THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team continues to show incremental improvement as the season goes on, and pushed a powerful Houston Baptist squad on Saturday afternoon. Despite the Colonels' best efforts, the Huskies emerged with a 3-0 victory in Stopher Gym.
 
Nicholls (5-15, 0-9 SLC) started slow, allowing Houston Baptist (12-12, 5-5 SLC) to grab a quick 7-2 lead. Trailing by as many as seven points, the Colonels mounted a number of comeback attempts, but could never pull closer than four. The Huskies took the opening set, 25-20.
 
Nicholls grabbed an early 9-6 advantage in set two, but Houston Baptist fought back to notch things up at 10 apiece. The teams shared a total of 10 ties over the course of back-and-forth the set. After a 17-17 tie, the Huskies switched to another gear and used an 8-1 run to pick up the set win.
 
The Colonels came out hot in the third and led for nearly the entire set. Holding a 24-22 advantage late, Nicholls looked to be in position for a set victory, but Houston Baptist scored four consecutive points to take the set and win the match.
 
Lucija Barac facilitated the Colonel offense with a career-high 20 assists on the day. Stephanie Tobison paced the squad with 20 digs, just one dig off of her career-high. Kaci Eaton led Nicholls with 12 kills on the afternoon and added seven digs. Anna Niederhauser and Kali Schwartz each contributed nine kills and 11 digs. Emily Weimer and Alyse Barclay totaled three blocks apiece.
 
Kayla Armer (35 assists), Melissa Fuchs (21 digs) and Jessica Wooten (11 kills) led the Huskies on Saturday.
 
The Colonels have a quick turnaround with road matches against Abilene Christian (Monday, Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m.) and Southeastern La. (Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.).
 
Admission to all Nicholls home volleyball games is absolutely free! Come out and support your Colonels!
 
Visit geauxcolonels.com for live stats, video and the most up-to-date information on Nicholls volleyball.