HAMMOND, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team picked up its 30
th-straight win in SLC play, sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-21) Thursday evening at the University Center.
Cicily Hidalgo picked up her 13
th double-double of the season, and third in a row, to lead the Lady Lions (21-4, 13-0 SLC) as she hit .452 on her way to a 15-kill match with only one error on 31 total attacks while getting 12 digs. She also had two kills and two block assists for 18 total points on the night.
India Bennett tied her season and career high with 10 kills while hitting .471 on the night with two errors on 17 attacks. She added six total blocks, one solo, to finish the match with13.5 points.
Kyra McKelvey, the Southland's reigning Offensive Player of the Week, continued her run of good play with nine kills on a .375 attack percentage while taking part in three blocks to finish with 10.5 points.
Hannah Brewer was the final double-digit scorer with 10 points. She scored on eight kills, a service ace, and two block assists.
Ashley Richardson led the Lady Lions with 26 assists and scored her lone point on a service ace.
Gracie Duplechein had 13 assists on the evening.
Southeastern finished the match hitting .351 as a team, getting 52 kills and 12 errors on 114 total attacks. SLU had four service aces and nine total blocks to round out the team's scoring for the night. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (14-10, 9-4 SLC) scored 42 kills with 15 errors on 111 total attacks. The Islanders had one ace on the evening and was credited with six blocks.
The win was Southeastern's 21
st in a row, now standing as the longest win streak in the nation after South Dakota State's 22-match win streak ended on Thursday night. Along with being the 30
th-straight win in Southland Conference play, the victory was the 33
rd in a row over a SLC team in all competitions.
The first set was very evenly played as the score would be tied 11 times during the set while the lead changed hands four times and neither team led by more than three points throughout its entirety. The Islanders was the first to lead by three points at 11-8 and then again at 12-9. SLU went on a 5-1 run right after that, started by a Hidalgo kill and ended with a kill by McKelvey to make it 14-13 Lady Lions.
Trailing 19-18, another Hidalgo kill kicked off another 5-1 run, a run she would end with one of her service aces on the evening to give Southeastern its first three-point lead of the set at 23-20. A&M-Corpus Christi scored the next two to cut it down to a one-point lead at 23-22, but a kill by McKelvey got the Lady Lions on set point. Two rallies later, Brewer got an attack to fall for the set-ending kill, giving the Lady Lions a 25-23 win to go up 1-0 in the match.
Southeastern was quick to take an advantageous position in the second set, winning five of the first six points to take a 5-1 lead on a Hidalgo kill. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi slowly closed the gap, until the Islanders finally got back even at 14-14 to end a 3-0 TAMUCC run.
But that would be the only tie of the set as a kill by McKelvey, the first of three in a row by her, started a 7-0 Lady Lion run. After the third-straight McKelvey kill, Brewer tallied the first of three in a row for her. The three Brewer kills were followed by the fourth in the run for McKelvey to give Southeastern a 21-14 lead.
The Islanders scored four of the next five to try and get back in it at 22-18, but a block by
Keira Beverly and
Alexis Logarbo ended that A&M-Corpus Christi push, and an Islander attack error put the Lady Lions on set point. Two rallies later, Hidalgo gave SLU a 2-0 lead in the match with a kill which ended the set by a 25-19 score in SLU's favor.
Set three started much like the first, with neither team able to string enough points together to open a gap, though Southeastern enjoyed a slight edge at 7-4 on a McKelvey kill. A&M-Corpus Christi scored four of the next five to tie the set back up at 8-8. The two teams then sided each other out to tie it again at 9-9.
A block by Beverly and Brewer gave the Lady Lions the lead for good as Brewer followed that with an ace to make it 11-9 SLU. The two teams sided each other out over the next five rallies as the Islanders made it a one-point set at 13-12.
Bennett and McKelvey blocked an Islander attack to start the run that opened a chasm too wide for A&M-Corpus Christi to make up as SLU scored three-straight and five of the next six with a kill by Brewer giving the Lady Lions a 19-13 lead.
But A&M-Corpus Christi would make a run to steal the set, scoring six of the next eight points to get back within two at 21-19. Two side outs followed, making it 22-20, and then Bennett gave the Lady Lions the next two points with a kill and a solo block to get Southeastern on match point. Two rallies later, Hidalgo scored the match-ending kill as SLU won the set 25-21, completing the sweep.
The Lady Lions end their three-match homestand, and the home portion of the 2024 regular season schedule, on Saturday as Texas-Rio Grande Valley comes to Hammond, America for Family Day. Opening serve of Saturday's match against the Vaqueros (14-9, 10-3 SLC) is set 12 p.m. in the University Center and will be televised on ESPN+ while an audio broadcast will be available on 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 also be available at 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.
