Final Stats BEAUMONT, Texas – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team won the opening set in its Southland Conference match against the Lamar Lady Cardinals, but the Colonels would struggle offensively and drop the next three to fall in four to Lamar 25-23, 22-25, 21-25, 17-25.

Kayla Burling led Nicholls (5-21, 2-15 SLC) with 10 kills, followed by Mikayla Miller and Kayla Mashburn with nine each. As a team the Colonels finished with just 38 kills and 30 errors for a .051 attack percentage as a group.

Ainsley Marroccoli served up 18 assists and had 10 digs for her second consecutive double-double, while Alyse Barclay had 12 to combine for 30 of the team's 34 assists. Kalynn Egea had 16 assists on the night, followed by Carley McInnis who had 14.

Lamar hit .229 as a team and had three players finish with double-digit kills led by Courtney Moore's 16 and .500 attack percentage. Ashley Ellis led all players with 32 assists for the Lady Cards, while Erika Rojas had 29 digs. The tandem of Chelsea Grant and Sara Landis combined for 20 assisted blocks on the night, as the Lady Cards had 14 total team blocks to Nicholls' two.

With an 18-16 lead after a Lamar timeout, Nicholls would be the first team to get to the 20-point plateau to lead 20-18. After battling through 13 ties up until that point, Lamar would go on to take three of the next four to knot the first set at 21. A three-point swing by Nicholls gave the Colonels a lead that they would hold on for dear life to as Lamar came within one at 24-23 before a Mashburn kill gave Nicholls the set 25-23.

Lamar jumped out of the gate using a big 6-1 run to force a Nicholls timeout early. That lead eventually grew to 9-5 and 13-9, but slowly the Colonels began to chip away and get back into the match by earning six of the next eight to tie the set at 15-15. After splitting the next two points to make it 16-16, Nicholls went back on a roll to go up 20-18 forcing a Lamar timeout. Looking like they were going to possibly go up by two sets into the break, Lamar made its comeback and outscored Nicholls 4-1 to go up 22-21 and force Nicholls into their final timeout. The Colonels tied it out of the timeout, but it would be the last point they scored as Lamar closed out the set earning the final three points.

The Lady Cards broke a 10-all tie by going on a 3-0 run to take a lead it would not give back for the rest of the set. However, Nicholls did not make it easy as they began to make a bit of a comeback as they turned a five-point deficit down 22-17 to just two after three straight points to force a timeout. It was the closest they would get to the Lady Cards for the rest of the set as they earned just one more point to go down 2-1.

Nicholls would have its worst hitting percentage in the fourth and final set, and the Lady Cardinals capitalized jumping out to a 14-9 lead as Nicholls called its only timeout of the set. Unlike the first two sets, the Colonels would never be able to mount a comeback to put the lead in doubt for Lamar, eventually falling 25-17 to close the match.

The Colonels will be back in action on Saturday morning, taking on Sam Houston State at 11 a.m. in Huntsville.