THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team will face the final challenge of its non-conference schedule this weekend as the team takes on the Flo Hymen Collegiate Cup, hosted by the University of Houston, Sept. 18-19.
The Colonels (3-6), started out with a promising 2-1 record after downing Southern and Mercer at the Southern Miss invitational in Hattiesburg. Since that time, Nicholls has gone 1-5, while facing some of the top competition in the country, including Houston, Louisiana-Lafayette, North Carolina State, Tulane and TCU. This weekend's action will be the final opportunity for the Colonels to build momentum heading into conference play, Sept. 24, against Stephen F. Austin.
Nicholls will open this weekend's tournament against Prairie View A&M (0-10) at 10 a.m. on Friday, before a 3 p.m. matchup with the host Cougars (7-2) later that afternoon. The Colonels will close out the weekend against Alabama A&M (1-11) at 10 a.m.
Nicholls will look to take advantage of attractive matchups against the Panthers and Lady Bulldogs in the bookend matches of the tournament. Prairie-View A&M has had an abysmal beginning to its 2015 campaign, going 0-10 after losing 30 straight sets. Alabama A&M has had a similar opening to its season, entering the weekend with a 1-11 mark through 12 matches.
The battle of the tournament will be Friday's rematch with Houston. The Colonels and Cougars met two weeks back on a neutral court at the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Volleyball Classic in Lafayette, with Houston squeaking out a 3-2 win. Nicholls stunned the Cougars with a 25-22 victory in set one, before dropping sets two and three. The Colonels tied the match with a 25-19 victory in set four, but came up two points shy, 15-13, in the pivotal fifth set.
Kayla Mashburn spearheads the Nicholls offense with a team-leading 134 kills. She ranks first in the Southland Conference in attacks per set (11.38) and kills per set (3.94), and ranks second in the SLC in total attacks (387) and total kills.
Alyse Barclay is the facilitator for the Colonel offense, totaling 223 assists in the young season. Defensively,
Stephanie Tobison leads Nicholls with 104 digs. Newcomer
Anna Niederhauser has been the most productive all-around player for the Red and Grey. She ranks first on the team in service aces (16), second on the team in kills (94) and digs (93), and fourth on the team in blocks (11).
Brookah Palmer paces the Houston offense with 151 kills. Keandra McCardell has a team-high 247 assists and Olivia O'Dell has earned 200 digs to lead the squad.
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