LAFAYETTE, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team finished off the non-conference portion of its schedule with a pair of dominant wins at the Ragin' Cajuns Classic on Friday, sweeping both the Florida A&M Rattlers (25-19, 25-22, 25-14) and Jacksonville State Gamecocks (25-14, 25-13, 25-22) Friday in the Earl K. Long Gym on the campus of the University of Louisiana – Lafayette.
Match 1 – Southeastern 3, Florida A&M 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-14)
Cicily Hidalgo led the Lady Lions (8-4) with 12 kills on a .409 attack percentage in the day's first match with two service aces and a block assist for 14.5 points against Florida A&M.
Keira Beverly had 11 points off of eight kills while hitting .412, a service ace, and four block assists.
Hannah Brewer had a team-high 15 digs while scoring eight kills on a .316 attack percentage.
Gracie Duplechein had a team-high 17 assists.
Lexi Gonzalez joined Hidalgo with two service aces.
Both Hidalgo and Duplechein continued their march up the Southeastern record books. During the match against the Rattlers, Hidalgo moved into fourth-place on the SLU career kills list while Duplechein took over fourth-place all alone on the SLU career assists lists.
The Lady Lions had 43 kills on 103 total attacks with 14 errors for a .282 team attack percentage. SLU also scored on five aces and blocked back nine Rattler attacks for points. Florida A&M (7-4) ended the match with 28 kills on 99 total attacks with 18 errors for a .101 team attack percentage, which included finishing with a -.125 attack percentage in the third set. The Rattlers also scored with four service aces and seven total blocks.
Southeastern couldn't have started the match much better as Beverly and
Alexis Logarbo blocked back an attack to open the scoring, the first of four-straight Lady Lion points to kick off the first set which was part of a larger 7-2 run to begin the game with Hidalgo scoring an ace to end the run.
FAMU cut that deficit down to two points at 12-10 before a kill by
India Bennett kicked off a run of four-straight SLU points as a kill by Hidalgo made it 16-10. FAMU got as close as four points, 18-14, the rest of the set, but the Lady Lions allowed the pull no closer as Hidalgo scored a kill on set point for a 25-19 final and a 1-0 lead in the match.
FAMU held the advantage throughout most of the second set, jumping out to a 3-1 lead and the Rattlers had an answer every time Southeastern got the set back tied up. SLU's only lead in the early going came on a service ace by Hidalgo to cap a run of three-straight Lady Lions points which made the score 7-6 SLU. FAMU scored the next two and four of the next five to reclaim a 10-8 lead.
Southeastern's next lead in the second set didn't come until a Rattler attack error pushed the Lady Lions back in front at 17-16. With the set tied at 19-19, a kill by Hidalgo started the push the Lady Lions needed to pull away as SLU scored the next four points to go up 23-19 after a kill by Brewer. It took five more rallies to close out the set, but when a FAMU serve didn't get into play, the set came to a close with a 25-22 score, putting Southeastern up 2-0 in the match.
The early portion of the third set was much like the second, with FAMU starting the scoring and staying a point ahead of the Lady Lions through the first five rallies. A kill by Hidalgo and a block by Bennett and
Kibi Huggins put SLU in front for the first time in the set before a Rattler kill tied the score back up at 4-4.
That's where Southeastern went on the big run to open up the margin and take control of the set. A kill by Huggins was the first of six-straight SLU points, which was only slowed by a single Rattler point before the Lady Lions scored four more in a row as a Brewer kill capped the 11-1 SLU run and put Southeastern up 15-5.
FAMU scored the next four and seven of the next nine to try to get back in it at 17-12, but the Lady Lions let them get no closer, scoring on eight of the match's final 10 rallies, including the last four. A FAMU attack on match point missed the court, giving the Lady Lions a 25-14 set win to clinch the match in three.
Match 2 – Southeastern 3, Jacksonville State 0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-22)
Four Lady Lions scored double-digits in the night cap against Jacksonville State (7-5), led by Brewer's 12 points on nine kills, with a .320 attack percentage, two service aces, and a solo block. Hidalgo had the most kills in the match with 10 on a .333 attack percentage while adding a service ace to account for her 11 points in the match against the Gamecocks.
Logarbo and Bennett each finished with 10 points with Bennett getting eight kills on a team-best .667 attack percentage, a solo block, and two block assists while Logarbo had seven kills and six block assists. Beverly matched Logarbo's block total, also assisting on six blocks during the contest. Duplechein had three service aces while dishing out 16 assists, both team highs in the match.
Lexi Gonzalez led the back line with 11 digs.
The Lady Lions got 38 kills on 92 total attacks with a season-low nine errors for a .315 team attack percentage, the best of the season so far, in the win over the Gamecocks. SLU also scored on a season high-tying eight service aces and had 10 total blocks. Jax State was limited to 34 kills on 108 total attacks and committed 21 attack errors for a .120 attack percentage. The Gamecocks also scored on two aces and two total blocks in the match.
Southeastern started fast and never really looked back in the first set as a kill by Logarbo punctuated a 3-0 start in the Lady Lions favor. With SLU leading 9-6, a kill by Brewer started an 11-3 run, substantially opening up the score as a kill by Hidalgo made it 20-9. 10 rallies later, the set ended as a Gamecock serve failed to be put in play, ending the set with a 25-14 score and a 1-0 SLU lead in the match.
Set two opened much like the first as kills by Hidalgo and Bennett gave Southeastern a lead it would not relinquish. SLU pushed the lead up to 8-3 on a kill by Huggins, but saw Jax State rally with four-straight points to cut it to a one-point lead for the Lady Lions at 8-7.
However, a kill by Beverly started the run that all but put the set out of reach as Southeastern scored the next nine points as Duplechein got a serve to fall for an ace and a 17-7 Lady Lion lead. The Gamecocks scored the next two, but Brewer got those points back and more by herself, scoring a kill and back-to-back service aces to make it 20-9 Lady Lions. Nine rallies after that, the set came to its end as Bennett rejected a Gamecock attack on set point for the 25-13 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Jacksonville State got the start it wanted in pursuit of forcing a fourth-set, scoring on seven of the first nine rallies to take a 7-2 lead. Every time Southeastern tried to rally, the Gamecocks had an answer, eventually pushing its lead up to six points at 13-7 on a kill which forced a SLU timeout.
The timeout seemed to do its job and got Jax State out of its rhythm as back-to-back attack errors out of it kicked off a 7-2 run, which forced the Gamecocks to use a timeout of their own following a kill by Bennett that cut the deficit to one point at 15-14. The Jax State timeout failed to slow the Lady Lion run as Southeastern scored four more points out of it to make it a six-straight SLU points and an 11-2 Lady Lion run, giving Southeastern its first lead of the set at 18-15 off of a Hidalgo kill.
Jax State scored the next two points out of its last timeout of the set, but a Gamecock service error gave SLU the first of four-straight Lady Lion points. That push was capped by a kill by Bennett which pushed Southeastern's lead out to 22-17. The Gamecocks scored five of the next six, including the last four in a row, to cut the SLU lead down to a single point at 23-22, but a solo block by Brewer got Southeastern on set point, and then she finished it off with a kill for the 25-22 set final to complete the second sweep of the day.
With non-conference play now finished, the Lady Lions will ride an eight-match win streak into Southland Conference action. Southeastern's SLC slate begins inside the friendly confines of the University Center as Lamar makes its visit to Hammond, America. Opening serve of Thursday's match against the Cardinals (6-4) is set for 6:30 p.m. and it'll be Greek Night with the first 100 students to come to the match getting free dinner from Raising Cane's while all fans in attendance can get autographs from their favorite Lady Lions following the contest. Thursday's SLC opener is set to be televised on ESPN+ with live stats also available.
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.
