Final Stats Box Score and Play-by-Play

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The Colonels jumped out to an early lead with a first set victory, but the Bearkats rallied to win the next three sets as the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team (10-8, 3-3 Southland Conference) fell to Sam Houston State by a final of 3-1 on Saturday in Huntsville, Texas.

The Colonels were led by sophomore right side hitter Rachel Yezak who turned in her sixth double-double of the season with a team-high ten kills and 14 digs.  Sophomore middle blocker Jessica Addicks helped the Nicholls cause with a match-high .368 hitting percentage (8-1-19).  Defensively, Nicholls was led by junior libero Danielle Daigle's 18 digs and sophomore middle blocker Jasmine Harris who had a hand in five of the Colonels 9.0 total team blocks.

Nicholls got off to a fast start with a 25-17 first set victory to take a 1-0 lead. The Colonels rolled in the first, turning in a .412 team hitting percentage (16-2-34) while limiting SHSU to a .105 (10-6-38) mark.  Yezak had six of her ten kills while hitting .600 (6-0-10) in the opening frame.

However, SHSU quickly rebounded.  The Bearkat defense turned in 10.0 total blocks and limited Nicholls to 27 kills on 115 attempts while forcing 22 Colonel errors in the second, third and fourth sets.

The Bearkats evened things up in the second set with a 25-19 second set win to make it 1-1.  The Colonels looked to get back in front in a competitive third set.  Nicholls battled SHSU through five tie scores and four lead changes.  However, after taking a 15-14 lead over the Bearkats, Nicholls fell victim to a 10-8 SHSU run that saw th Bearkats take a 2-1 lead with a 25-22 second set win.  The Bearkats went on to clinch the win with a 25-19 fourth set victory.

The Colonels will return to action when they head to Jackson State for their non-conference finale on Tuesday.  Nicholls match against the Tigers will also be the finale of a four-match road trip for the Colonels.  Nicholls returns home on Oct. 15 to take on Texas A&M - Corpus Christi in the Colonels annual "Dig for the Cure" Breast Cancer Awareness match.