Final Stats BEAUMONT, Texas – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team had a hitting percentage of just .053 with just 35 kills, but put together a strong defensive effort behind 12 total team blocks and 72 digs to defeat the Lamar Lady Cardinals 25-17, 19-25, 25-23, 16-25, 15-10 Tuesday night in Beaumont.

With the win the Colonels improve to 9-12 overall and 4-6 in the Southland Conference earning the team's first in-season sweep of Lamar since 2004, which is also the last time that Nicholls earned a win in Beaumont.

“The team played with just an unbelievable amount of heart and toughness tonight,” Nicholls coach Patrick Hiltz said. “They never gave up at any point and knew how important this match was in the grand scheme of where we want to be at the end of the year.”

The Colonels were paced by Jessica Addicks who hit a white-hot .450 percentage with ten kills and seven blocks, followed by Sarah Terry's seven, while Nancy Taylor served up 29 of Nicholls' 32 assists on the night and had 13 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.

The Colonel defense was flanked by four players with double-digit digs on the night, led by Jeanne Logarbo's season-high 21 digs on the night. Taylor was second on the team with her 13 followed by Kathryn Stock's 12 and Jennifer Brandt's ten.

Behind Addicks' 14.5 points on the night, redshirt junior Jasmine Harris had 11.5 points with five kills and five digs, along with having four of Nicholls' nine service aces.

The Colonels opened the match solidly, where after a 9-9 tie in the first set Nicholls went on a four-point run to take a 13-9 lead. That lead would only grow as the Colonels went on to outscore the Lady Cardinals 7-3 to go up 20-12 and held Lamar at bay for the rest of the set cruising to the 25-17 set win.

Lamar jumped out to a quick lead in the second set scoring the first three points of the set. Lamar maintained a slim lead over the Colonels until Nicholls was able to force the only tie of the second with the score at 15-all. The Lady Cards rattled off the next three points and five of six total to go up 20-16 and take the second set after holding Nicholls to just three more points to win 25-19.

The third set after the break proved to be a hair-raising affair for the Colonels. Much like the first, Nicholls broke an early tie with Lamar to jump out to a seven-point lead up 18-11. Methodically, the Lady Cards clawed closer and closer to the Colonels, pulling within one point at 23-22 before the Colonels closed the door on Lamar getting the final two points to win 25-23.

It shaped up to be a repeat performance of the first meeting between the two teams in Thibodaux, as the Colonels opened the fourth set with a 5-1 lead. Even after Lamar tied the set at 6-6, the Colonels went right back to work and went up 9-6 hoping to get some separation on the Lady Cards. Unfortunately for Nicholls, Lamar not only rallied to tie the match three more times, but with the score 13-13, the home side outscored Nicholls 8-1, including a 6-0 run, to take a 21-14 lead and roll to the deciding fifth set after winning the fourth 25-16.

In a fifth set that is only supposed to go to 15 points, the two teams may have needed to force extra points after four ties in the deciding fifth. After jumping out to a 4-1 lead to force a Lamar timeout, Nicholls fended off three of the four ties in the next 15 points, as Lamar took a brief 9-8 lead before the Colonels earned the next three to go up 11-9 to force the final Lamar timeout. That timeout only provided the first point out of the break as Nicholls scored the next four straight to with the match 15-10.

The Colonels return home to host the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears and Oral Roberts Golden Eagles this weekend in Stopher Gym.