Nov. 20, 2009
Box Score
SAN ANTONIO – Senior Kaci Brewer recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs to lead fourth-seeded Lamar University to a 3-1 win over No. 5-seed Texas-Arlington in the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament Friday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Lamar (15-13) will face No. 1-seed Texas State (20-12) in the first semifinal match Saturday at 1 p.m. This marks the third straight year that the Cardinals and Bobcats have faced each other in the SLC Tournament. Lamar defeated Texas State in the SLC Tournament championship game last season.
“We’ve got so many young players that I don’t think they were ready for the tournament environment,” said head coach Justin Gibert on the Cardinals slow start. “We needed our experienced players to help settle the team down and they really came through.
“We played even with them (UTA) defensively, with the same number of digs and blocks. It was our offense that was the difference. I thought AD (Adrianne Meengs) played really well today. She makes it happen for us and really opens up our offense.”
UTA (12-17) claimed a hard-fought first set 25-21. The set featured 12 ties and six lead changes. The Mavericks scored the final three points to close out the set. Lamar stormed back to claim a 25-17 win in set two. Leading 16-13, the Cardinals went on a 5-0 run to extend its lead to 21-13 and take control of the set.
It was more of the same in set three as Lamar won 25-21. A Brewer kill tied the match at 4-4 and ignited a 7-0 run that made the score 10-4. Lauren Holdorff had three straight kills that extended the Cardinals’ lead to 19-13.
Lamar closed out the match with a 25-22 win in the fourth set on the strength of a robust .308 hitting percentage. That deciding set featured six ties and three lead changes.
“I thought Kaci (Brewer) played better as the match went along and really gave us a lift,” said Gibert. “Wendy (Krell) played extremely well especially for a freshman playing in her first conference tournament. She is our most consistent middle blocker and she really hurt UTA with her service game today.”
Krell, the SLC Freshman of the Year, added 12 kills for the Cardinals and posted a .320 hitting percentage. Genevieve Gladle nearly recorded a double-double with nine kills and 11 digs. Meengs passed out 43 assists, had nine kills, six digs and two blocks. Bailey Smith led the Cardinals with 23 digs.
Emily Shearin led UTA with 17 kills and Tara Frantz added 12. Alicia Shaffer had a team-high 27 digs and Raegan Daniel had 39 assists.
For the match, Lamar hit .233 compared to .181 by UTA. Each team had 67 digs and 10 total blocks.
