THIBODAUX, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team rode the hot hand of
Cicily Hidalgo, who started her senior week with her highest single-match point total since her freshman campaign, to a 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-18) win over the Nicholls Colonels Thursday night at the David R. Stopher Gymnasium.
The win lifted the Lady Lions (19-4, 11-0 SLC) to their 19
th-straight win while also picking up the team's 28
th-straight win in Southland Conference play and 31
st-straight win over SLC teams in all contests. The Colonels (7-14, 2-8 SLC) dropped its fourth-straight match overall. While completing the season sweep over Nicholls, SLU picked up its sixth-straight win over the Colonels and 10
th victory in the last 11 meetings between the two sides.
Hidalgo's 27-point performance made this her highest-scoring match since tallying 29.5 points in a five-set win over McNeese on Oct. 7, 2021. She finished the night with 18 kills on a .417 attack percentage, a career-high six service aces, and six block assists. She also earned her 11
th double-double of 2024 with 13 digs on the evening.
Hannah Brewer was the second of three Lady Lions to have double digits in kills, finishing the night with 12 on a .258 attack percentage. She finished the match with 15 total points by adding two service aces and two block assists.
India Bennett, who started the night as the SLC's leader in blocks, did her part to stay atop that category by collecting a career-high 11 block assists to go with seven kills for 12.5 total points in the match.
Kyra McKelvey added 11 points on the night with 10 kills on a .500 attack percentage to go with two block assists.
Keira Beverly rounded out the leading scorers on the night with 10.5 points, racking up eight kills and five block assists.
Gracie Duplechein and
Ashley Richardson both had more than 20 assists on the night with Duplechein helping on 28 kills while Richardson set for 23.
Lexi Gonzalez led the back line with 14 digs.
The Lady Lions finished the night with 60 kills on 130 total attacks with 15 errors for a .346 team attack percentage. SLU also scored on nine aces and 16 blocks. Nicholls ended the night with a .160 attack percentage, scoring 43 kills on 131 total attacks with 22 errors. The Colonels also got points off of two service aces and four blocks on the night.
On this Halloween evening, it was a ghoulish start for Southeastern, which found itself down five points after just 13 rallies, 9-4. While facing an 11-6 deficit, the Lady Lions started to rally back as a kill by Brewer started a 6-2 SLU run which cut that deficit down to a single point as Bennett combined with
Kyra McKelvey to block back a Nicholls attack which made the score 13-12 Colonels. But Nicholls continued to maintain its advantage. Leading 16-15, the Colonels ran off a 5-1 run to again push the gap out to five points at 21-16.
That's where the Lady Lions seemed to get into their offensive rhythm as a kill by Hidalgo kicked off a 6-0 Southeastern run which gave SLU its first lead of the set at 22-21 on another Hidalgo kill. The run included two blocks shared between Bennett and Hidalgo, another block shared by Bennett and
Alexis Logarbo, and a service ace by
Lindsey Wickersham.
After the two teams sided each other out to make it 23-22 Southeastern, it was the Colonels who found the points at the end as Nicholls scored three-straight to close out the set by a 25-23 score and take the 1-0 lead in the match.
The two teams traded the first five points of the second set, giving Nicholls a 3-2 lead, but Southeastern started to take control of the set from there as a kill by Hidalgo kicked off a 6-0 Lady Lion run which gave SLU an 8-3 lead on a kill by McKelvey. This run included a kill by Brewer and back-to-back service aces by Hidalgo.
Nicholls would get as close as two points, using a 4-1 push to take a 9-4 SLU advantage down to a 10-8 Lady Lion lead. Southeastern would not allow the Colonels to get any closer, slowly pushing the advantage back out to six points at 17-11 before Nicholls tallied two-straight to make it a four-point set at 17-13.
A service error by the Colonels proved to be fatal for Nicholls as the miscue set Southeastern off an 8-1, set-clinching run. The run included three kills by McKelvey, two kills by Brewer, and a block shared between Beverly and Logarbo. The set's final point came off the hand of Logarbo as her kill on set point gave the Lady Lions a 25-14 win, tying the match up at 1-1.
After falling behind 2-0 to start the third set, Southeastern rattled off three-straight points thanks to a kill by Hidalgo, a block split between Bennett and Logarbo, and a Colonel attack that went out of bounds for a 3-2 Lady Lion lead. Nicholls answered that run with four-straight points of its own to reclaim the lead at 6-3.
But from that point on, it was all SLU as the Lady Lions scored 22 of the third set's final 28 points. SLU opened the gap with a 6-0 push which turned a 7-5 Colonels lead into an 11-7 Lady Lion advantage on a kill by Brewer. After trading points to get to 12-9, a kill by McKelvey started a run of five-straight and eight out of nine going to Southeastern with a block by Beverly and Logarbo giving SLU a 10-point lead at 20-10. Seven rallies later, on set point, Bennett and Hidalgo sent back a Colonels attack to secure the victory at 25-12 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Southeastern enjoyed an early edge to start the fourth set, but neither team was able to open more than a two-point lead through the first 17 rallies, which saw SLU get out of a 9-8 lead. A kill by Beverly on the ensuing rally started a 6-2 Lady Lion run to give Southeastern a bit of a gap as another Hidalgo ace gave the Lady Lions a 15-10 lead.
But Nicholls didn't go quietly, scoring four of the next five to cut the Southeastern lead back down to two points at 16-14. A kill by Beverly got SLU back in rhythm as the Lady Lions scored 9 of the match's final 13 points with Bennett ending the match with a kill for the 25-18 final in the fourth set, giving Southeastern the 3-1 win.
Having finished the four-match road trip without a blemish, the Lady Lions return back to Hammond, America for three-straight matches, all featuring teams within three games of Southeastern for the conference lead with five matches remaining in the regular season. The first match of the homestand sees SLU take on Stephen F. Austin for the third time this season, looking to complete the season sweep. Opening serve of Saturday's match against the Ladyjacks (18-6, 10-1 SLC) is set for 12 p.m. in the University Center and will be televised on ESPN+ with a radio broadcast also available on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area, online at LionSports.net/ListenLive and LionUpRadio.org, and on smart devices through the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats will be available at LionSports.net.
The match against SFA will also serve as Senior Day as Southeastern will honor six seniors prior to the opening serve. The seniors being honored on Saturday are
Hannah Brewer,
Kibi Huggins,
Gracie Duplechein,
India Bennett,
Lexi Gonzalez, and
Cicily Hidalgo.
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.
