orleans makes the trip up I-55 to complete the season series between the two teams. Opening serve of Tuesday's match against the Privateers (2-13, 0-3 SLC) is set for 6:30 p.m. in the University Center. The match will be televised on ESPN+ with live stats also 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.
