Nov. 3, 2009

Box Score

HAMMOND, La. - The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team (10-16, 4-8 Southland Conference) started strong, but the Southeastern Louisiana University Lady Lions (8-15, 4-8 Southland) rallied for a five-set victory on Tuesday night.

The 3-2 loss (by scores of 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 17-25, 13-15) coupled with Texas-San Antonio's win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, drops the Colonels out of a tie for the seventh of eight Southland Conference Tournament spots. The Lions, by virtue of sweeping the season series with the Colonels, now own the tiebreaker over Nicholls for the final spot in the Southland tournament.

The Colonels got off to a fast start, out-hitting the Lions .219 (13-6-32) to .083 (11-8-36) in the first. Senior Manieka Golden and freshman Jennifer Brandt each had a team-high three kills in the first and Nicholls combined for 3.0 total blocks in the opening frame to outpace Southeastern to a 25-21 win.

Nicholls continued its hot hitting in the second set by posting a .216 (14-6-37) team average. Brandt added five more kills in the second, and the Colonels racked up 20 digs to hold the Lions to a .047 hitting percentage (11-9-43) en route to a 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Southeastern refused to go quietly as the two squads battled through 11 ties and five lead changes in a hard-fought third set. However, after the Colonels rallied to tie the match the Lions put together a late 7-3 rally for a 25-21 win and avoid the straight set loss.

The two teams slugged it out again in the fourth set. After a back-and-forth battle early on, the Colonels briefly took an 11-10 lead. However, the Lions went on a 4-0 run to take a 14-11 lead that they would not relinquish. Southeastern went on an 11-6 run from that point for a 25-17 win to even the match at 2-2 and force a decisive fifth set.

The Lions started strong with a 4-0 opening run in the final frame before the Colonels took a timeout. The Colonels responded by twice rallying to within one point, but Southeastern would hold on for the 15-13 win.

The Colonels will now return to Thibodaux to close out their 2009 home schedule. Nicholls will play host to conference rival Texas-San Antonio on Friday night before hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday for Senior Day.

A win over the Roadrunners on Friday would put the Colonels back in the Southland Conference Tournament field by giving Nicholls the tiebreaker over UTSA.