Box Score and Play-by-Play

THIBODAUX - The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team (11-10, 3-5 Southland Conference) recorded just 13 errors on Saturday, but several large runs by the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners (13-9, 7-1 Southland) proved costly as UTSA claimed a 3-0 striaght set win by scores of 12-25, 22-25, 15-25.

The Roadrunners hit .406 (50-7-106) with three players reaching double-digit kills.  Meanwhile, the Colonels got a team-high nine kills from junior right side hitter Rachel Yezak and a .444 (5-1-9) hitting percentage from freshman middle blocker Kailey McNamara, a team-best for players with more than five attempts, but it wasn't enough to outpace the Roadrunners.

UTSA started strong, hitting .378 (16-2-37) in the opening frame.  Despite the Roadrunners fast start, the Colonels kept pace early on, battling UTSA through six tie scores and a pair of lead changes in the first.   However, midway through the opening frame, the Roadrunners put together a 10-2 run to take a commanding 20-9 lead before taking the first set 25-12.

Nicholls came out strong in the second set, putting together their best offensive performance of the afternoon.  The Colonels recorded just two attack errors in the second set en route to compiling a .350 hitting percentage (16-2-40).  Nicholls and UTSA battled through four tie scores and two lead changes, and the Colonels pulled to within one of the Roadrunners at 20-19.  However, the UTSA offense (which hit .462 in the second set) closed with a 5-3 run to claim a 25-22 win.

The Colonels kept close to the Roadrunners at the start of the third set, looking to stay alive for a fourth frame.  Nicholls kept neck-and-neck with UTSA through the first 12 points, but, after Nicholls tied things up at 6-6, the Roadrunners put together a 14-4 run to go up 20-10.  The Colonels closed the match by playing UTSA even with a 5-5 stretch the rest of the way, but it proved to be too little too late as UTSA claimed a 25-15 victory.

The Colonels will now look to snap a four-match losing streak in conference play when they return to action with a trip to Southeastern Louisiana on Oct. 21.  Nicholls will be looking to sweep the season series with the Lions after claiming a 3-1 win over Southeastern in Thibodaux on Sept. 17.  The Colonels will return Nicholls on Oct. 23 against Stephen F. Austin.