PROVO, Utah –The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team had four players get double digits in kills on day one of the dōTERRA Classic, but it came in a struggle on the attack as the Lady Lions dropped both of their matches, 3-0 to #16 BYU and 3-2 to High Point, Friday afternoon to open the season at BYU's George Albert Smith Fieldhouse.
| Match 1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Score |
| SLU |
15 |
13 |
15 |
|
|
0 |
| BYU |
25 |
25 |
25 |
|
|
3 |
Southeastern's historic 20-match win streak in the regular season, the longest of the program's Division I-era, came to an end at the hands of a nationally-ranked program on its home floor.
The Lady Lions looked to keep things tight in the early going as a kill by
Kyra McKelvey and a Cougar attack error helped keep the scored tied at 1-1 and 2-2, respectively. However, BYU, which started the season ranked 16
th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association's top 25 poll, started to pull away, scoring the next seven points to open a 9-2 advantage before
Cicily Hidalgo's first kill of the day stemmed the tide. SLU's first run of back-to-back points of the match pulled the Lady Lions within 15-8 as Hidalgo scored another kill and BYU committed an attack error. However, the Cougars would continue to slowly pull away for a 25-15 set win.
SLU started the second set in a much better way as Hidalgo scored another kill to give Southeastern its first lead of the day at 1-0. That would be followed by five-straight BYU points until another Hidalgo kill ended the run. Trailing 10-4,
Hannah Brewer and
Anne Brauckmiller went back-to-back with kills to cut the deficit down to four points, 10-6. However, the Lady Lion attack would start to struggle as the next six points all came off of SLU attack errors, part of an 11-0 BYU run to make it 21-6 before a service error gave Southeastern the serve. Trailing 23-8,
India Bennett and
Alexis Logarbo blocked back a Cougar attack, starting a three-point run for SLU that ended with Bennett getting a kill to make it 23-11. The Lady Lions would fight off two set points, the second on another kill by Bennett, but a service error would give BYU the second set by a 25-13 score, putting the Cougars up 2-0 in the match.
With Southeastern trying to stave off a potential sweep, it was BYU which jumped out quick, getting out to a 4-1 lead before another Bennett and Logarbo combo block started a 4-1 SLU run with a kill by
Kibi Huggins tying the score back up at 5-5. The Cougars scored five of the next seven points to go up 10-7 before three-straight BYU attack errors allowed SLU to even the set up again at 10-10. Two-straight BYU points was answered by two-straight SLU points with Brewer and Logarbo each notching kills and making the score 12-12. However, that's where BYU started to pull away, scoring on each of the next four rallies, though Southeastern would battle to keep it tight as a Brauckmiller kill cut the Cougar lead to 19-15. But that would be SLU's final point of the match as BYU ended the set with a 6-0 run to claim the match in straight sets.
Hidalgo led the offense in the opener, scoring 10 kills on a .350 attack percentage while adding a block assist for 10.5 total points and four digs. Bennett had five kills on just nine attempts for an efficient .556 attack percentage and led the team in blocks with three block assists for 6.5 total points.
Gracie Duplechein notched 12 assists while
Ashley Richardson added 10 helpers against BYU.
The tough run on the attack in the second set dampened SLU's hitting percentage in the contest as the team finished with a .012 attack percentage in the opener, getting 26 kills with 25 errors on 85 total attacks. BYU had 41 kills with 11 errors on 77 total attacks for a team .390 attack percentage while adding three service aces and seven total blocks.
| Match 2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Score |
| SLU |
25 |
25 |
22 |
18 |
9 |
2 |
| HPU |
22 |
23 |
25 |
25 |
15 |
3 |
After some early point-trading to open the match against High Point, it was Southeastern which started to gain an early advantage as a kill by Brewer broke a 4-4 tie and started a 6-1 SLU run, which ended with a Panther set error, giving SLU a 10-5 lead. However, HPU had a response, scoring seven of the next nine points to tie the score back up at 12-12 before Bennett got an attack down for a kill to put the Lady Lions back in front. With the scored tied back up at 14-14, Logarbo scored a kill, starting a 6-1 Southeastern run which was capped with a service ace by
Gracie Duplechein, giving SLU a 20-15 advantage. A kill by Brauckmiller put the Lady Lions on set point at 24-18 and, five rallies later, it was Brauckmiller which put Southeastern on top in the match at 1-0 as her kill ended the set at 25-22.
The Lady Lions were battling from behind nearly the entire second set as SLU found itself down 11-3 after just 14 rallies. But Southeastern started to work its way back into the set as a kill by McKelvey started a 6-1 SLU run, capped by an ace by Brewer which cut the deficit down to 12-9. Three rallies later, solo blocks by Duplechein and Bennett pulled the Lady Lions within two points at 13-11. After getting within one point several times, Southeastern finally pulled even at 21-21 as Logarbo and Bennett blocked back a Panther attack. SLU took its first lead of the set at 23-22 as another HPU attack missed the court. High Point responded with a kill to tie the set up at 23-23, but the Lady Lions turned to its senior to take the set as Hidalgo scored back-to-back kills to give Southeastern the set, 25-23, and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Fate would start to turn against the Lady Lions in the third set. Bennett and Brauckmiller gave the Lady Lions the first point of the set. After HPU knotted it up at 1-1, Brauckmiller put Southeastern back in front at 2-1. However, SLU would find itself in a familiar spot to the second set as the Panthers rattled off an 8-2 push to take a 9-4 lead. Southeastern scored two-straight, including a kill by McKelvey, but High Point responded with two of its own to re-establish a five-point advantage at 11-6. SLU again worked its way slowly back into the match, eventually tying the score at 19-19 as McKelvey and Bennett rejected a HPU attack and reclaiming the lead three rallies later as a Panther attack missed the playing area, giving the Lady Lions a 21-20 lead. However, High Point scored the next three points to take a 23-21 advantage before a Brauckmiller kill pulled one back. There would be no comeback this time as HPU scored the next two to claim the set, 25-22, and force the fourth set.
Early runs were the theme in the fourth set as a HPU serve error started a three-point push for Southeastern, a push which featured a kill by Logarbo and ended with an attack error by the Panthers, giving the Lady Lions a 3-1 lead. High Point scored the next four to reclaim the lead at 5-3 before SLU tied the score again as a Hidalgo kill and an ace by
Lexi Gonzalez evened things back up at 5-5. With the set tied at 7-7, HPU scored the next three to take a 10-7 lead, and then another McKelvey kill kicked off a six-point push by the Lady Lions as another Brewer service ace gave the Lady Lions a 13-10 advantage. But the Panthers had a big answer, scoring the next six points to jump up, 16-13. Another kill by McKelvey and an ace by
Ashley Richardson get SLU back within a point at 16-15, but High Point scored the next three to open a four-point edge. Three rallies later, a kill by Bennett got the Lady Lions back within three points at 20-17, but the Panthers pulled away with four-straight points to get on set point. A Logarbo kill fought off one set point, but HPU scored on the next rally to win the set at 25-18 and force the deciding set.
Southeastern was again fighting from behind early, finding itself down 4-1 in the sprint to 15 points. The Lady Lions battled back as a Bennett picked up another solo block to make the score 5-4. HPU reopened the four-point edge with a three-point run to make it 8-4 Panthers as the two teams switched sides. Out of the switch, SLU scored three-straight points, two coming off the hands of Brauckmiller as she tallied a kill and an ace in the run. But it wasn't to be for Southeastern as the Panthers scored the next four points and six of the next seven to get onto match point at 14-8. Hidalgo scored a kill to fight off one match point, but HPU scored on the next to claim the set at 15-8 and the match, 3-2.
Four Lady Lions ended the nightcap with double digits in kills, led by McKelvey's 16 kills on a .313 attack percentage. She added three block assists for 17.5 points in the match. Brauckmiller had 13 kill to go with an ace and two block assists for 15 total points while also adding 13 digs for her first double-double as a Lady Lion. Hidalgo and Logarbo each had 10 kills with Hidalgo adding a block solo and a block assist for 11.5 points while Logarbo was a part of four blocks to finish with 12 total points. Brewer and Bennett each had five block assists while Brewer added a solo block and three service aces while Bennett added two solo blocks to her total. Richardson had 25 assists and an ace while Duplechein contributed 20 assists, an ace, and 13 digs for a double-double of her own.
For the second match of the day, the Lady Lions struggled on the attack. SLU tallied 57 kills but 43 errors on 189 total attacks for a .074 team attack percentage. However, Southeastern had success on the serve, getting seven service aces, and on the block, swatting back 14 attacks for SLU points. High Point finished the match with 60 kills and 23 errors on 158 total attacks for a .234 attack percentage. The Panthers got one service ace in the match, but had an even better time on the block as HPU pushed back 18 Lady Lion attacks for Panther points.
Southeastern (0-2) looks to finish the dōTERRA Classic strong as the Lady Lions wrap up the opening weekend of the season with a match against Fairfield. Opening serve against the Stags (0-2) is set for 4:00 pm MDT/5:00 p.m. CDT at BYU's George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. The match will be live streamed on BYU's YouTube channel with live stats available through BYU as well.
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.
