Weekend Info

THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team will play its first match of the season at home on Thursday, opening Southland Conference play against the Sam Houston Bearkats at 6:30 p.m. in Stopher Gym and remain home hosting the Lamar Cardinals at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
 
After spending the first three weekends on the road playing in tournaments, the Colonels will make their Thibodaux debut on Thursday night against the 2012 regular season champion Bearkats, playing eight of their next 12 matches in the friendly confines of Stopher Gym.
 
For fans unable to make the match, live stats can be accessed online through geauxcolonels.com on your desktop, mobile or tablet, as well as live streaming of the match through Colonels All-Access.
 
The Opening Serve
The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team opens Southland Conference action this weekend hosting reigning regular season champ Sam Houston State and Lamar in Stopher Gym. Nicholls closed out tournament play over the weekend going 1-3 in the Hampton Inn Bama Bash at Alabama. Kayla Burling was named to the All-Tournament team after hitting .221 during the tournament with 57 kills for a 3.80 kill per set average. The freshman from Plano, Texas had two double-doubles on the weekend with her 15 kill, 11 dig match against South Alabama, while having 25 kills and 15 digs in the five-set win over UT Martin. For her efforts she earned honorable mention status in the league player of the week voting on Monday.
 
Kayla Mashburn and Kali Schwartz combined for 63 kills 43 digs during the four-match weekend, as Alyse Barclay finished with 62 assists followed by Ainsley Marroccoli's 48. Kalynn Egea averaged 3.87 digs per set and had a season high 21 against the Skyhawks for her seventh double-digit dig match of the season.
 
The Opposition
Sam Houston State
Sam Houston State comes into the match on Thursday with a 4-6 overall record a 1-0 record in league play. The Bearkats won the Southland Conference regular season crown last year, but fell in the tournament to Oral Roberts. SHSU returns three starters and four letterwinners from last season's team, including player of the year Deveney Wells-Gibson and all-conference second team selection Tayler Gray. The Bearkats are led by Brenda Gray who just recently earned her 600th career victory as a head coach. Wells-Gibson leads the team in kills with 127 so far this season, with a 3.85 kills per set average. Gray averages 9.39 assists per set, while also sitting second on the team behind Breanna Homer in digs with 102. SHSU is hitting just .150 as a team while opponents are averaging a hitting clip of .176.
 
Lamar
The Lamar Cardinals enter the week at 2-10 on the season, defeating Jackson State on Saturday to close out play at the Sam Houston State Tournament. The Cardinals are already 0-1 in league play after playing a rare conference match as a part of a tournament, falling to the Bearkats in straight-sets last Friday. Cortney Moore leads Lamar with 90 kills, while Sierra Whittaker leads with a 3.23 kill per set average. Alexa Johnson has 267 assists for the Cardinals and averages 7.63 per set, while Megan Schwartz's 169 digs are the most for Lamar midway through the season.
 
Series Records
Nicholls and Sam Houston are meeting for the 44th time on Thursday night, as the Bearkats own a 37-6 advantage in all-time meetings. Nicholls is looking for its first win over SHSU since defeating the Huntsville based institution in the Southland Conference tournament back in 2009. Since that time, Sam Houston has won the last five meetings, with the last three being in three-set sweeps. Overall, Nicholls is 1-15 in the last 16 meetings against SHSU.
 
Lamar owns a 27-7 advantage in all-time meetings against the Colonels, however, Nicholls swept both meetings against the Cardinals for the first time since the 2004 season last year, as a third win over LU would give Nicholls its longest winning streak against the Beaumont, Texas school in program history.