Sept. 25, 2009

Box Score

THIBODAUX - After falling behind 2-0 in their 2009 Southland Conference season opener, the Nicholls State University volleyball team (5-9) began mounting a rally with a resounding third set win, but it wasn't enough as the Southeastern Louisiana University Lions (5-8) rode a 5-0 run to open the fourth set to a 25-19 win and a 3-1 (24-26, 22-25, 25-18, 19-25) victory on Friday night in Stopher Gym.

Sophomore Rachel Yezak turned in her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs, freshman Jennifer Brandt added a team-high 13 kills and senior Manieka Golden added 11 more, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Lions.

A season-best crowd of 326 was packed into the confines of the gym to welcome the Colonels home for the first time since Sept. 1, and nearly help Nicholls to an opening set victory.

"It was great seeing so many peopl in the crowd after not being at home for so long, head coach Chris Laird said. "It's just disappointing that we weren't able to play the way we are capable of playing and get a win in front of the home crowd."

"We just got beat by a much improved Southeastern team," Laird added. "They came focused and prepared to play, and we needed to do a better job making sure we're ready. We'll start addressing that on Monday, but it's a long conference season and our girls know we're capable of playing better than that. If anything, this should be a good wake-up call for us that lets us know that no one in this conference is just going to roll over for us. We're still going to have to work for every win.

After falling behind 14-10, the Colonels battled back in a set that saw 14 tie scores and seven lead changes. Nicholls scored twice on set point for the Lions to force a 24-24 tie and enter into tiebreakers, but the Lions held on for the 26-24 win.

The second set saw more of the same as the Colonels fell behind 7-3 before battling back through 13 ties and five lead changes. Senior Rachel Spreen tallied four of her six kills on the night during the second frame, but, after tying things up at 17-17, the Lions went on an 8-5 run to claim the second frame 25-22.

Down 2-0, the Colonels dominated the third set to stay alive. Nicholls hit .259 (11-4-27) as a squad, drilled three aces and recorded a pair of blocks to roll to a 25-18 win in the third.

However, the Colonels ran into trouble in the fourth as Southeastern opened with five consecutive points. The Lions used that cushion to stay in front the rest of the way and avoid a fifth and final set.

Nicholls will return to action on Oct. 1 when they head to Central Arkansas on Oct. 1 and Northwestern State on Oct. 3. The Colonels will be back in Stopher Gym on Oct. 6 when they take a break from the Southland schedule to host Jackson State.