Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – Playing in the second of a three-match home stand, the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team had a balanced attack with three players earning nine or more kills while holding New Orleans to a .105 attack percentage as a group to earn a 3-0, 25-17, 25-14, 25-21, win over the Privateers Thursday night in Thibodaux.

The win snaps a six-match losing streak for the Colonels (4-12, 1-5 SLC) dating back to Sept. 14, giving the squad its first home win of the season. UNO falls to 2-15 on the year and 0-5 in league competition.

Kayla Burling had the hot hand for the Colonels on Thursday night, leading all players with 14 kills and coming one dig shy of a double-double with nine. Burling hit .345 for the night and was followed with that high percentage by Kali Schwartz's nine kills and .368 average. Kayla Mashburn also had nine kills and hit .103, but where she really stepped up was on serves where she had six service aces and five digs for 16 total points.

The combo of Marlee Bean and Alyse Barclay served up a bevy of assists, with Bean leading the way with 19 to tie for the match high, while Barclay finished one back with 18. Defensively, Nicholls had four players with five digs or more, led by Kalynn Egea's game-leading 14. 

Nicholls got to work quickly and jumped out to a large lead after going on a huge run breaking a 1-1 tie by earning eight-straight points to take a 9-1 lead. The Colonels hit .286 in the first set and got four kills from Mashburn during the frame, as UNO didn't get to double-digit points in the set until late when Nicholls led 18-10. Two points away from taking the set leading 23-13, New Orleans put a short run together to make it 23-17, but Nicholls closed out the set with kills by Burling and Schwartz.

New Orleans put forth a much better effort to start the second set, but a 12-7 lead by the Colonels forced a UNO timeout. Nicholls went on to outscore the Privateers 4-3 to go up 16-10, but the floodgates opened up soon after as the Colonels rattled off seven consecutive points, including four aces by Mashburn during the swing to put Nicholls up 23-10. New Orleans was never a threat at that point and Nicholls went on to close the set 25-14.

While Nicholls was hoping to close out the match with ease, the Privateers put up the best fight of any set in the third, forcing four of the six ties in the match and all three lead changes in that final set. UNO earned the first three points of the set before the Colonels got the next three plus one to go up 4-3. New Orleans turned that around by taking the next four to take a 7-4 advantage.

Although it seemed like UNO had the momentum at that point, it wouldn't be long until the Colonels were able to regroup and overtake New Orleans winning seven of the next 10 points to go up 11-10 to force another UNO timeout. Nicholls fought off the Privateers with their most kills of any set with 17 during the third, as Burling produced seven kills and seven digs, while Schwartz had five. After another New Orleans timeout with the Colonels leading 21-17, UNO pulled within one after taking three straight points. That would be the last time New Orleans got that close, as Nicholls got the next three points with a Burling kill, Emily Philpott service ace and UNO attack error to earn match point, which the team earned two plays later to win 25-21.