Box Score and Play-by-Play

THIBODAUX - After dropping the first and third sets, the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team (13-10, 5-5 Southland Conference) was forced to rally twice from one-set deficits, but the Colonels rallied to claim a 3-2 win with victories in the second, fourth and fifth frames to come from behind against Stephen F. Austin (11-14, 4-6 Southland Confernce) on Sunday.

With the win, Nicholls, which began the weekend in a four-way tie for fifth place in the 2010 Southland Conference Tournament race with SFA, Texas-Arlington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, moved into a tie for fourth place with Lamar in the conference title hunt. 

With fifth through 11th place in the race for the conference's eight tournament berths separated by just 2.0 matches heading into the weekend, Saturday's win over SFA was crucial in the Colonels'  quest for their third straight conference tournament appearance.  Coupled with Nicholls' win at Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday night, Saturday's win gives Nicholls its first sweep of a conference weekend since beating SFA and McNeese on Oct. 9 and 10, 2009.

The Ladyjacks got off to a fast start, outhitting the Colonels .256 (15-5-39) to .220 (16-7-41) en route to a 26-24 win.  The Colonels led late in the set, taking a 21-18 lead, but SFA put together a 8-3 run to take a 1-0 lead with a 26-24 first set win.

Nicholls rallied in the second by battling SFA through four tie scores and one lead change en route to a 25-23 victory.  After falling behind 8-6 early in the set, Nicholls put together an 8-5 run to fo up 16-11.  The Colonels outpaced the Jacks the rest of the way to even the set at 1-1 after two.

SFA regrouped in the third by cruising to a 25-15 win to take a 2-1 lead.  The Ladyjacks recorded 20 digs and 4.0 team blocks to keep the Colonel offense in check.  Meanwhile, SFA hit .229 (13-5-35) to take a lead heading into the fourth.

Facing a do-or-die fourth set, the Colonels rallied once again.  This time, the Colonels cruised past the Jacks with a 25-13 victory.  The Nicholls offense came alive, combining to hit .464 (13-0-28) with no attack errors.  After battling through four early tie scores and falling behind 7-5, Nicholls took control of the match with a 7-0 run to go up 12-7.  The Colonels extended their lead to ten at 21-11 before closing out the set with a 4-2 run to take a 25-13 win and force a fifth and final set.

Following the theme for the day, the Colonels would have to rally from behind early once again.  SFA jumped off to a fast start, taking a 9-4 lead to open the final frame.  However, Nicholls came from behind thanks to a 5-1 run that brought the Colonels to within one a 10-9.  Nicholls won four of the next six points after that to take a 13-12 lead.  A pair of SFA attack errors followed to give the Colonels the decisive 15-12 final and the 3-2 win.

Nicholls was led by junior right side hitter Rachel Yezak who recorded her tenth double-double of the season, and her fifth in her last six matches, with a team-high 17 kills and 10 digs.  Yezak turned in the best hitting percentage on the day, recording just four errors on 38 attempts en route to a .342 mark. 

Meanwhile, sophomore outside hitter Jennifer Brandt added to the Colonel cause with 11 kills and 12 digs for her fourth double-double in her last five matches, and her eighth overall. 

Junior libero Danielle Daigle led the Nicholls defense with a match-high 23 digs.  Sophomore middle blocker Jasmine Harris added two solo blocks and six block assists, giving her a hand in eight of the Colonels 13 blocks.

The Colonels will return to action by embarking on a four-match road trip beginning with an Oct. 28 match at Lamar.  After an Oct. 30 contest at  McNeese, Nicholls will head to Texas State on Nov. 4 and Texas-Arlington in the 2010 road finale on Nov. 6.  The Colonels will return to Nicholls to wrap up the 2010 regular season with home contests against Central Arkansas on Nov. 11 and Northwestern State on Nov. 13.