Final Stats 1 | Final Stats 2 COLUMBIA, Mo. – After a gauntlet of opponents during the 2012 Tiger Invitational hosted by the University of Missouri, the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team earned a hard-fought spilt on the final day of competition falling to Mizzou in straight sets before defeating the University of North Florida 3-2 in their final match.
 
“I was just so proud of how the team responded in that final match, and I think it sets us up for a good week of practice with a lot of confidence,” Nicholls head coach Patrick Hiltz said.
 
For her efforts, Sarah Terry was named to the 2012 Tiger Invitational All-Tournament team hitting .233 with 31 kills and three blocks.
 
The Colonels open up the home portion of the schedule next weekend hosting the 2012 Nicholls Bayou Invitational against CSU Bakersfield, Grambling, Jackson State and ULM.
 
Game One: Mizzou 3, Nicholls 0
 
The Missouri Tigers may have been napping a bit when the Colonels stepped up to play them in the opening game on day two of the Tiger Invitational, as Nicholls held serve early in their sets against the homstanding Tigers. However, the Tiger hitting proved to be too much for the Colonels to handle late and defeated Nicholls in straight-sets 25-17, 25-13, 25-17 Saturday afternoon.
 
Sarah Terry hit a blistering .368 for the Colonels (0-3) in the match with nine kills, followed by Jennifer Brandt who had eight. Nancy Taylor had her second 20-plus assist match of the tournament posting 22 on the afternoon.
 
Missouri had two players finish with double-digit kills, hitting .477 as a team for the match and converting 64-percent of sideout chances.
 
After playing some tough competition on Friday, the Colonels looked ready for the big stage against Mizzou, winning the first two points and holding the lead and holding serve getting to eight points before the Tigers woke up a bit and went on a run to go up 12-8 before a timeout. Another timeout was called after Missouri went on a 6-2 run to go up 18-10, and the break helped as the Colonels scored on six of the next eight points to bring the Colonels to within four at 20-16, prompting a Mizzou timeout. However, Nicholls would only get one more point in the set as the Tigers got to 25-17 to win the set.
 
After talking in between sets, the Colonels once again played up to the competition and forced multiple ties and tie-breaks with the Tigers to kick off the second set. The balanced play led to a spirited 27 points of the session for the first timeout with Missouri up just 15-12. Unfortunately at that point Mizzou found its rhythm and rattled off six straight points and ten of 11 to win the set 25-13. After having double-digit kills for the first time in an entire set in the first, the Colonels had eight attack errors with nine kills in the second while Mizzou just had two and hit .355.
 
Again, the Colonels jumped out to an early lead getting the first two points to open the third set. After getting to a 4-1 lead, the Tigers rallied to tie the set at four all before taking a 5-4 lead. Mizzou would push out to an 8-5 lead before the Colonels tied the game at 8-8. After five ties and two lead changes, the Tigers went on a three-point swing to lead 16-13 heading into a Nicholls timeout. After the break the Colonels scored the next two points to get within one, but it seemed like for every one point the Colonels got, Missouri got two and held Nicholls to just two more points for the rest of the set for a 25-17 set win.
 
Game Two: Nicholls 3, North Florida 2
 
With only one game left to play in the Tiger Invitational, The Nicholls volleyball team didn't want to leave Columbia without a victory, and against the North Florida Ospreys the Colonels got UNF's best shot and then some, but came away with a thrilling five-set victory over the Atlantic Sun members 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-19, 15-8).
 
For the first time all weekend, the Colonels (1-3) got balanced production from the team, with three players earning double-digit kills and a 35-assist performance from Nancy Taylor. Jennifer Brandt had her first double-double of the year finishing with 13 kills and ten digs, as Jessica Addicks and Sarah Terry each finished with 10.
 
Jeanne Logarbo led the team defensively with 15 digs, followed by junior Brooke Hopper's 14.
 
As a team the Colonels hit .300 in the second, fourth and fifth sets, all won by Nicholls. UNF didn't make it easy as they hit .233 as a team behind the play of Paige Pridgeon who had 25 kills and 14 digs.
 
Nicholls jumped out to a 6-3 lead over the Ospreys, but North Florida tied the game on two occasions at 6-6 and 9-8 before taking a 10-9 lead. In the first 24 points there would be four ties, but with the score 12-12, UNF rattled off three straight points to force a Nicholls timeout with the score 15-12. The Ospreys would be the next to call a timeout as Nicholls scored five of the next seven to tie the game at 17 all. After trading the next two points, UNF went up two, 20-18, riding that momentum to maintain enough of a lead over the Colonels to take the set 25-21.
 
After eight points the teams were deadlocked in another tight battle, until the Colonels won four straight points to go up 8-4. After UNF got two back, Nicholls called a timeout to halt the rally and did, allowing just one more Osprey point while going up 11-7. UNF called their first timeout after Nicholls led 15-10 on a three-point rally. Once the Colonels got to 20 points the Ospreys clawed to within three of the Colonels, and after another UNF timeout would not get any closer than five points as the Colonels won the set 25-19.
 
With the match tied, it's only fitting that the first ten points would end with a 5-5 draw in the third. But after that draw, UNF jumped out to an 11-8 lead after some unforced errors allowed the Ospreys to jump ahead. By that point, the Ospreys kept the Colonels at bay, supplementing their attack with Nicholls errors to go up 18-11. Nicholls finished with only six kills in the set to UNF's 16.
 
Nicholls won the first four points in a row to start the fourth and got to seven points before UNF went on a run to tie the game, which would be the first of five ties and three lead changes. Finally at 12-12, the Colonels went up 14-12 to force a UNF timeout, leading to a few more North Florida points, but it wasn't until the score was 21-18 where Nicholls called a timeout to put an end to the Osprey momentum.  The cushion was enough for the Colonels to eke out the 25-19 win. Nicholls hit .345 in the set, netting 12 kills to just two errors.
 
With the match on the line, the Colonels stayed composed and rattled off the first four points of the set which was enough for North Florida to call an early timeout. Nicholls was the first team to get to the eight point mark to switch sides, earning a 10-5 lead and needing just five to take the match. After UNF got to within three of the Colonels at 11-8, Nicholls closed out the last four points of the match to win 15-8 and earn their first win of the season.