Final Stats Final Box Score

Thibodaux, La. – Winning the first two sets, it seemed as if the Nicholls State women's volleyball team would roll to a sweep of ULM in the Colonels' opening match of the 2011 PRO-MAG Bayou Invitational Friday night. Instead the Warhawks rallied back to force three more sets and extra points in the fifth, but led by Sara Terry's 14 kill, three ace night, Nicholls defeated the Warhawks in thrilling fashion 3-2, 25-12, 25-19, 20-25, 21-25, 18-16.

The Colonels (10-3) extend its record winning streak to nine games, keeping intact one of the longest streaks in school history.

There were ten ties and ten lead changes in the pivotal fifth set, none more important than with the score tied at 14. Nicholls needed just one point to end the match, but ULM (4-4) used a kill, on top of three Nicholls errors to come back and take the lead 15-14. A Jessica Addicks kill notted the score at 15 each, with an attack error by ULM's Erica Pritchett once again gave the Colonels match point.

Pritchett would then account for her mistake on the next play with a perfect strike to tie the game, this time at 16. Fortunately, Terry would earn her 11th kill of the night on Jordan Karst's 54th assist of the match. Karst would then end the match with a winning joust at the net ending the match and giving Nicholls the win.

Rachel Yezak earned another double-double on the year with 17 kills and 14 digs for Nicholls, leading four players who finished the match in double-digit kills including Terry's 11, Kathryn Stock's 14 and Jennifer Brandt's 11. Karst also finished the match with 18 digs, followed by Yezak and Jeanne Logarbo's 14 each.

ULM's Zuzana Markova earned a rare triple-double, finishing with 19 kills on .356 hitting, 25 assists and 11 digs. Samantha Morse chipped in 13 kills and Mahogany Dilonga earned 11. Meghan McCoy set up 25 assists of her own, while Marcela Urbina finished with 25 digs to lead the Warhawk defense.

Nicholls steamrolled the Warhawks in the opening set, bolstering out to a 19-10 lead before eventually winning the set 25-12. Much was the same in the second, as a 12-7 lead ballooned to a 17-10 lead. It was at that point that the Warhawks seemed to awaken, but it was too late at that point with the Colonels finishing off the Warhawks 25-19.

The intermission seemed to halt the Nicholls momentum gained from the first two sets, and ULM also started to figure out the Colonel offense. Although the Colonels would make the matches close, the large leads ULM would jut out to were too much for the Colonels to overcome, which led to the all-or-nothing fifth set.

The Bayou Invitational will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday morning with Grambling facing ULM, with the Colonels' first of two matches on the day slated for 12:30 p.m. against Alabama A&M, who defeated Grambling earlier in the afternoon Friday.