CONWAY, Ark. – The reigning, back-to-back Southland Conference regular season champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team rode a career high scoring day from
India Bennett to come away with a 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 25-27, 25-15) win over the Little Rock Trojans Friday afternoon at the Central Arkansas Invitational at the Prince Center.
Southeastern (4-0) hit .269 as a team, getting 55 kills on 145 total attacks and committed 16 attack errors. SLU also scored on five service aces and 14 blocks of Little Rock attacks. The Trojans (2-2) were held to .124 hitting as a team, including a -0.02 in the fourth set, getting 51 kills while committing 30 errors on 170 total attacks. UALR also tallied five service aces and blocked six Lady Lion attacks back.
Bennett ended the match with 17 points, her highest point total in a single match during her time at Southeastern. She finished with 11 kills on a .409 hitting percentage while getting nine total blocks, three of which were solo jobs. She also added four digs in the contest.
Kyra McKelvey hit at a .290 clip while finishing with a match-high 14 kills while adding a solo block to end with 15 total points. She was also credited with five digs during the match.
Alexis Logarbo got 10 kills on a .364 attack percentage while adding six blocks of her own, one of which was solo, to end the day with 13.5 points. She was also credited with an assist and four digs.
Ayla Klingenberg had seven kills while hitting .538 and had three blocks, one solo, for a nine-point match. She also came up with five digs in the match.
Ashley Richardson, picked up her second-straight assists-digs double-double, and second of the season, securing 25 assists and 14 digs. She also had three service aces to account for her scoring.
Peyton Stokley added 20 assists with four digs while getting three points, two off of service aces and one from a kill.
Lexi Gonzalez led the defense with 15 digs while
Lily Morgan ended up with 13 digs to go with six kills and two assists.
The first set was as even as it could possibly be with neither team holding a lead larger than two points until the set's closing rallies. With the score tied at 20-20, a kill by McKelvey started a run of four-straight Southeastern points to get the Lady Lions on set point after a Trojan attack error. Two rallies later, the deciding point came off of McKelvey's hand again as she got the kill to end the first set in SLU's favor, 25-21, and go up 1-0 in the match.
SLU looked to bust the second set open early as a kill by Logarbo broke a 4-4 tie to kick off a run of four-straight Lady Lion points, and six out of seven, to go up 10-5 on another Trojan attack miscue.
Little Rock responded right back, scoring on six of the next seven rallies to tie things back up at 11-11, only to see a McKelvey kill, a solo block by Bennett, and a block shared between Bennett and Logarbo push SLU back out to a 14-11 edge.
While the Trojans kept it close, the Lady Lions would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the set. Leading 23-21, Bennett scored on a kill to put Southeastern on set point, and then
Abigail Bailey finished it off with a kill of her own, giving SLU the second set, 25-21, and a 2-0 lead in the match.
While a kill by Bailey gave the Lady Lions a 3-1 lead early in the third set, Little Rock would rattle off eight of the next 11 points to go ahead 9-6, which would be the largest lead for either side in the set.
With the set tied at 20-20, kills by Morgan and Logarbo gave Southeastern an edge as the Lady Lions sought the sweep. The Trojans responded with three-straight points to reclaim the lead before Bennett tied things up again at 23-23 with a kill.
A kill by the Trojans put Little Rock on set point, but a block by Logarbo staved that off and then an ace by Stokley put the Lady Lions on match point. A SLU set error gave the Trojans another chance, and Little Rock took advantage by getting a kill and an ace to take the third set, 27-25, and push the match to a fourth set.
It was a much better start for the Lady Lions in the fourth as a Little Rock attack error was followed by a kill by Morgan and an ace by Richardson to put Southeastern up 3-0. Southeastern extended the lead out to 5-1 on a kill by Morgan and another solo block by Bennett. SLU pushed that lead out further as back-to-back Trojan errors, one on serve and the other on attack, made it 8-3 Lady Lions.
Little Rock had a big answer, however, going on a 9-2 run to take its first lead of the set at 12-10 on a Southeastern attack error. A kill by McKelvey, a block by Bennett and Logarbo, and a kill by Logarbo, put the Lady Lions back up before the Trojans tied it up again at 13-13.
From that point on, it was all SLU as the Lady Lions scored six-straight points to blow the score wide open at 19-13 on a Bennett kill. That was the start of what would become a match-ending 12-2 Southeastern run to end the contest as Bailey and Klingenberg combined to block back a Trojan attack on match point to end the set, 25-15, and the contest.
The Lady Lions wrap up their time in the Central Arkansas Invitational on Saturday as Southeastern takes on the hosts, Central Arkansas. Opening serve of Saturday's match against the Sugar Bears (0-2) is set for 12 p.m. in the Prince Center. The match will be televised on ESPN+ with live stats also available through the host institution.
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.
