Sept. 4, 2009

Box Score

KENNESAW, Ga. - Freshman Jennifer Brandt led the way for the Colonels with 11 kills and a .450 hitting percentage. Rachel Yezak and Amy Beshir each added seven kills and two block assists. And, the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team (1-4) found the win column for the first time this season with a straight-set 3-0 victory over the Rider Broncs by scores of 25-22, 25-13 and 29-27 in the Colonels' first appearance at the Residence Inn-Kennesaw Great 8 Volleyball Challenge on Friday afternoon.

"It feels great to finally get our first win," head coach Chris Laird said. "The girls are pretty excited and we're excited as a program to get that first win under our belts. Now that we have that, we'll start trying to work on cleaning up our volleyball a little bit."

The Colonels got off to a bit of a slow start with a 25-22 first set victory. Nicholls hit just .192 as a team (9-4-26), but the Colonels were able to capitalize on 13 Rider errors en route to a 25-22 opening set victory and a 1-0 lead.

After a competitive opening frame, the Colonels took control with a dominating second set win. Brandt recorded five of her 11 kills and hit .833 (5-0-6) to pace the Colonel attack. Meanwhile, Yezak posted two of her seven kills and factored in both of Nicholls' blocks to limit the Rider offense to a -.065 hitting percentage (7-9-31). The 25-13 win gave the Colonels a commanding 2-0 advantage.

"We played great in the second set, we really looked good," Laird said of the dominating performance. "I was very impressed with how hard we worked in the second set after coming out a little flat and slow in the first set. Even though we won the first, our second set was the best."

With a 2-0 lead, the Colonels looked to work in more players and the Broncs tried to rally to force a fourth set. However, in a frame that saw 14 ties and five lead changes, Nicholls was able to hold on as the third set went to tiebreakers.

After calling timeout at 24-24, the Colonels went on a 5-3 run. A block credited to senior setter Amy Whitehead and freshman middle blocker Jasmine Harris gave the Colonels the decisive 29-27 victory for their first triumph of the season.

"In the third we had a few different lineup changes and tried to get some different people involved, and I felt they did a great job," Laird said. "So, now we are looking forward to playing again tomorrow against Alabama A&M and Kennesaw State, and, hopefully, getting two more victories. But, we know we have to worry about A&M first."

The Colonels will remain at Kennesaw State's Convocation Center for the duration of the tournament, as a scheduling change will now pit the Colonels against Alabama A&M at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning before a 4 p.m. tilt with the host Owls.

Live stats will be available online courtesy of Kennesaw State's athletic website: www.ksuowls.com.