HAMMOND, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team made it back-to-back SLC regular season championships while locking up the number-one seed in the SLC Championship Tournament with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-19) win over the Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
"I think we're all excited to have been in the position to go out and achieve our first goal, which was a regular season championship," said SLU head volleyball coach Jeremy White. "Our athletes have worked extremely hard for that opportunity and to see them succeed is awesome. But we know our work is not done. We have the goal of another NCAA Tournament appearance, and that will be in the forefront of our mind over the coming weeks."
Kyra McKelvey, the reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week, led all Southeastern (22-4, 14-0 SLU) scorers with 18 points. She ended the match with 16 kills on a .438 attack percentage and had four block assists.
Cicily Hidalgo ended the match with 16.5 points, scoring on 14 kills on a .238 attack percentage with five block assists. She also collected her fourth-straight double-double, and 14
th of the season, by adding 15 digs.
Hannah Brewer contributed 11.5 points by scoring on 10 kills and two blocks, one of which was solo. She had her seventh double-double of the year by also gathering 15 digs.
Alexis Logarbo rounded out the leading scorers with 11 points as she tallied 10 kills on a .259 attack percentage with two block assists.
Ashley Richardson got her ninth double-double of the season as she finished with 23 assists and 11 digs.
Gracie Duplechein led the Lady Lions in assists with 24.
Lexi Gonzalez led the back line with 25 digs while picking up two service aces.
Keira Beverly matched Gonzalez with two service aces while also equaling
India Bennett on the block as both had six block assists in the match.
As a team, Southeastern hit .234 in the match, finishing with 58 kills and 18 errors on 171 total attacks. The Lady Lions also scored on four service aces and blocked back 13 attacks for points. UTRGV (14-10, 10-4 SLC) had a .304 attack percentage in the first set, but didn't finish any other set above .150 as the SLU defense settled in. The Vaqueros ended the match with 47 kills and committed 23 errors on 161 total attacks for a .149 team attack percentage in the match. UTRGV scored on two service aces and eight team blocks in the match.
"I'm happy to see how well we've responded to the way our conference schedule set up," continued White. "We started the season off with the lower half of the conference, which can sometimes lull you to sleep, but we've responded extremely well to the best the Southland can provide through the second half of our schedule. I think the Conference Tournament is going to be very tough, but I feel confident that we are ready for the challenge."
Southeastern found itself down 2-0 after the match's first two rallies before a serve error by the Vaqueros got the Lady Lions on the board for the first time. Trailing 5-3, a kill by Hidalgo was followed by back-to-back kills by Brewer to give SLU its first lead of the match at 6-5.
That lead did not last long as the Vaqueros scored the next four to kick off a 12-4 UTRGV run and take full control of the set at 17-10. After several side outs, a pair of kills gave UTRGV its largest lead of the set at 21-13.
Southeastern made the Vaqueros work to close out the set as a kill by McKelvey started a 4-1 Lady Lion push, cutting that deficit down to 22-17 as Beverly and Hidalgo send back a Vaquero attack for a SLU point.
But SLU would get no closer as the two teams traded the serve to each other over the set's final five rallies, giving UTRGV a 25-19 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Logarbo got the Lady Lions on the board first in the second set, but UTRGV scored six of the next eight to take a 6-3 lead.
Southeastern took advantage of a UTRGV serve error which gave it the serve back, scoring four in a row as a kill by McKelvey put SLU back in front at 7-6.
Neither team could build a lead of more than two points in the set until, leading 14-13, a UTRGV attack error kicked off a three-point push by the Lady Lions. The error was followed by a McKelvey kill and a Gonzalez service ace to give SLU a little breathing room at 17-13.
Leading 18-16, Southeastern took full control of the set as a Brewer kill started a 4-0 Lady Lion run. Logarbo capped the run with a kill for a 22-16 SLU lead. It took just five more rallies for the Lady Lions to close out the set as Hidalgo and Bennett blocked back a UTRGV attack for the set point and a 25-18 win to tie the match at 1-1.
After UTRGV scored the opening point of the third set, a kill by Hidalgo started a run of four-straight points by the Lady Lions. Bennett and Hidalgo combined on another block to give Southeastern the lead, which was followed by kills by Hidalgo and Bennett for the 4-1 edge.
SLU continued to maintain that advantage until, leading 12-9, a kill by Bennett started a 4-1 Lady Lion push which made it 16-10 Southeastern following another Bennett kill. While UTRGV scored the next three, SLU responded with three-straight of its own to go up 19-13 on a block by Beverly and McKelvey. The Vaqueros got no closer than four points for the remainder of the set and a kill by McKelvey on SLU's third set point ended the third set in Southeastern's favor at 25-20, giving the Lady Lions a 2-1 match lead.
Southeastern jumped out quickly in the fourth set as a UTRGV serve error opened the scoring and was followed by a Bennett and Hidalgo block, and back-to-back service aces by Beverly to give the Lady Lions a 4-0 lead, one that SLU would not surrender in the set.
UTRGV would not go away easy though, getting that deficit to as low as a single point at 18-17, but a kill by Hidalgo started a 3-1 Lady Lion push which re-opened a three-point advantage at 21-18 after another kill by Hidalgo.
A serve error slowed Southeastern's momentum for but a moment as a kill by McKelvey started the final push as the Lady Lions scored the match's final four points. McKelvey's kill was followed a block by Beverly and McKelvey, and back-to-back McKelvey kills to end the fourth set at 25-19, and the match at 3-1.
The win extends the nation's longest win streak out to 22 in a row while extending SLU's in-conference win streak out to 31-straight and streak against SLC teams, regardless of competition, out to 34 in a row. While securing at least a share of the SLC regular season championship, it also gave Southeastern the championship of the SLC's Black Division and, by virtue of defeating Stephen F. Austin in all meetings this season, the number one seed in the SLC Championship Tournament, which will be held Nov. 22-24 in Hammond, America at the University Center.
The Lady Lions now look for one more win in their final two matches of the season, both of which will be on the road, to keep from sharing the regular season title. Their first chance at doing so will be Thursday night in Commerce, Texas against East Texas A&M. Opening serve of Thursday's match against the Southland's other Lions (9-17, 6-8 SLC) is set for 6:30 p.m. in The Field House. The match will be televised on ESPN+ with live stats also 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.
