Sept. 22, 2007

Box Score

THIBODAUX, La. - Last night, the Colonels volleyball team looked like a team that was able to execute a gameplan early against the Lamar Cardinals, but not late en route to a three-set loss. Today, the defending division champs McNeese came into Thibodaux after defeating Southeastern the night before hoping to do the same. Instead what the Cowgirls found was possibly the best overall effort from the Colonels and exited Stopher Gym with a 3-0 (31-29, 30-20, 30-20) loss.

Nicholls (7-11, 1-1) and McNeese State (8-9, 1-1) battled back and forth the entire first set, with it coming down to the final two points before Nicholls got the final two points to get the victory. After that set, the two teams went in completely opposite directions as Nicholls dominated the final two sets, while McNeese couldn't seem to put anything together.

"This was a very good win for us, and all the credit has to go to the players for being able to execute so efficiently," head coach Chris Laird said. "After what happened last night, i made the challenge to them to show how competitive they can be, and they did."

Last night, sophomore Rachel Spreen was picked on by Cardinal server Andrea Hamilton and took out her frustrations on the Cowgirls to the tune of 6 aces, with five in a row in the second set.

Nicholls still had 21 attack errors in the match, but exploded for 51 kills led by Aaliyah Muhammad's 18 errorless kills on 21 attempts. Muhammad finished with a season high .857 hitting percentage. Spreen was second with 11. As a team, Nicholls hit over .500 percent in the final set and .275 for the game.

Lindsay Brooks the Cowgirls with eight kills, and kept Lindsey Peitzold to only six. Last weeks defensive player of the week Jessica Strama only had 15 digs in the contest.

"I hope after tonight, the players know that they can compete in this conference," Laird said. "They beat a very solid McNeese team, and hopefully it will go a long way and give us more confidence down the road."

The Colonels will be in action again next Friday as they take on Southeastern at 7 p.m. in Thibodaux.