Nov. 5, 2011
Box Score
BEAUMONT - With the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament just over a week away, Lamar University secured its spot in the eight-team field Saturday at McDonald Gym with a convincing 3-1 (25-21, 25-10, 20-25, 25-21) victory over Central Arkansas.
Lamar (10-19) pulled even with the Sugar Bears (14-14) in the East Division as both teams now stand at 8-6 in conference play. The Lady Cardinals have two matches remaining before heading to the tournament, hosting Sam Houston State on Thursday (Nov. 10) before closing the regular season at home against Stephen F. Austin on Nov. 12.
"Our first goal is to make the postseason, and now we've done that," said LU head coach Justin Gibert who picked up his 100th career win against Northwestern State last Thursday. "Now we can play for position. If we can win the next two, we could finish as high as third. Hopefully we'll play relaxed in these last two matches."
Behind the strong play of outside hitter Cynthia McCollum and middle blockers Wendy Krell and Christina Hobbs, Lamar was able to play one of its best offensive matches of the season. The Lady Cardinals finished with a 58-43 advantage in kills over UCA, and hit a stellar .322 as a team.
"Our middle blockers stepped up huge today, and that was big," said Gibert. "We haven't been getting that consistent effort from that position all year, but today, Wendy and Christina were outstanding.
"Cynthia was incredibly good today. She is really getting better every time out, and her hitting was just extraordinary. I thought Sierra (Whittaker) and Megan (McStravick) were solid, but Cynthia and the middle blockers really led the offensive effort."
Lamar opened the match with a solid 15-kill effort in set one, hitting .273 as a team to pull out a 25-21 victory. However, it was the second set where Lamar really turned it on. The Lady Cardinals committed just two attack errors in hitting .500 as a team and blowing UCA out 25-10.
The Sugar Bears put together their best set to pull within 2-1, knocking off Lamar 25-20 in sett three behind a .400 team attack percentage. Despite losing the set, Lamar still finished with more kills (15-13) than the visitors.
Lamar, which snapped a four-match losing streak against UCA with the victory, caught fire again in set four. UCA was impressive, hitting .314 in the final set, but Lamar was even better. The Lady Cards hit a blistering .353 as a team in closing the match 25-21.
McStravick, who finished with eight kills and five total blocks, hammered down the final point of the match on setter Alex Morford's 54th assist. Morford would add eight digs, two service errors and two total blocks as she directed the Lady Cardinal offense.
"We just played phenomenal as a team," added Gibert. "I loved our team drive today, and thought it really overshadowed at times when we didn't execute like we should. This was a great team effort all the way around."
McCollum led all players with 16 kills, hitting a sparkling .394 attack percentage. She added six digs and a block assist. Krell hit .500 in picking up 14 kills for Lamar, while Hobbs attacked at a .375 percentage in gathering nine kills. The duo combined for seven total blocks as Lamar won the battle at the net nine to five.
Redshirt sophomore Megan Schwartz was moved to libero for Saturday's match and responded with a career-high 19 digs, leading all players. Lamar would finish with a 49-34 advantage in digs.
Taylor Hammonds led UCA with 11 kills, committing just one attack error on her way to hitting .556 for the match. Jessica Nagy added 10 kills, and Cristin Curl led the team with 10 digs.
LAMAR
