HAMMOND, La. – The reigning, back-to-back Southland Conference regular season champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team opened its season in dominant fashion, sweeping both ULM (25-9, 25-18, 25-16) and Louisiana Tech (25-20, 25-19, 25-13) Friday on day one of the Southeastern Showdown at the University Center.
Match 1 – Southeastern 3 (25, 25, 25), ULM 0 (9, 18, 16)
Kyra McKelvey led the offense in the opener with 14 total points, scoring 12 kills with no errors on 16 total attacks for a .750 attack percentage. She also had three total blocks, one solo, and a pair of digs.
India Bennett ended the match with 10 points, getting eight kills and four block assists against the Warhawks.
Peyton Stokley led the setters with 22 assists and seven digs while Ashley Richardons had 11 assists, five digs, and contributed a pair of service aces.
Lexi Gonzalez solidified the back line with 11 digs and had a pair of assists.
Southeastern (2-0) took little time to establish its dominance on day one, running away from the Warhawks in the first set of the season. SLU opened the set by scoring the first four points, a run capped by a Richardson service ace, and then turned that into a 9-2 run as a ULM attack error gave the Lady Lions the early seven-point advantage.
With the Lady Lions leading 11-5, a kill by McKelvey started a run of eight-straight SLU point. McKelvey capped the run herself with another kill, giving Southeastern a 19-5 lead.
ULM (1-1) scored two of the next three to make it 20-7 SLU, but the Lady Lions scored the next four to get onto set point, which they got three rallies later on a kill by Bennett to end the first set with a 25-9 score and putting Southeastern up 1-0 in the match.
SLU faced a bit of adversity to open the second set, falling behind 4-1. Three straight kills by
Alexis Logarbo tied the score up, but the Warhawks would get the side out and keep an edge by scoring three of the next four to go up 7-5.
A ULM service error started to get things going for the Lady Lions in set two, starting a 7-1 SLU run which put Southeastern up 12-8 on a kill by McKelvey. After trading the next two points, the Warhawks proved they had another run in them, scoring four-straight to tie the set again at 13-13.
But a kill by Bennett started the run that finally opened Southeastern some space on the scoreline as the Lady Lions rattled off nine of the next 10 points to bust open a 22-14 lead on a kill by Logarbo.
It took seven rallies to get the final three points, but a ULM service error brought the second set to its conclusion as the Lady Lions won the set 25-18 to go up 2-0 in the match.
The start to the third set brought even more early adversity for Southeastern than the second set did as the Lady Lions found themselves down 6-1 after the opening seven rallies.
SLU cut into the deficit slowly over the first half of the set, getting it down to one at 13-12 on a ULM attack error. A Lady Lion service error gave the Warhawks a two-point edge, but Southeastern found its rhythm again right then.
A kill by
Abigail Bailey set off an 8-0 SLU push, just the start of what became a match-ending 13-2 run. Bennett capped the run with a kill, finishing the third set 25-16, and the match 3-0 in SLU's favor.
The Lady Lions his .344 as a team in the match against ULM, collecting 40 kills while committing just eight errors on 93 total attacks. SLU also scored on four service aces and blocked back nine Warhawk attacks for points in the opener.
For its part, ULM was held to just a .020 hitting percentage in the contest, hitting below .100 in all three sets, getting 25 kills while making 23 errors in 102 attacks. The Warhawks tallied two service aces and blocked back four Southeastern attacks in the contest.
Match 2 – Southeastern 3 (25, 25, 25), Louisiana Tech 0 (20, 19, 13)
Bennett and McKelvey matched each other's offensive output in the day's second match as both scored 14 points against Louisiana Tech. Bennett's 14 points came off of 12 kills, which she got off of a .500 attack percentage, with three total blocks, one of which was solo. McKelvey got her 14 points off of 13 kills, hitting at a .526 clip, and a pair of block assists. She also added a pair of digs.
Ayla Klingenberg had her first double-digit scoring match as a Lady Lion, scoring 10 points off of eight kills with a .538 attack percentage and a couple block assists.
Richardson finished the match with 21 assists, a pair of service aces, and eight digs. Stokley added 19 assists to go with a dig.
Gonzalez continued to be everywhere on defense, coming up with 18 digs in the three sets against the Bulldogs while also scoring on a service ace and picking up a trio of assists and a kill.
Southeastern's battle with the Bulldogs (1-1) in the nightcap of day one started as a back-and-forth battle as the two teams looked for the early advantage.
Leading 9-8, a kill by Bennett seemed to get the Lady Lion offense into gear as SLU scored six of the next eight points to open a 15-10 lead on a Klingenberg kill.
LA Tech closed that deficit down to two points several times throughout the remainder of the set, the final time at 21-19. However, another kill by Klingenberg set the Lady Lions on the path to closing out the set as Southeastern scored three-straight to get onto set point. Two rallies later, a kill by McKelvey capped the scoring, giving SLU a 25-20 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set started similarly to the first, in that both teams sought an early edge, trading points through the early rallies, but SLU didn't take long to open up the score. Tied 6-6, a McKelvey kill started a 14-2 SLU run, which included a spurt of eight-straight Lady Lion point to it. The run ended on a kill by
Lily Morgan, giving Southeastern a 20-8 lead.
But closing out the Bulldogs in the set did not come easily as Louisiana Tech scored on 11 of the final 16 rallies to cut into the Lady Lion lead, however, SLU finally put the set away on a kill by Klingenberg as the set finished 25-19, giving Southeastern a 2-0 lead overall.
Looking to build off the momentum gained at the end of the second set, LA Tech opened the scoring of the third set, and held even with Southeastern through the first 10 rallies with a 5-5 score.
But a kill by McKelvey got everything going for the Lady Lions as SLU went on a 17-3 run, the last 10 of which came in a row, to take full control of the match at 22-8 with a kill by
Anne Brauckmiller ending the scoring run.
LA Tech scored five of the next seven, but the result was little in doubt and, on SLU's second match point, McKelvey finished it off with a kill to end the third set 25-13 and give the Lady Lions their second sweep of the day.
Southeastern finished the match against the Bulldogs hitting .348 as a team, getting 52 kills while committing 12 errors on 115 total attacks. SLU also got five serves to fall in for aces and blocked back five LA Tech attacks for scores.
Louisiana Tech hit .228 as a team in the match, getting 34 kills and 11 errors on 101 total attacks. The Bulldogs put down two aces and blocked back four Lady Lions attacks.
SLU looks to finish the Southeastern Showdown undefeated as the Lady Lions wrap up the opening weekend of the season when they take on Jackson State. Opening serve of Saturday's match against the Tigers (0-2) is set for 2 p.m. in the University Center. The match will be televised on ESPN+ with a radio broadcast also available at lionupradio.org.
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.
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