Sept. 20, 2008

Box Score

MOBILE, Ala. - Back on the court at the Jaguar Classic, Nicholls picked up its second win of the 2008 season, defeating Jackson State 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-22) Saturday afternoon at Jag Gym.

The Colonels improve to 2-7 on the season, while Jackson State drops to 1-14.

"I think that any win is a good win and today was a necessary win for us," said head coach Chris Laird. "I felt like we could have won in a more convincing fashion and we should have played better than we did, we just have to learn to get over the hills and valleys of playing and play more consistently."

Senior Mallory McInnis (Meraux, La./Chalmette) led Nicholls with 11 kills, followed by Rachel Spreen (Houston, Texas/Bellaire) who posted 10. McInnis and Spreen each finished with nine digs, while senior libero Enjoli Ford (New Orleans, La./McDonough 25) had a team-leading 10 digs. Freshman Rachel Yezak posted six total blocks, tallying five block assists and a block solo.

Junior setter Amy Whitehead posted 20 assists through the first two sets, while Jordan Karst (Woodstock, Ga./Etowah) logged nine in the final frame.

Whitehead served the Colonels to an early 5-0 lead in the first set before Nicholls errors allowed Jackson State to clamour back and tie the frame at seven. The squads traded the lead back and forth, until the Colonels broke a 12-12 stalemate with a 4-1 run. But the Tigers battled back again, knotting the game at 20-all. Nicholls used another 4-1 run to force a Jackson State timeout at a 24-21 set point before the Colonels took a 1-0 match advantage with the 25-21 win.

Spreen paced Nicholls with five kills, while Whitehead's seven assists led the Colonels. Ford had a team-leading five digs, while McInnis and Daigle each posted four. Yezak led the Colonels at the net, tallying two blocks.

The Tigers held close through the second stanza, never falling more than four points behind the Colonel lead. Jackson State called a timeout with the score 15-11 in favor of Nicholls, but the Colonels continued their momentum, running the score to 22-16 and forcing a second Tiger timeout. After trading points and serves back and forth, the Colonels clinched a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-20 victory.

McInnis led the Colonels offensively, tallying five kills and hitting .400 in the frame. Daigle added four digs to her ledger, while Ford and Spreen each logged three. Spreen recorded three more digs, and Whitehead dished out 13 assists.

Set number three saw the Colonels down 4-3 early, before rallying back to take a 10-8 lead. Nicholls slowly extended its lead to 14-10, but Jackson State took advantage of key errors by the Colonels to tie the game at 15. The Colonels scored three-straight points for an 18-5 advantage, but the Tigers stayed a live, scoring seven of the next 10 points for a 22-22 tie. Spreen then served out the match for Nicholls as the Colonels clinched with win 25-22.

For Nicholls, McInnis recorded four kills and five digs, while Spreen also contributed five digs. Yezak tallied a block solo as well as two block assists. Karst handed out nine assists as the setter for the Colonels.

"We used a different lineup today because what we had out there wasn't working," added Laird. "We did some good things today and I believe that we are headed in the right direction again. Yesterday we took a step back and hopefully today we took a step forward."

Spreen and Ford were named to the All-Tournament team for the Jaguar Classic.

The Colonels will return to the court Friday, traveling to Hammond to face Southeastern Louisiana in the first Southland Conference match of the season.

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