HAMMOND, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team picked up its defense after the first set, roaring back after dropping the opener in extra rallies to win the last three in a 3-1 (25-27, 25-16, 26-24, 25-12) win over the South Alabama Jaguars Tuesday afternoon at the University Center.
South Alabama jumped out to an early lead in the opener, taking a 6-3 lead before
Alexis Logarbo scored on a kill to start a 4-1 run as Southeastern tied the score at 7-7 on a kill by
Hannah Brewer. But the Jaguars jumped ahead again, getting the score up to 13-10 to force the Lady Lions to fight from behind. But SLU had another answer as a Jaguar serve missed the court for a Lady Lion point, kicking off a 10-3 Southeastern run which gave the Lady Lions a 20-16 lead, their first of the contest, as Brewer got a serve to fall in for an ace. The Jaguars had an answer of their own, scoring the next five points to reclaim the lead at 21-20 before Brewer ended that run with a kill and started the sprint to 25. SLU was the first to hit set point as a
Cicily Hidalgo kill made it 24-22 Lady Lions, but USA fought off two set points by scoring the next three to get ahead 25-24 and onto set point themselves. Southeastern got back even at 25-25 thanks to another service error by the Jaguars, but it was South Alabama who got the next two in a row to claim the set and a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Lions were once again forced to fight from behind early as South Alabama scored five of the first six points of the second set, a run that extended to seven of the first 10. A kill by
India Bennett seemed to get the Southeastern offense into rhythm as that started a 6-1 Lady Lion run to give SLU its first lead of the set on a kill by Logarbo which made the score 9-8 Southeastern. A SLU service error, which tied the score at 9-9, only served as a small speed bump to the Lady Lion run as Southeastern scored the next six points, a run that included two kills by Brewer, a block by Brewer and
Keira Beverly, and a service ace by
Gracie Duplechein, as SLU took a 15-9 lead. That run eventually ballooned to 9-1 as another Jaguar attack went out of play to make the score 18-10, capping a 15-3 SLU run from the time Southeastern trailed 7-3. South Alabama made a run at getting back into the contest by scoring five of the next six points, but a kill by Brewer started Southeastern's final push as SLU scored six of the last seven points to close out the set at 25-16 and tie the match at 1-1.
The first eight rallies of the third set went back-and-forth, leading to a 4-4 score before a kill by Brewer started a 7-1 SLU run. That run was ended by a kill by Beverly which made the score 11-5 SLU. USA started to cut into the gap, scoring seven of the next nine to make it a one-point set at 13-12. Southeastern answered with three-straight as kills by Hidalgo and Bennett were sandwiched around a block by Bennett and Logarbo to make it 16-12 Lady Lions. With Southeastern up 20-15, the Jaguars went on a 7-2 run to tie the set up at 22-22. The next four rallies were evenly split to tie the set at 24-24, ensuring extra rallies for the second time in the match. But this time, the Lady Lions came through with the back-to-back points needed to win as Hidalgo scored a kill and then got her serve to fall for an ace, giving the Lady Lions a 26-24 set win and going up 2-1 in the match.
South Alabama again held the early edge, getting out to a 4-2 lead in the fourth set. That lead was fleeting for the Jaguars, however, as a kill by Beverly started a run of six-straight Lady Lion points to make it 8-4 off another bad Jaguar attack. USA scored the next two points to make it 8-6, but SLU scored the next three off a Hidalgo kill and back-to-back aces by
Ashley Richardson. That kicked off a larger 10-2 Southeastern run, including the last five in a row, which gave the Lady Lions a commanding 18-8 lead following a kill by Logarbo. It took just 11 more rallies for Southeastern to reach the magic number as, on match point, Bennett and
Kibi Huggins combined to block back a Jaguar attack to secure the match win, 3-1, with a 25-12 win in the set.
Hidalgo led the Southeastern attack with 20 total points off of 17 kills, two service aces, and two block assists. She was efficient on the attack, getting her 17 kills while hitting just one error on 38 total attacks for a .421 attack percentage. Brewer was the next top scorer with 11 kills, two aces, a solo block, and two assisted blocks for a total of 15 points. She got her 11 kills on 33 total attacks while hitting just two errors for a .273 attack percentage. Brewer also picked up her first double-double of the season with 14 digs. Duplechein picked up her third double-double of the season with a team-high 21 assists and 10 digs to go with her service ace. Bennett and Logarbo were both factors at the net with seven total blocks each. Logarbo had one solo and six assisted while all seven of Bennett's were assisted. Logarbo had a total of 11 points in the match as she added seven kills to her line.
Lexi Gonzalez led the back line with 17 digs in the match and had a service ace of her own.
Southeastern ended the match hitting .293 as a team with 49 kills and 10 errors on 133 total attacks. SLU also tallied eight service aces and blocked 15 USA attacks back for points. South Alabama (1-4) hit for better than .150 in just one set, the first, and had more errors than kills in the fourth. All told, the Jaguars hit for .121 in the match with 50 kills to 32 errors on 149 total attacks. The serve helped USA as the Jaguars ended the match with nine service aces but at the net they were outdone in a big way, scoring just five blocks on the day.
The Lady Lions (3-4) were forced to cancel Thursday's scheduled home match against Jackson State due to the forecasted impacts from Tropical Storm Francine that morning. SLU now heads up to Ruston to take part in the Battle for the Boot on Friday, taking on both Southern and Louisiana Tech to wrap up the week of play. Opening serve of the match against the Jaguars (1-6) is set for noon while the match against the Bulldogs (3-4) is set for 6 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center on the Louisiana Tech campus. Neither match of the Battle for the Boot will be televised, but live stats will be available for both matches.
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.
