Aug. 26, 2011
Box Score
BEAUMONT - Lamar University got a big performance from true freshman Madi Martin at the setter position Friday night at McDonald Gym, but the Lady Cardinals could not overcome the balanced offense of North Texas in dropping their 2011 volleyball season opener by a 3-1 score.
Opening the season at its own tournament for the first time since the 2003 season, Lamar will continue play Saturday with a pair of matches. Lamar will host Texas Southern at 12:30 p.m. before playing the Lamar Tournament finale against Houston Baptist at 7.
Martin got the starting nod in her first college match since incumbent setter Alex Morford was out with a broken foot. The 6-foot-2 Martin pounded down nine kills on a team-best .400 attack percentage, adding 39 assists and eight digs.
"I thought she played incredibly well," said seventh-year head coach Justin Gibert. "That was a tremendous showing as a freshman setter. She's still maturing, still needs some work, but she did a solid, solid job."
Tied at 24 in the first set, LU suffered back-to-back attack errors by Wendy Krell and Megan McStravick to drop the set 26-24. The Mean Green had led the set 21-17, before Lamar ran off five straight points to take a 22-21 lead.
The second set saw the Lady Cardinals attack at an impressive .475 percentage as they pulled out a 29-27 win to even the match at one set apiece. Lamar had 21 of its 59 kills in set two.
After winning the third set 25-22, North Texas put the match away with a 25-19 victory in the fourth. Lamar managed to hit just .070 in the fourth, while North Texas hit an impressive .325.
"We need to be better in those tight situations," said Gibert. "It's good to have those opportunities, but we need to execute. We should have capitalized in game one, and it came back to cost us. We had so many opportunities throughout the match, but we need to step up and take advantage."
Lamar did a solid job at the net, out blocking North Texas eight to three. However, the Mean Green defense seemed to keep every ball in play as it finished with 84 digs to Lamar's 72.
Sophomore Megan McStravick finished with a double-double of 16 kills and 12 digs, while Sierra Whittaker added 13 kills and seven digs for Lamar. Christina Hobbs added eight kills and five total blocks from the middle.
Five North Texas players registered double-digit kills, led by Courtney Windham and Eboni Godfrey with 14 apiece. Mean Green libero Sarah Wiley led all players with 25 digs.
LAMAR
