HAMMOND, La. – The back-to-back Southland Conference Regular Season Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team had to battle back from dropping the first set and getting behind early in the second, but the team answered the bell on its way to a 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19) win over the fifth-seeded Incarnate Word Cardinals Saturday night in the semifinal of the 2024 Jersey Mike's Southland Conference Volleyball Championship at the University Center.
The win secures Southeastern (26-4) its third-straight SLC Tournament Championship Match appearance as the team looks to secure a three-peat, having won both of its previous two attempts. The Lady Lions will face a rematch of the 2023 Championship Match in the 2024 edition as the second-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (19-10) earned their spot in the Finals with a four-set win over the third seed, Stephen F. Austin, in Saturday's earlier semifinal. Opening serve of Sunday's SLC Tournament Championship Match is set for 3 p.m. in the University Center. It will be televised on ESPN+ with live stats also available through the Southland Conference on StatBroadcast.
After hitting below .100 in the first set and a negative start in terms of hitting percentage through eight rallies in the second, the SLU offense started to come alive and finished the match hitting at a .221 clip, finishing with 61 kills to 25 errors on 163 total attacks. The Lady Lions also got eight service aces and 12 total blocks on the evening. The Southeastern defense held Incarnate Word (17-11) to under a .200 hitting percentage in three of the four sets as the Cardinals ended the match with 46 kills to 24 errors and a .143 attack percentage. UIW also scored on seven service aces and 10 total blocks.
"I'm so proud of our kids for their resiliency," said SLU head volleyball coach Jeremy White. "I thought UIW came out with a tremendous amount of energy and set the tone for the match. We were able to match it in the second set, really thanks to the boost we got from
Lily Morgan and
Kibi Huggins. One of the best things about this team is how they've all accepted their role regardless of how big it is for the betterment of the team. It's because of that that they are prepared to play the roles they did today to keep us going."
Cicily Hidalgo, the SLC's Player of the Year, had her eighth 20-point performance of the season. She scored 19 kills on a .245 attack percentage with a service ace and two blocks, one solo, to finish the night with 21.5 points. She added 11 digs to pick up her 16
th double-double of 2024.
Keira Beverly had her best match of her redshirt freshman season. The Mandeville, La. native scored season highs in kills, 14, aces, 3, and points, 18. She ended the match with a .393 attack percentage and had a pair of block assists.
Alexis Logarbo had her seventh double-digit kill match of the season as she finished with 10 on the night with a .240 attack percentage. The Geismar, La. native assisted on five blocks to end with 12.5 points.
India Bennett was a part of nine blocks to go with five kills for 9.5 points.
Lily Morgan came off the bench to score five kills, two aces, and three block assists for 8.5 points while adding 13 digs. Morgan's ace and dig totals were season highs.
Kibi Huggins also came off the bench to score six kills on a .417 attack percentage while getting into two blocks for seven points.
Gracie Duplechein had a match-high 30 assists while getting 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season.
Ashley Richardson got her 10
th double-double of the season, finishing with 24 assists and 12 digs while also getting a service ace.
Lexi Gonzalez had a team-high 14 digs to go with six assists and a service ace.
The start wasn't the one Southeastern wanted as UIW scored the first three points. A Hidalgo kill seemed to get the SLU offense going as the Lady Lions scored eight of the next 10 points to take an 8-5 lead on a Beverly kill.
That's where UIW went on an extended run to take control of the set, scoring on 12 of the next 15 rallies, including a 6-0 run at one point, to go up 17-11 on a service ace.
Back-to-back kills by Logarbo started a four-point spurt by Southeastern as kills by Beverly and Hidalgo followed to cut the deficit down to 17-15.
UIW scored the next three points to reach 20 first at 20-15, only to have SLU answer with three in a row to get it back to 20-18 as Hidalgo blocked back a Cardinal attack. But SLU would score no more in the set as the Cardinals scored on the set's final five rallies to take a 1-0 lead in the match, winning the first set with a 25-18 score.
Hidalgo started the second set scoring with a kill, and then, after UIW got a side out, Beverly gave Southeastern the serve and lead back with a kill of her own as the Lady Lions went up 2-1. But UIW found another push, scoring the next five in a row to take a 6-2 lead before the two teams sided each other out, making the score 7-3 Cardinals.
That's where Beverly took over, and got the gears rolling for the Southeastern offense. Her kill got her onto the serve, which led to a Cardinal attack error, and then back-to-back service aces to tie the set back up at 7-7.
The two teams sided each other out over the next five rallies, which made the score 10-9 UIW. A kill by Logarbo was the first of three-straight Lady Lion points which turned into a bigger 9-2 Southeastern run, the final five coming in a row, as another Cardinal attack error gave SLU an 18-12 lead.
After trading the serve back-and-forth to a 21-15 score following a kill by Bennett, the Cardinals took advantage of a SLU service error to go on a 5-1 push and get the Lady Lion lead down to 22-20.
A kill by Hidalgo ended that run, and she followed it up with another kill to get the Lady Lions on set point. Huggins ended the set with a kill of her own, giving Southeastern a 25-20 win in the second set which tied the match up at 1-1.
Southeastern continued the momentum into the third set with Bennett and Logarbo blocking back an attack to start the scoring. Hidalgo followed that with a kill, and then Morgan's serve found the floor for an ace for an early 3-0 lead. UIW scored four of the next five to tie the score back up, only to commit an attack error which gave SLU the lead for good in the set. That was the start of a 5-1 Lady Lion run which put Southeastern ahead 9-5 on a kill by Huggins.
UIW scored the next two to make it 9-7, but Beverly stopped that with another kill and an ace, jump starting a 9-3 SLU run with Bennett and Hidalgo combining on a block to cap it, making the score 18-10 Southeastern. Incarnate Word would get as close as four points, coming at 22-18, but drew no closer as a kill by Huggins was followed by a block by Bennett and Logarbo to put the Lady Lions on set point. Two rallies later, Morgan scored a kill to give Southeastern a 25-19 win in the set, putting the Lady Lions up 2-1 in the match.
While Incarnate Word opened the scoring in the fourth set with a kill, a kill by Hidalgo started a 7-2 SLU push to open a 7-3 Lady Lion lead as Hidalgo scored on a service ace, ending a run of three-straight Southeastern points.
After UIW scored back-to-back points, a kill by Beverly started another big run for SLU as the Lady Lions tallied seven of the next nine points to go up 14-7 on an ace by Morgan.
The Cardinals found a bit of rhythm in an attempt to extend their season, scoring 10 of the next 15 points to pull back within two points of Southeastern at 19-17, but a block by Bennett and Morgan ended that UIW rally and the Lady Lions wasted little time ending the match from there.
That block was followed by a kill by Bennett. UIW got one point back on a SLU serve error, but that was quicky neutralized by a Logarbo kill. Bennett and Logarbo combined on a block, and then Logarbo powered down another kill to put the Lady Lions on match point. Two rallies later, Hidalgo secured the match's final point with a kill, ending the fourth set by a 25-19 score and giving the Lady Lions the match by a 3-1 score.
"It's a tremendous accomplishment for our program to make it to our third Southland Final," continued White. "It says a lot about the culture we created and the incredible will of our student-athletes. We're all excited for the opportunity to bring another championship home to Hammond, America."
The winner of Sunday's Final between Southeastern and A&M-Corpus Christi receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Volleyball National Championship Tournament, which starts on Thurs., Dec. 5 at host sites across the country.
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.
