Sept. 27, 2007

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. - Behind a total team effort, the Lamar University volleyball team picked up their seventh straight win, knocking out the University of Central Arkansas Sugar Bears 3-1 at the Prince Center.

The Lady Cards improved to 11-7 overall and 3-0 in Southland Conference play with the win, while UCA falls to 13-5 and 0-3 in SLC play.

"This was a huge win for us tonight," head coach Justin Gibert said. "In the last few years we would not have pulled a match like this out because we didn't think we could win it. Now we are starting to believe we can win these matches. You can see the maturity building. Starting 3-0 in conference is great, especially since all of our matches have been on the road, but the confidence a win like this builds is just as important."

Holding onto a 2-1 lead in the match, the Lady Cards appeared to be ready close out the match with a 27-21 lead. The Sugar Bears however rallied back to tie the match at 29, behind a strong service run by Chloe Smith.

After swapping the next five points with UCA, Lamar picked up the 33-31 win on a hitting error by Natalie Lundquist. The Sugar Bears had trouble with the serve by Lamar's Andrea Hamilton and could not get a good attempt.

The Lady Cardinals started the match with a 30-22 win in game one, a win which saw the Lamar defense stymie the Sugar Bear attack with five blocks. The defensive intensity and a balanced offensive attack helped LU pull away from UCA late in game.

In game two the Sugar Bears used a late rally to pull away from Lamar for a 30-27 win. The Lady Cards fell victim to a hot hitting UCA team that posted a .306 hitting percentage, while LU posted a hitting percentage of .220.

In game three the two teams battled back and forth for the majority of the game before the Lady Cards opened up a five point lead at 28-23. The Sugar Bears made a run to close with two points, but a block by Adriane Meengs and a kill by Courtney Mitchell sealed the game 30-26.

For the match the Lady Cards were led by Destiny Mason's double-double of 13 kills and 15 digs, while Molli Abel and Genevieve Gladle added 13 and 12 kills respectively. Adrianne Meengs and Ashley Todd split the setting duties for the Lady Cards, passing out 32 and 18 assists respectively.

In addition to Mason's digs the Lamar defense was solid as Hamilton led the way with 27 digs and Lauren Rush picked up 10. The LU block was also strong with 14 rejections as a team, led by Abel's six and Mitchell's four.

"We had a total team effort tonight," Gibert said. "Everybody that came off the bench stepped up and played a big part in this win. Ashley Todd came in and did a great job setting and Genevieve (Gladle) was huge on offense. Every player that stepped on the floor helped earn this win."

Central Arkansas was led by Chloe Smith's 15 kills and Robyn Smith's 50 assists.

The Lady Cardinals will be back in action on Saturday when they take on Northwestern State at 2 p.m. in Natchitoches, La.