MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team improved to 6-3 on the season after splitting contests against Miami (OH) and South Carolina State on day one of the ISTAP Collegiate Cup Tournament, hosted by Alabama State inside the Joe L. Reed Dunn-Oliver Acadome on Friday afternoon.
NICHOLLS 0, MIAMI (OH) 3 | 10-25, 20-25, 9-25
Nicholls offense struggled in the first match of the weekend as they had 26 kills, 26 errors and posted a .037 hitting percentage. On the other side, Miami had 40 kills while registering a .374 hitting percentage.
The Colonels' offense started slowly as they had eight kills and eight errors in the first set while the Red Hawks hit .344 from the field to take the set 25-10. The Red & Gray offense had their best showing in the second set as they recorded 12 kills but lost the set 25-20. The Colonels' momentum did not carry into the rest of the match as the Red Hawks took the final set 25-9.
Senior setter
Isabella Padilla paced the offense with 20 assists.
Kera Arrington led the attack with eight kills while
Mckenzie Mitchell and
Madison Smith added seven and five, respectively.
Defensively, libero
Natalia Navarro and Padilla had 12 digs apiece while Mitchell added six.
Ava-Claire Calais and Smith had five apiece.
Maya Schirmer had the Colonels' lone block.
NICHOLLS 3, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE 0 | 25-17, 25-14, 25-16
Nicholls offense found its rhythm in the second match of the day as they had 41 kills and posted a .231 hitting percentage in a three-set victory. The defense also shined as they forced SCSU to tally a .053 hitting percentage.
The Colonels won the first set 25-17 behind 11 errors by the Bulldogs. The Red & Gray offense exploded for 18 kills with a .424 hitting percentage to win the second set 25-14. Nicholls recorded 15 kills while allowing six in the final stanza to win the frame 25-16.
Padilla ran the offense effortlessly with 32 assists. Mitchell and Schirmer led the attack with 12 and 10 kills respectively. Smith and Arrington combined for 11 kills. The Colonels had 11 service aces as Padilla led the unit with five followed by Navarro (3) and
Lizzie Kraft (2).
The Colonel defense was anchored by Navarro who matched her season high with 21 digs. Smith added nine digs while Mitchell, Padilla, and Kraft had six apiece. At the net,
Harper Holden and Arrington had two blocks apiece.
UP NEXT
Nicholls will wrap up the weekend with a match against Alabama State on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 2 p.m.
