Final Stats 1 | Final Stats 2 TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Nicholls women's volleyball team closed out non-conference tournament play on Saturday afternoon by earning a split of the day's matches at the Hampton Inn Bama Bash at the University of Alabama.
 
The Colonels (3-7) won a thrilling five-set match against the UT Martin Skyhawks, while falling in straight-sets to the Arkansas State Red Wolves in the afternoon match.
 
Kayla Burling continued her torrid play over the last few weeks, finishing with 33 kills on the day and averaging 4.12 kills per set with a .276 average. Alyse Barclay finished the day with 39 assists for an average of 4.88 per set, while Kalynn Egea averaged 3.38 digs per set for 27 on the afternoon.
 
Nicholls opens the home portion, as well as Southland Conference play, Thursday night hosting the Sam Houston State Bearkats in Stopher Gym.
 
Nicholls 3, UT Martin 2
Behind 25 kills and 15 digs from Kayla Burling, the Nicholls women's volleyball team was on the brink of defeat down two sets to one before putting together a rally that saw the team take the fourth and fifth sets to defeat the UT Martin Skyhawks 28-26, 21-25, 10-25, 25-23, 15-10 in Saturday's opening match at the Bama Bash.
 
Nicholls (3-6) got the second double-double on the weekend from Burling who hit .353 on the morning to lead the Colonels, followed by Kayla Mashburn's 14. With 57 kills in the match, Nicholls got great play from Alyse Barclay and Ainsley Marroccoli combined for 45 assists with Barclay serving up 25 and Marroccoli with 20 to go along with her 15 digs to earn her first double-double of the season.
 
Where Nicholls stood out was on the defensive end as four players finished the match with double-digit digs led by Kalynn Egea's 21. Behind her were Marroccoli and Burling with 15 each and Kali Schwartz with 12.
 
The first set seemed to set the tone for what the rest of the match would be like, as extra points would be needed to decide a winner. There were six ties and three lead changes between the two squads in the set, as the first of the final three came when the match was knotted at 23-23 as UTM called a timeout after the Colonels stormed back to tie it up. Although the Skyhawks (6-5) got the first point out of the break, Nicholls took the next two on two errors to go up 25-24 prompting another timeout. After the two teams traded points to tie it again at 26, a Mashburn kill and service ace put the match away.
 
There were six more ties and just two lead changes in the second set, as the Skyhawks broke a 9-all tie by going on a 6-2 run to make it 15-12 UTM lead. The Skyhawk lead grew as they scored eight of the next 13 points to go up 22-17 to force a Nicholls timeout. The Colonels got within two points of UTM with a three-point swing, but would only score one more point after that falling 25-21.
 
The intermission proved to be a momentum killer for the Colonels as they were held to just four kills in the set and had 11 attack errors to allow the Skyhawks to steamroll Nicholls to the tune of a 25-10 set win. UTM went on a 9-0 run to go up by ten and never looked back to go up two sets to one.
 
The ugly third set was a wake-up call for Nicholls as the Colonels jumped out to an early 5-3 lead to force a UTM timeout. Nicholls followed that up with a 9-2 run that extended the lead to 14-5 as the Colonels looked to be on their way to tying up the match at two sets a piece. However, the Skyhawks slowly began to claw back into the match and trailed by just two points at many different parts of the set. But, the Colonels stood strong and held off UTM to take the fourth 25-23.
 
Nicholls once again got off to a quick start in the deciding fifth set, as after scoring the first point and UTM getting the next, the Colonels rattled off the next seven-straight to go up 8-1. It wasn't long before the Skyhawks went on a run of their own, earning five of the next seven points to pull within four before Nicholls called a timeout. The timeout was beneficial as the team settled down and closed out the match 15-10.
 
Arkansas State 3, Nicholls 0
After using most of its energy in the first match against UT Martin, the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team struggled hitting just .011 in the match with 24 kills as the Colonels fell in straight sets to the Arkansas State Red Wolves 25-23, 25-16, 25-13 to close out play at the Hampton Inn Bama Bash hosted by Alabama.
 
Nicholls (3-7) did not have a single player earn double-digit kills in the match, as Kayla Burling led the team with eight followed by Mikayla Miller's seven. Alyse Barclay dished out 14 assists, while Kayla Mashburn had seven digs defensively.
 
Arkansas State (3-7) hit an efficient .233 on the day, led by Sadie Clark's nine kills and Jackie Gerig's 17 assists. The Red Wolves converted on 64 percent of their sideout chances, as they did not hit below .200 in any set of the match.
 
The most spirited play for the Colonels came in the opening set, as the two teams battled through five ties. Nicholls took the early lead going up 6-3, but found itself fending off numerous rallies by ASU for much of the first half of the set. Midway through, Nichols went up 17-16 for its final lead of the set before the Red Wolves charged to a 5-0 run that put Arkansas State up 21-17 and forced a Nicholls timeout. It wasn't all roses for the Red Wolves as Nicholls used a three-point swing with ASU leading 24-20 to pull within one, but a timeout settled down the opposition as they got the winning point on the very next play.
 
Arkansas State led throughout the second set, as the closest Nicholls got to the Red Wolves was when they were down 6-5 early. ASU then went on to outscore the Colonels 12-7 to go up 18-12 leading to a Colonel timeout. It would continue to be tough sledding for the group as ASU cruised to the 25-16 second set win.
 
Hoping for another rally, Nicholls got the first two points of the third and then watched as the Red Wolves turned on the jets going up 13-7 and continued rolling from that point as they held the Colonels to just six more points for the rest of the match while closing out the third with a 6-0 run to win 25-13.