HAMMOND, La. – The back-to-back Southland Conference Regular Season Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team's bid for a third-straight SLC Tournament championship was undone by an error-prone day on the attack, leading to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-19) loss to the second-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in the 2024 Jersey Mike's Southland Conference Volleyball Championship Sunday afternoon at the University Center.
The Lady Lions (26-5) saw its 26-match win streak, which was the longest in the nation, ended, as was a 39-match win streak against SLC opponents in all competitions. The team will still bring a 33-match win streak in conference play into the 2025 season.
Underscoring SLU's tough day attacking the ball, the Lady Lions ended the match with a .183 attack percentage, finishing with 43 kills and 17 errors, only five of those errors due to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi blocks. SLU also committed seven service errors while getting one ace.
The Islanders (20-10) finished the match with a .265 attack percentage, getting 47 kills to 11 errors, seven of which were due to Southeastern blocks. A&M-Corpus Christi also had two aces to three serve errors.
Alexis Logarbo was Southeastern's top scorer in the match, getting 11 kills and three block assists to finish with 12.5 points.
Cicily Hidalgo had nine kills and a block assist for 9.5 points while getting a team-high 16 digs.
Kyra McKelvey also had nine kills and a block assist for 9.5 points.
Gracie Duplechein got her 11
th double-double of the season with 16 assists and 11 digs while also scoring a pair of kills on her only two attacks of the match.
Ashley Richardson led the team in assists with 17 while getting SLU's lone ace.
Lexi Gonzalez matched Hidalgo's team-high dig total, also tallying 16.
India Bennett had four total blocks in the match to lead the Lady Lions, one of which was solo.
Much like Saturday's semifinal, Southeastern found itself down three before getting on the board via an A&M-Corpus Christi serve error. The Lady Lions scored three out of four to get back within one at 4-3 as Logarbo and Beverly blocked back an Islander attack.
TAMUCC opened the advantage back up to four at 7-3 before a Hidalgo kill got SLU the serve back, only to be sided out and give the serve back to make it 8-4. A kill by McKelvey started a 6-2 Southeastern run with a block by Logarbo and Bennett tying the set at 10-10.
But the Islanders took control of the set by scoring 13 of the next 18 points to go up 23-15. SLU looked to build some momentum by scoring four of the next five to get the Lady Lions back within five points at 24-19 on a kill by Logarbo, but TAMUCC got a kill on the next rally to end the set with a 25-19 score and go up 1-0 in the match.
The second set had a bit of a better start for the Lady Lions as Logarbo opened it with a kill to give Southeastern a 1-0 lead, but the Islanders scored the next five points to go up 5-1.
Kills by Logarbo, McKelvey, and Beverly pulled SLU back within one at 5-4, but TAMUCC scored three of the next four to push the advantage back out to three points at 8-5 on a service ace.
The two teams traded the serve until a kill by Logarbo made the score 11-9, then A&M-Corpus Christi scored four out of six to retake a four-point edge at 15-11.
Once again, the teams traded the serve back to each other until a kill by McKelvey pulled SLU back within three at 17-14. That's where the Islanders opened the gap again by scoring seven of the next nine points to get on set point at 24-16.
Southeastern again tried to get some momentum going, fighting off four set points thanks to kills by logarbo and McKelvey, Richardson's ace, and a kill by Hidalgo which made the score 24-20. A SLU attack error ended the rally and the set by a 25-20 score, giving the Islanders a 2-0 match lead.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored the first two points of the third set and Southeastern could not recover, even as a kill by Brewer pulled the Lady Lions back within one at 2-1. The two teams sided each other out with a kill by Logarbo making it 3-2, but the Islanders scored the next five to open a six-point edge at 8-2.
A kill by Hidalgo ended the run, but the serve would trade hands over the next seven rallies with a kill by McKelvey making the score 11-6. The Islanders scored the next four points to open a nine-point edge at 15-6.
SLU answered that four-point run with four of its own. Brewer and Logarbo scored back-to-back kills, which was followed by an Islander attack error and another Logarbo kill, cutting the deficit down to 15-10.
The serve was traded back-and-forth over the next 10 rallies, getting the score to 20-15 after a kill by Brewer. TAMUCC scored two straight only to see that answered by two in a row by the Lady Lions with Duplechein and Hidalgo getting kills to make it 22-17. That turned into four out of five as Southeastern answered an Islander point with a block by Beverly and Hidalgo which was followed by a solo block by Bennett.
But that would be the final point for Southeastern as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored on the next two rallies to finish the set with a 25-19 score and end the match at 3-0.
The Lady Lions will now wait and watch to see if their 26-5 record will be good enough to pull an at-large spot into the NCAA Division I Volleyball National Championship Tournament. The selection show will air at Sun., Dec. 1 on ESPN. The NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship Tournament begins on Thurs., Dec. 5 with the first and second rounds 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.
