Final Stats 1 | Final Stats 2 NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team opened the 2013 season on Friday in New Orleans at the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament and came away with a day-one split defeating Mississippi Valley State while falling to Rider in the final match of the day for the team.

The Colonels (1-1) began the morning with a hard-fought straight sets victory over the Devilettes, but in the afternoon match the Broncs proved to be a formidable foe hitting well and keeping Nicholls from getting any rhythm offensively to defeat the team in three.

Nicholls got solid play from freshmen Kayla Burling and Kayla Mashburn who each had 19 kills for the Colonels with a 3.17 kills per set average, while as a group the squad served up 22 service aces to their opponents combined seven on the day.

Nicholls closes out the tournament tomorrow night against the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans.

Nicholls 3, Mississippi Valley State 0
Nicholls got 11-kill matches from Kayla Burling and Kayla Mashburn, all while holding Mississippi Valley State to hitting .198 offensively as a group to defeat the Devilettes in straight sets 25-16, 25-12, 25-23 in the opening match of the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament Friday morning.

Nicholls (1-0), who hit .290 as a group in the match, played efficiently throughout getting positive offensive numbers from Burling and Mashburn, getting 13 assists from Ainsley Marroccoli and 14 digs from Kalynn Egea on the defensive end.

Where the Colonels really shined was on serves, earning 16 service aces throughout the duration of the match with Burling having seven to lead all players with Mashburn having four.

There were a total of 15 ties and six lead changes in the contest, and after trailing 8-5 in the first set, the Colonels rallied to take the next eight consecutive points to go up 13-8 to eventually outscore the Devilettes 16-5 before MVSU took its first timeout trailing 21-13 and eventually dropping the set to Nicholls 25-16.

Up by just three points at 14-11, Nicholls shut down the MVSU attack kick started by a Burling kill that propelled the Colonels to 5-0 run to go up 19-11 and close out the match on an 11-1 run to go up two sets to none with a chance to close out the match in the next set.

The break seemed to hurt the Colonel momentum as the two teams battled through several tiebreak's early in the set before MVSU began to go on a hot streak and take a 16-12 lead. The Devilettes came within three points of taking the third set leading 22-17, but Nicholls clawed all the way back to tie the match for the final time at 22-22 before winning 25-23.

Rider 3, Nicholls 0
In the afternoon session, the Rider Broncs proved to be a much tougher matchup for the Colonels as Nicholls fell in straight sets 25-22, 25-14, 25-17 in game two of the Kathy Trosclair Memorial event at Devlin Fieldhouse.

Although no player had double-digit kills in the match, Rider (1-0) hit a blistering .392 while holding the Colonels (1-1) to .033 percent. Nicholls got another solid performance from Kayla Burling and Kayla Mashburn who combined for 16 of Nicholls' 27 kills on the afternoon, although as a team the group .100 just once while Rider hit below .400 just once.

With the first set tied at 16, the Broncs went on to outscore Nicholls 7-1 over the course of the next eight points to take a 23-17 lead before eventually winning the set 25-22.

The second set was all Rider as Nicholls held the lead just once early, allowing the Broncs to go on an 11-4 run to go up 15-8 and never look back cruising to the 25-14 set win.

Holding anywhere from a four to five point lead during the third set, the Broncs got to the 19-point mark and seemed poised to ease to victory, but Nicholls cut the Rider lead to just four points down 19-15 forcing a Bronc timeout. The short break worked as Rider held Nicholls to just two more points for the rest of the set to win 25-17.