HAMMOND, La. – The reigning, back-to-back Southland Conference regular season champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team begins its quest for a fourth-straight championship season this weekend as it hosts the Southeastern Showdown, taking on Louisiana Tech, ULM, and Jackson State.
 
Friday sees Southeastern take on the Warhawks at 12:30 before taking on the Bulldogs at 7 p.m. in day one's nightcap. SLU wraps up the Southeastern Showdown by taking on the Tigers at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Saturday will also be Youth Sports Day where all youth sports teams in the area are invited to attend and be recognized.
 
All matches of the Southeastern Showdown will take place in the University Center with live stats available through StatBroadcast. Southeastern's three matches will be televised on ESPN+ with radio broadcasts also available at LionUpRadio.org.
 
SLU will look to use their home court advantage to get off to fast start to the season, having won 38 of their last 41 matches inside the friendly confines of the University Center since 2022.
 
The previous edition of the Southeastern Showdown was not too kind to SLU as the Lady Lions amassed a 1-2 record, the only two home defeats of the year, to kick off the 2023 season. Those losses came to a power conference team in Washington and a UTEP squad which was selected for the postseason and eventually reached the championship match of the NIVC.
 
Southeastern has had plenty of recent success against the three teams coming in for this year's version of the event, having won six-straight against ULM while holding three-match win streaks over both Louisiana Tech and Jackson State with all three win streaks dating back to at least 2018.
 
The Lady Lions saw both ULM and Louisiana Tech last back at the 2023 Battle for the Boot in Natchitoches. SLU beat the Warhawks in four sets on day one at Northwestern State and then swept the Bulldogs on day two. Southeastern's scheduled match with Jackson State in 2024 was canceled due to tropical weather concerns. The Lady Lions swept the Tigers in three sets in the previous meeting between the two teams which came during the 2022 season, which was also played in Hammond.
 
After this opening weekend, the Lady Lions will be out on the road for nearly a month for a stretch of eight-straight matches away from Hammond, America. SLU's next home game will be Sept. 23 when Southern comes to the University Center. The first leg of the road trip starts next weekend in Conway, Ark. at the Central Arkansas Invitational.
 
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 on Twitter, @LionUpVB on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.