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Nicholls vs. Houston Box Score and Play-by-Play

Nicholls vs. La. Tech Box Score and Play-by-Play

THIBODAUX -  The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team's five match winning streak came to an end on Saturday as the Colonels dropped a pair of hard fought decisions to Houston and Louisiana Tech on Saturday in the conlcusion of the 2010 Nicholls Challenge Presented by Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.

Houston claimed the tournament championship with a perfect 3-0 record on the weekend.  La Tech was runner up with a 2-1 mark.

After stretching their win streak to five and tying the best 11-game stretch to open a season in school history with a win over Souteastern Louisiana on Friday night, the Colonels squared off against the Cougars on Saturday at noon.  Unfortunately for the Colonels, Nicholls fell victim to a hot-hitting Houston offense that only lost one set all weekend.  The Cougars hit .364 (49-9-110) as a team against Nicholls taking a straight set victory by scores of 17-25, 18-25, 20-25.  Houston clinched it's perfect weekend, and stretched it's winning streak to five, with a 3-0 win over Southeastern.

Nicholls looked to rebound against Louisiana Tech in a match to decide second place.  La Tech struck first by opening with a 25-16 win to take a 1-0 lead.  Fortunately, Nicholls rebounded in the second.

The Colonels outfought the Techsters and earned a 25-22 win thanks to a stingy defense that limited La Tech to a .094 team hitting percentage.  Unfortunately, for Nicholls, La Tech regained it's opening set form in the second frame.  Tech limited Nicholls to a .023 hitting percentage and rolled to a 25-17 wiin to take a 2-1 lead after three.

Looking to force a fifth and deciding set, Nicholls rallied once again.  The Colonels fought through four lead changes and 12 ties in the fourth set and faced a La Tech set point twice.  Down 24-23, Nicholls benefitted from a La Tech attack error to tie the set at 24-24 and send it to tiebreakers.  Tech reclaimed the lead as a La Tech kill made it 25-24 on the ensuing play and force Nicholls to face set point number two.

However, Nicholls rallied as freshman outside hitter Lauren Chapman and senior outside hitter Elise King buried kills on back-to-back points to take a 26-25 lead.  Chapman followed King's kill with an ace on the ensuing serve to give Nicholls the 27-25 win and force a fifth and deciding set.

Unfortunately, in a back-and-forth match, La Tech rallied once again.  The Lady Techsters jumped out to a quick start, taking a 7-2 lead in the fifth set.  Nicholls tried to chip away by going on a 7-5 run to make it 12-9.  However, La Tech hung on in the shortened set to take the 15-10 set win and the 3-2 victory.

Nicholls' offensive efforts were led by Jessica Addicks who earned all-tournament honors for the second consecutive week by leading the Colonels with 11 kills and a .258 hitting percentage.  Rachel Yezak added to the Nicholls cause with a double-double, totaling 10 kills and 11 digs.  Meanwhile juniro libero Danielle Daigle led the way once again for the Nicholls defense, totaling 45 digs against La Tech and 84 over the three tournament matches. Daigle averaged 7.00 digs/set on the weekend.

The Colonels will try to rebound on Thursday when they return to Southland Conference play against Lamar in the seventh match of a season-long eight-match homestand.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. in Stopher Gym.