Nov. 6, 2010

Box Score

NATCHITOCHES, La. - Sophomore middle blocker Tina Hobbs led a balanced Lamar University attack as the Lady Cardinal volleyball team handed Northwestern State a 3-0 Southland Conference defeat on Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.

The Lady Cardinals improved to 12-13 on the year and 8-6 in SLC play, good enough for second place in the East Division. The loss dropped the Lady Demons to 12-15 on the year and 3-11 in the SLC.

The first set looked as though it may go to the host Lady Demons as NSU jumped out to a 15-10 lead. Lamar responded with a strong run and went ahead 18-16 on an Alex Morford kill. Both teams battled back-and-forth before a Wendy Krell kill gave LU a 27-25 first set win.

Lamar hit an impressive .326 as a team in the first set, getting six kills from Hobbs and five each from Megan McStravick and Cynthia McCollum.

The Lady Cardinals jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and never trailed en route to a 25-20 victory. A Sierra Whittaker kill gave Lamar set point and a Northwestern State service error ended the set.

NSU went ahead early in the third set by a 6-3 score but couldn't stop Lamar's offense. Sophomore middle blocker Jayme Bazile pounded down a kill with the set tied at nine to give LU a 10-9 lead that it would never relinquish. Lamar closed the door on the Demons by a 25-20 score.

For the match, Lamar hit .240 as a team while limiting NSU to a .137 attack percentage. Lamar finished with nine more kills in the match while picking up six service aces.

Hobbs led Lamar with 10 kills and a .381 attack percentage. McStravick and McCollum each finished with nine kills for Lamar, which will continue road action on Thursday evening at 7 at Sam Houston State. Sophomore Angel Colyar led LU's defense with 16 digs, while Morford finished with 37 assists.

Taylor Deering had a match-high 11 kills for NSU. LAMAR