Nov. 21, 2008
Box Score
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - In its first Southland Conference Tournament appearance since 2003, the seventh-seeded Colonel volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-27, 27-25, 25-14, 25-16) to No. 2 Lamar in the first round.
"It's been a great run for Nicholls volleyball," said Head Coach Chris Laird. "We've had a good season and it was great to make the conference tournament."
Senior Chelsey Adams (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Pensacola JC) led Nicholls offensively with 13 kills, while junior Manieka Golden (Porter, Texas/Galveston CC) recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 20 digs. Adams led the Colonels at the net with four total blocks, including a solo.
Freshman Rachel Yezak (Houston, Texas, Klein) also posted double digit kills and digs for Nicholls, with 12 of each, followed by senior Mallory McInnis (Meraux, La./Chalmette) who tallied 10 kills.
Freshman Danielle Daigle (Napoleonville, La./Assumption) logged a game-high 22 digs, with senior Enjoli Ford (New Orleans, La./McDonough 35) adding 12. Handing out 40 assists was junior Amy Whitehead (San Antonio, Texas/Douglas MacArthur), who added four kills and seven digs.
After finding themselves down 23-20 in the first set, the Colonels used a 7-2 run to claim the 27-25 victory and a 1-0 match advantage, putting the game away with back-to-back kills from Adams and Golden.
Nicholls (9-18, 6-10 SLC) led for much of the second set before a run by Lamar closed the gap to one (21-20). On set point, Lamar knotted the game at 24-all and scored three of the next four points to even the match at 1-1 with a 27-25 win of their own.
The Colonels fell behind early in the third and fourth sets, and never managed to come from behind, falling 25-14 and 25-16 in the final two.
"We played well through the first set and let the second set get away from us." Laird stated. "After that, we just got tight. Lamar did a good job of keeping pressure on us and we couldn't get our mometum back."
Lamar was led by 13 total blocks, including seven from First Team All-SLC player Lauren Holdorff. The Cardinals (15-11, 12-4 SLC) outhit Nicholls .237 to .144, forcing 28 Colonel errors.
"I'm really proud of this team and I really hate that the season is over," noted Laird. "But I'm looking forward to the spring semester and getting ready for next year. These ladies deserve all of the credit because this season was theirs and they did a great job."
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