Oct. 24, 2008
Box Score
LAKE CHARLES, La. - The Lamar University volleyball team used a strong performance at the service line to overwhelm the McNeese State Cowgirls Friday night, handing the Southland Conference East division foe a 3-1 loss.
The Lady Cards improve 9-8 overall and 7-1 in conference play with the win while McNeese falls to 7-13 overall and 4-4 in SLC play with the loss. Lamar will be back in action on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. when they face Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas.
The Lady Cardinals opened the match with a 25-21 first set victory. After opening up an early four-point lead, LU was able to maintain the advantage down the stretch for the win. Shalayne Blythe, who posted five kills with a .500 hitting percentage, led the way individually for Lamar in the opening frame while the team had five service aces.
McNeese quickly bounced back to tie the match with a 25-18 win of the own in the second set. The Cowgirls were able to take advantage of nine Lamar errors in the second set, leading to a .057 team hitting percentage.
With the match tied at a set apiece, Lamar quickly regained the momentum with a dominant 25-10 win in the third set. The Lady Cardinals pulled away from an early 5-5 tie with a 20-5 run to close out the set with the convincing win. Blythe, Lauren Holdorff and Kaci Brewer each tallied four kills in the set to lead the way for LU.
Lamar closed out the match with another easy win in the fourth set, cruising to a 25-16 victory. The Lady Cardinals jumped out to a lead in the early going of the set and did not allow the Cowgirls to make a run down the stretch. Holdorff led the way on offense with four kills while Blythe and Meagan Adams each had three.
For the match Blythe led the Lamar offense with 15 kills to go along with five blocks, while Holdorff posted 12 kills with a .476 hitting percentage. Brewer also finished in double digits in kills, registering 10 while Ashley Todd passed out 39 assists. Andrea Hamilton led the defense with 12 digs.
The Lady Cardinals finished the match with 11 service aces, led by Todd and Holdorff who each had three. The Cowgirls on the other hand only managed three service aces against Lamar.
