Final Stats NACOGDOCHES, Texas. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team opened a three-match road trek on Thursday night in Texas, falling in four sets to the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks 16-25, 17-25, 25-22, 16-25 at Shelton Gym.

The loss drops snaps the Colonels' three-match winning streak, dropping the team to 8-11 on the season and 3-5 in Southland play.

“Overall I'm pleased with the fight that we showed,” Nicholls coach Patrick Hiltz said. “I think we were frozen a bit in the first two sets and turned it around, but we need to be mentally prepared for every team we play.”

Sarah Terry led the Colonels with ten kills, followed by Jennifer Brandt's six. Behind the two seniors were three other players with five kills, as Jasmine Harris hit .556, Nancy Taylor hit .455 and Kathryn Stock tallied eight digs as well.

Taylor led the team in assists with 28, while Brandt led in digs with 14.

SFA was paced by Sabrina Burns game-high 20 kills for the Ladyjacks (15-6, 6-3), as she was one of three players to finish with double-digit kills. Stephen F. Austin hit .250 as a team and had 54 assists on 60 kills behind Paige Holland's 35 assists.

After tying the game at six in the first set, the Ladyjacks earned six of the next eight points to go up 12-8 forcing a Nicholls timeout. The Colonels battled to rally within three of the Ladyjacks, but would need to call another timeout after falling behind 21-15, eventually scoring once more falling 25-16.

Nicholls had the lead twice early in the set, getting to seven points before a three-point swing by Stephen F. Austin gave the home side a 9-7 lead. After getting two of the next three points to make the game 10-9, SFA went on a 9-0 run to go up 19-9. Although the Colonels scored eight more points, the Ladyjacks won the set 25-17.

The Colonels needed to work for that fourth set win, with 13 ties and seven lead changes in the session. Trailing 16-15, Nicholls got five straight points to go up 20-16 to force the first SFA timeout of the match. The set got close after the Ladyjacks scored six of the next nine to pull within one at 23-22, but a Nicholls timeout calmed the squad and secured the final two points to win 25-22.

There were five more ties and three lead changes in the final set as after a 7-all tie, another big run by the Ladyjacks extended their lead to 17-7, enough to hold off the Colonels and win the match.

The Colonels return to action on Saturday, taking on the Northwestern State Lady Demons in Natchitoches.