CONWAY, Ark. – The reigning, back-to-back Southland Conference regular season champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team got a career high scoring performance by
Kyra McKelvey to hold off a Central Arkansas comeback, defeating the Sugar Bears 3-1 (25-23, 27-25, 22-25, 26-24) to wrap up the Central Arkansas Invitational Saturday at the Prince Center.
Southeastern (5-0) remains unbeaten after closing out the Central Arkansas Invitational with a pair of 3-1 wins. In the victory over the Sugar Bears (1-3), the Lady Lions hit .213 as a team, getting 63 kills on 164 total attacks while committing 28 attack errors. SLU also got points from one service ace and 16 blocks of UCA attack.
McKelvey finished the match with 21 kills to match her most at Southeastern, which she also accomplished in a thrilling, five-set win at home over Stephen F. Austin last November. In the win over the Sugar Bears, she hit .368 on her way to her kill total. Her 22.5 points was also a career high, which she got by adding three block assists to her scoreline. She was also credited with three digs on the day.
Alexis Logarbo finished her day with 17 points, just a half-point off of her career high in scoring. She ended the day with 13 kills on a .323 attack percentage while getting in on seven blocks, one of which was solo. Logarbo got four digs on the defensive end as well.
India Bennett had a big day at the net, getting in on 12 blocks during the match, two of which were solo. She came up one kill shy of a kills-blocks double-double, getting nine kills to give her 16 points in the contest. She also got credit for two assists and two digs.
Abigail Bailey ended the match with 10 points, getting nine kills and a pair of blocks while also contributing 19 digs on the back side.
Ashley Richardson got her third-straight double-double with a match-high 29 assists to go with 14 digs.
Peyton Stokley had 24 assists and eight digs while her lone point came on Southeastern's lone service ace of the day.
Lexi Gonzalez was all over the place along the back line for the Lady Lions, getting a season-high 23 digs, just two off of her career high which was set last season.
It was an even match throughout, starting with the first set. Central Arkansas jumped out to a 5-2 edge before an
Ayla Klingenberg kill sent Southeastern on a 7-1 run, the last five of which came in a row off of a kill by Bailey and four-straight McKelvey kills as SLU went up 9-6.
The Sugar Bears answered right back with a 5-1 run to reclaim the lead at 11-10 before back-to-back kills by Bennett started a 4-1 SLU push to go back up 14-12 off of a UCA attack error.
With the set tied again at 16-16,
Lily Morgan blocked back a Sugar Bear attack and the McKelvey got two more kills back-to-back to open up a 19-16 edge once again. UCA battled back to tie the score up once again at 21-21.
A Logarbo kill and a Sugar Bear miscue on the attack gave the Lady Lions a 23-21 edge, one that would finally hold for the rest of the set. Another Logarbo kill got the Lady Lions onto set point, and a UCA attack would miss the floor two rallies later, giving Southeastern a 25-23 set one win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Neither team would take a greater than two-point lead in the second set until, with the score tied at 13-13, the Sugar Bears went on a 4-1 run to take a 17-14 advantage off of a SLU set error. Trailing 19-16, a McKelvey kill, a block by Bennett and
Ainsley Driska, and a block by Bennett and Logarbo pulled the Lady Lions back even at 19-19.
Southeastern dropped the next two points, falling behind 21-19, before a UCA service error, and kills by Logarbo and Bennett put SLU back in front at 22-21. The Sugar Bears scored the next three to get onto set point with the Lady Lions needing to fight off two to remain alive in the match.
Bennett and Klingenberg scored kills on the next two rallies to get Central Arkansas off of set point, though a Sugar Bear point on the next rally would give UCA one more chance to end the set in their favor. Bailey made sure they would not do so, getting back-to-back kills to fight off the third set point and then put Southeastern onto set point. Bailey would then combine with Klingenberg to block back a Sugar Bear attack and give the Lady Lions the set two win, 27-25, and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set three started to get away from SLU in the early moments as, tied at 4-4, UCA scored four-straight and six out of seven to open a 10-5 lead. Southeastern would fall behind by as much as six points during the set at 17-11, 18-12, and 19-13.
But the Lady Lions did not just stop and move on to set four as a McKelvey kill started a run of five-straight Southeastern points which included another kill by McKelvey and one by Morgan as well as a block shared between Bennett and McKelvey.
The Sugar Bears scored three-straight and four of five to reopen a four-point edge, only to see Bennett get a kill, a solo block, and then combine on a block with Bailey to get Southeastern back within a point at 23-22. SLU's comeback was not to be, however, as a service error by the Lady Lions put UCA on set point, and a kill gave the Sugar Bears a 25-22 set win, cutting Southeastern's advantage in the match down to 2-1 and force another set to be played.
Set four started just as evenly as the match had been, with the two teams trading points. With Southeastern leading 7-6, Central Arkansas went on a 5-1 run to open up an 11-8 lead after blocking back a SLU attack.
After trading points to give UCA a 12-9 lead, McKelvey and Bennett combined on a block, an error on the attack by the Sugar Bears, back-to-back blocks by Bennett and Logarbo gave the Lady Lions the lead again at 13-12.
Southeastern was finally able to open up a gap when, trailing 16-15, a Klingenberg kill started a 6-1 SLU run as the Lady Lions evenly split three-straight points around a UCA point to go up 21-17 as McKelvey and Klingenberg blocked back a Sugar Bear attack.
SLU slowly pulled closer to the victory, getting to match point as a kill by Logarbo made it 24-20 Lady Lions. However, Central Arkansas fought off four match points to tie the score at 24-24 and force.
But the Lady Lions, particularly Logarbo, would not allow the UCA comeback to be completed as Logarbo won a solo dual, blocking back a Sugar Bear attack to again get Southeastern onto match point. On the next rally, Richardson found Logarbo again for the big swing which found the court for the kill and the triumph, winning the set, 26-24, and the match, 3-1.
Southeastern's defense was exceptional for most of the match, holding Central Arkansas to just a .109 attack percentage as the Sugar Bears got 47 kills but committed 28 errors on 174 total attacks. Where UCA found success was on the serve, getting nine service aces to fall during the contest. The Sugar Bears also blocked back 14 SLU attacks for points.
The Lady Lions now head to Mobile, Ala. to take part in the Jaguar Invitational, hosted by the University of South Alabama. Southeastern starts the Jaguar Invitational on Thursday against the event hosts. Opening serve of Thursday's match against the Jaguars (1-3) is set for 6 p.m. in Jaguar Gym and 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.
