Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team hit .212 as a squad and produced 35 kills on Tuesday night, but the Colonels were unable to overcome the 46 kills and .292 hitting percentage by the Houston Baptist Huskies and fell in straight sets 26-24, 25-20, 25-21.

Nicholls (3-12, 0-5 SLC) played about as well offensively as they have since Southland Conference play began against the Huskies (6-10, 1-3), but HBU did not hit below .256 in any of the sets and closed out the match converting 72 percent of its sideout chances in the final set to claim the victory.

The Colonels were led by Kayla Mashburn and her 12 kills and .290 attack percentage, as the freshman produced 13 total points on the night with a service ace and six digs. Along with Mashburn hitting .290, Kali Schwartz hit .263 with nine kills and a dig, while Kayla Burling had eight kills.

Marlee Bean finished the night with 17 assists, with Alyse Barclay adding 13. Kalynn Egea averaged six digs per set and finished with 18 on the night to lead all players defensively.

HBU had two players finish with double-digit kills, as Jessica Wooten led all players with 13 kills, followed by Cati Wenger's 10. Kayla Armer served up 36 of HBU's 45 assists on the night, while libero Haley Hoffman had 12 digs. As a team the Husky front line proved stout, combining for six total team blocks.

There were a total of 10 ties and three lead changes during the match, of which eight of the ties and three of the lead changes came in the very first set. Playing on their home floor, the Colonels came out with a mission to take the first set, and looked on their way to doing so leading 18-15. However, the Huskies took five of the next seven to begin the tense back-and-forth between the two tying the set at 20. The Colonels would hold the lead just once more, going up 21-20, as HBU took the next two points and got Nicholls trying to play catch up before holding the Colonels at 24 in the last tie of the set which the Huskies claimed 26-24.

Houston Baptist led from the start in the second set, with just two tie scores early in the second frame. Nicholls never fell behind by a large margin, but could never seem to get any closer than a few points to HBU throughout the set. Out of a timeout down 21-17, the Colonels got the next point before HBU scored the next three to push the lead to six and allowed just two more points before closing the set out with a Wooten kill.

The third saw the Huskies bolt out to a lead in never relinquished, no matter how close Nicholls got to possibly forcing a fourth set. With HBU leading 18-14, Nicholls went on a rally of its own outscoring the Huskies 5-2 to get within one point trailing 20-19 forcing a Houston Baptist timeout. Unfortunately, the Nicholls rally crested at the 21-point plateau which allowed HBU to secure the match a few points after.

The Colonels will be back in action on Thursday night, hosting the New Orleans Privateers at 6:30 p.m. in Thibodaux.