Final Stats LAFAYETTE, La. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team started well, but the team's offensive struggles halted the Colonels from putting together a complete match as the squad fell in four sets to the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns 15-25, 17-25, 25-21, 16-25 to open the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic.

As a team, the Colonels (1-3) had a team hitting average of just .121 and had 26 attack errors, while Louisiana-Lafayette (4-1) didn't necessarily set the world on fire with their .194 average, but hit above .200 in the second and fourth sets.

Kayla Burling earned the first double-double of her collegiate career, leading all players with 13 kills while also chipping in 15 digs. Kayla Mashburn finished second with 12 kills, as Ainsley Marroccoli served up team season-high 29 assists.

ULL's Sara Mossakowski hit .357 on the night with 12 kills, as Jessica Bartczyszyn had 33 assists and Caitlyn Auxillen had 25 of the Cajuns' 59 total digs.

Nicholls led for much of the early first set, and looked to be hitting its stride to make it a tough contest for the home side, but after getting to 11 points the Colonel offense hit a wall and allowed the Ragin' Cajuns to make a comeback. Trailing 11-9, ULL went on an 11-1 run to go up 19-12 and coast to the 25-15 opening set win.

In the second set, ULL jumped out to an early lead, however Nicholls tied the game three times in the first 18 points. With the game knotted at 9-9, ULL went on to earn seven of the next nine points to go up 17-11 and kept the team at bay to go into intermission up two sets to one.

The third set was by far the best hitting for the Colonels, and the most hotly contested with nine ties and three lead changes, committing just four errors behind Mashburn's .375 average and four kills. After a ULL timeout, the Cajuns would tie the set for the final time at the 17-point mark, but a three-point swing for the Colonels made it 20-17 and held on to the lead to force a fourth.

It looked like the momentum was starting to tilt in Nicholls' favor, but after getting to a 9-all tie, the Cajuns went on a 7-3 run to lead 16-12 forcing a Nicholls timeout. It wasn't long before Nicholls took the second timeout as ULL continued to roll going up 20-13 which would be enough to hold off Nicholls for good and close out the match.

Nicholls will be back in action tomorrow with two matches, the first against the University of Houston at 10 a.m. and then again later that day against Alcorn State at 3 p.m.