THIBODAUX, La. – Senior middle blocker S'mara Riley picked up six blocks to record the most blocks by a Colonel in a single season (124) since the rally scoring era began in 1999, as the Nicholls State University volleyball team was defeated by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in four sets (21-25, 23-25, 28-26, 16-25) on senior day inside Stopher Gym on Saturday.

In the first set, Nicholls jumped out to a 7-3 advantage behind a few three-point scoring runs. After that, the Lions utilized a five-point run to take an 11-9 lead, before they added three separate three-point scoring runs to go up 23-17, and eventually take the set 25-21.

The second set saw Nicholls piece together a trio of three-point scoring runs that were not enough to hold off two four-point runs by the Lions that yielded them the 25-23 set win.

In the third stanza, Texas A&M-CC went up 23-19. After that, Nicholls put together three separate three-point runs to win the extended set 28-26.

In the fourth and final frame, the Lions jumped out to an 11-4 lead, which was too much for the Colonels to recover from as Texas A&M-CC ran away with the set 25-16.

The Red & Gray offense was a balanced offense that featured five attackers, that recorded more than five kills, and hit at least .250 from the floor. The unit was spearheaded by senior outside hitter Devon Bright who registered 12 kills while hitting .300. Sophomore outside hitter Trinity Vinzant picked up her 10th double-double of the season and third consecutive, posting 12 kills and 11 digs with a team-high .385 hitting percentage.

Senior outside hitter Katie Jones tallied nine kills on .267, while her classmate Riley added seven kills to her stat line to finish with 11 total points. Freshmen middle blocker Paris Dixon and outside hitter Mackenzie Pryor recorded seven and six kills while hitting .353 and .278, respectively.

The Nicholls attack was paced nicely by a pair of setters. Freshman Taylor Heeb racked up 28 assists and senior Lilly Bivens dished out 18 helpers. The Colonels added four service aces to their scoring with Bright claiming two and Heeb having one.

The other service ace for the Colonels came from reigning Southland Defensive Player of the Week sophomore libero Kadie Becnel who anchored the defense with 22 digs. Defensively, Bright added eight digs and three blocks, while Dixon and Jones had two apiece, and Vinzant and Pryor each had one.

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