COMMERCE, Texas – The back-to-back Southland Conference Regular Season Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team made sure it would not share its second-straight SLC regular season championship by winning its 23
rd-straight match with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 13-25, 25-20) win over the East Texas A&M Lions Thursday night at The Field House.
Southeastern (23-4, 15-0 SLC) had an off night on the attack, getting 48 kills with 29 errors on 148 total attempts for a .128 attack percentage. The Lady Lions scored on five service aces and seven blocks. East Texas A&M (9-18, 6-9 SLC) ended the night with 44 kills and 20 errors on 142 total attacks for a .169 attack percentage. The Lions of ETAMU also tallied five aces and blocked back eight SLU attacks for points. ETAMU committed 14 serve errors, which also hindered its hopes for the evening.
Cicily Hidalgo, the reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week, was the top scorer of the evening, scoring a match-high 17 kills on a .282 attack percentage while also getting a couple aces for 19 total points. She also had 22 digs, the most by any player in the match, for her fifth-straight double-double and 15
th double-double of the season.
Hannah Brewer finished the night with 11 points as she racked up eight kills and hit a couple service aces while collecting 13 digs as well.
India Bennett and
Alexis Logarbo both three block assists in the contest.
Gracie Duplechein ended the evening with 28 assists and nine digs while
Ashley Richardson had 15 assists, seven digs, and a service ace.
Logarbo got the match's scoring started with a kill and kicked off a 5-2 Southeastern run to start the contest as an East Texas A&M attack error capped the run. ETAMU answered with the next three to tie the score up at 5-5, the lone tie of the first set.
A kill by
Kyra McKelvey on the next rally kicked off a 6-1 SLU run which Bennett capped with a kill to give the Lady Lions a five-point lead at 11-6. The ETAMU Lions scored the next three to make it 11-9 Southeastern.
The two teams sided each other out over the next four rallies, making it 14-12 SLU with ETAMU on the serve. That's where Southeastern got back into a dominant position as a kill by Hidalgo kicked off four-straight and six of the next seven to expand the advantage out to 20-13 after another kill by McKelvey.
It took 11 more rallies from there to close out the set, but a Hidalgo kill on set point finished the job at 25-19, giving the Lady Lions a 1-0 lead in the match.
Bennett and Logarbo blocked back an ETAMU attack to open the second set's scoring, and again it was Southeastern jumping out to the early edge as a kill by Hidalgo gave SLU a 6-2 lead.
But the Lions in blue rallied, scoring nine of the next 13 points to claim their first lead of the match at 11-10. From that point on, the set would either be tied or within one point all the way to its closing moments.
With the set tied at 22-22, a kill by Hidalgo gave Southeastern the lead for good. That was followed by a kill by Logarbo to put the Lady Lions in green and gold on set point. Two rallies later, Hidalgo slammed down another kill on SLU's second set point to end the second set by a 25-23 score, giving the Lady Lions a 2-0 lead in the match.
Hopes for a quick sweep were quickly dashed early in the third set as ETAMU raced out to a 5-0 lead. A kill by Bennett only slowed the homestanding Lions momentarily as ETAMU would score the next five again to take a 10-1 lead.
Southeastern struggled to find its rhythm in the third set, finding itself down 12 points at 17-5 and from there on, the two teams traded the serve to each other over the final 16 rallies as ETAMU forced a fourth set by taking the third set, 25-13.
A kill by Hidalgo to open the fourth set gave the Lady Lions a start that more mirrored the first two sets instead of the third as Southeastern jumped out to a 5-2 lead as another Hidalgo kill capped the opening seven rallies.
East Texas A&M scored the next two to get back within a point at 5-4, but an ETAMU service error became the first of four straight SLU points as the Lady Lions pushed their advantage back out to five points at 9-4 on an ace by Hidalgo.
ETAMU had another answer with a run of four-straight points to get back within a single point at 9-8, but back-to-back kills by Brewer and McKelvey got the Southeastern advantage back out to three points at 11-8. The next five rallies went 3-2 in favor of the Lions from Commerce to make it 13-11 SLU.
A service error by ETAMU started the Southeastern run that opened the gap for good as the Lady Lions scored the next four points to go up 17-11 on a kill by Hidalgo.
ETAMU closed that gap one last time, getting to within two points at 22-20, but another service error from the club from Commerce gave Southeastern the serve back, and the Lady Lions would not give it back. A kill by McKelvey put SLU on set point, and then a kill by Hidalgo ended the night as Southeastern took the fourth set by a 25-20 score, ending the match, 3-1.
"We've got a lot of experienced kids that have been through these kinds of things before," said SLU head volleyball coach Jeremy White about battling back after the tough third set. "We came out [in the fourth set], we got a great run at the start from
Hannah Brewer, got us a couple points going, got us a little rhythm. The resiliency piece probably just has more to do with how many big matches these guys have been in and eventually it's going to come out."
The Lady Lions, who pushed the nation's longest win streak out to 23 matches in a row while winning their 32
nd in a row in Southland Conference action and 35
th in a row against SLC teams in all competitions, now look to finish off something no other SLU volleyball team has done since joining the SLC, go through the conference schedule without a defeat.
They will look to accomplish that feat on Saturday in Natchitoches as they take on Northwestern State to close out the regular season. Opening serve of Saturday's contest against the Demons (8-16, 3-12 SLC) is set for 6 p.m. in Prather Coliseum. Saturday's match will not be televised, but live stats will be available through the host institution.
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.
