HAMMOND, La. – The reigning
, two-time Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team had to fight off a ferocious comeback attempt by Incarnate Word for its 19
th-straight Southland Conference win, but big games by
Cicily Hidalgo and
Hannah Brewer helped secure a five-set win over the Cardinals, 3-2 (25-12, 25-15, 23-25, 22-25, 15-12), Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
Hidalgo finished the match with 23 kills, the most she's had in a match since a 24-kill performance against the then-Houston Baptist Huskies in October of 2021. In the process, she moved into third-place on the SLU career kills list, surpassing former teammate
Kailin Newsome, and now sitting at 1,175. She also had her seventh double-double of the year by getting 16 digs as well while her four block assists added to her kill total gave her 25 total points in the match.
Two days after setting a new career-high in kills,
Hannah Brewer reset it again by tallying 16 kills on Saturday. She also achieved her third double-double of the season with 24 digs, another career high for the senior from Benton, Arkansas. With her 16 kills added to two service aces and a block assist, Brewer finished the match with 18.5 points, surpassing another career high she set Thursday in the match against Lamar.
Alexis Logarbo came on late and finished with 13 kills with a block assist for 13.5 points while
Kyra McKelvey also found her rhythm on the attack, getting 11 kills on a .409 attack percentage to account for all of her scoring.
Ashley Richardson and
Gracie Duplechein both set season highs in assists with 34 and 33, respectively. Duplechein had two service aces while Richardson added another ace.
Lexi Gonzalez also had two aces while tying Brewer's team-high dig total with 24.
India Bennett joined Hidalgo with the team-best on the block, also collecting four block assists.
Southeastern (10-4, 2-0 SLC) started fast, scoring on four of the first five rallies to start the match, and never looked back, Hidalgo and Bennett combined on a block for the early, 4-1, edge. Leading 8-5, a kill by Logarbo started a run of three-straight SLU points with an ace by Brewer giving the Lady Lions an 11-5 lead.
UIW (7-5, 0-2 SLC) rallied by scoring four of the next five to get it back within three points at 12-9, but the Lady Lions took complete control from there. A kill by Hidalgo started a run of nine-straight points for Southeastern as Hidalgo capped the run with another kill for a 21-9 SLU advantage. Seven rallies later, a UIW serve missed the mark and the Lady Lions took the first set, 25-12, to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
It was the Cardinals who enjoyed the early edge in the second set, jumping out to a 5-3 lead. After the two teams traded points to make it 6-4, the Southeastern offense got into its flow as a kill by McKelvey started a 10-1 SLU run with a kill by Brewer making the score 14-7.
The Lady Lion lead reached nine points as Brewer's serve fell in for an ace and an 18-9 Southeastern edge. UIW tried to get back into it, scoring four of the next five, but SLU answered every run the Cardinals tried to put together in the final stretch. A kill by McKelvey on set point gave the Lady Lions a 25-15 win in the second set, and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Just like in the second set, UIW opened the third by scoring five of the first eight points to enjoy the early edge. A kill by McKelvey seemed to set Southeastern on the right past as SLU scored four of the next five to claim the lead at 7-6.
But instead of being able to pull away, the Lady Lions and Cardinals ended up trading points and short runs back-and-forth throughout much of the remainder of the set, a set which saw 17 ties in it. The third, and final, lead change of the set went UIW's way as it broke a 23-23 deadlock and was the second of three-straight points scored by the Cardinals to end the third with a 25-23 score in UIW's favor, extending the match to a fourth set and giving SLU its first set loss after 17-straight set victories.
Trailing 3-2 to open the fourth, SLU once again looked like it was ready to open the margin to secure the win as a Cardinal attack error started a run of four-straight Lady Lion points, part of a larger 7-1 Southeastern run to take a 9-4 lead off of a kill by McKelvey.
UIW answered immediately by scoring the next six points to reclaim the lead at 10-9. From there, it looked like a repeat of the third set with the two teams trading short runs as the two sides traded the lead five times during the frame and saw the score tied up nine times. With SLU leading 15-14, UIW started finding its way, scoring six of the next seven to open a four-point lead at 20-16. The Cardinals fought off every SLU attempt at starting a run and a service error by Southeastern on set point gave UIW a 25-22 win in the fourth, forcing the decisive fifth set.
After UIW opened the scoring in the sprint to 15 points, a kill by Logarbo started a run of four-straight SLU points with a set error by the Cardinals giving the Lady Lions a 3-1 lead.
UIW battled back as, trailing 4-2, the Cardinals went on a 5-1 run to take a 7-5 lead. Back-to-back kills by Brewer tied the score at 7-7, but a Cardinal block followed and the two teams switched sides with UIW up 8-7. UIW added another point on a Lady Lion error after the switch to go up 9-7, but a Cardinal service error and a kill by Logarbo tied the score again at 9-9.
The Cardinals reclaimed the lead at 10-9 on a kill, but that would be UIW's final lead of the match as kills by Brewer and Logarbo put SLU ahead 11-10. UIW tied it at 11-11 with a kill, but Southeastern took control as kills by Hidalgo and Logarbo were followed by Bennett and Hidalgo combining to block back a Cardinal attack to get the Lady Lions onto match point. UIW fought off one match point, but Hidalgo made the second one count, scoring a kill for the match's final point to give Southeastern the win.
The Lady Lions face a quick turnaround as SLU will make the quick trip down I-55 on Tuesday for a date with New Orleans. Opening serve of Tuesday's match against the Privateers (2-11, 0-1 SLC) is set for 6:30 p.m. in the UNO Human Performance Center.
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.
