BEAUMONT – Led behind its two middle blockers, the Lamar University volleyball team won its second-straight and remained undefeated at home when it downed Nicholls 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 22-25, 25-16) at McDonald Gym on Saturday afternoon in Southland Conference action.
 
Cortney Moore and Chelsea Grant each had 17 kills for the match and led the Cardinals (12-5, 2-1 Southland Conference). Moore finished with a staggering and four-set career-high .667 hitting percentage on 24 attacks with only one error.  Grant wrapped up with a .452 percentage with three errors in 17 attacks.
 
"Everybody in the conference is going to play them the same way.  Both Chelsea and Cortney going to compete hard and do everything they can to have the best game they can," said head coach Alan Edwards. "Cortney has really stepped up in the last two matches and gone off.
 
"They are definitely the driving force behind our team, and how they go is the way we're going to go," he said.
 
Autumn Taylor had another big match for Big Red when she chimed in with 12 kills and 10 dig, her first double-double of the 2015 campaign.
 
"She wasn't hitting great to start, but she was able to recover," said Edwards. "I feel like where Autumn has gotten so much better is she stays engaged a lot longer and thinks through the game a lot higher. That focus is there and she is mindful about what she is doing through the back rotation and can hit out of the pipe for us.
 
"She is okay with her teammates looking to her for leadership now, and she understands they are relying and depending on her," said Edwards. "That is a big step for that kid."
 
Lamar started the match sluggish in the first set and was down 10-8 when Edwards called a timeout. Nicholls won the first point out of the timeout, but LU rattled off seven-straight points to grab a 15-11 lead, which it would not relinquish.
 
Grant's kill made it 11-9, followed Murielle Hlavac to make it 11-10.  Grant knocked home two more to give LU the 12-11 advantage and an attack error for the Colonels and service ace by Taylor made it 14-11. Nicholls called a timeout, but out of it Lamar moved it to 15-11 on another Hlavac kill.  All kills were assisted by Haley Morton, who finished with 30 assists for the second-straight match.
 
The second set was much better for LU, which finished the individual game with a .607 hitting percentage on 18 kills, one error and 28 total attacks.
 
"We spend a lot of time in our gym talking about the need to be efficient," said Edwards. "We had to have sided out at 75 percent.  That is a big number."
 
Lamar held Nicholls to nothing more than two-point runs, and only did that three times in the entire set. The bulk of the lead was built on a 6-2 run the Cardinals used to turn a 9-8 lead into a 15-10 advantage. Moore was huge in the game with seven kills without an error, and both Nicole Parish (2-for-2) and Amy Hollowell (3-for-3) were perfect.
 
"After the second set, it was a little disappointing to follow that with what we did in the third, but that is just part of the growth process," said Edwards. "You just have to work through that."
 
The third set was tight and went down to the wire, but Nicholls was able to close out the game stronger than the Cards.  Up 22-21, Anna Niederhauser and Kaci Eaton, who led all players with 22 kills for the match, knocked home kills to make it 24-21, and after a kill from Grant the Colonels finished it off with a kill by Sydney Lerille.
 
LU put together runs of three or more three times in the fourth and clinching set, including four-straight to turn a 19-12 lead into a 23-12 mark.  Two of the points came from kills by Grant and Moore, the others were on attack Nicholls' attack errors.
 
Parish finished the contest with four kills, as well as Hlavac.  Hollowell accounted for five.  Defensively, Grant had seven blocks and Lauren Stahlman had 19 digs. As a team, LU put up a .213 hitting percentage (51 kills/22 errors/136 attacks).
 
Nicholls' Eaton had a .413 hitting percentage and Niederhauser had a .135 (14/9/37). The Colonels put up a .213 percentage (51/22/136).
 
The Cardinals moved their season's mark to 8-0 in McDonald Gym, 2-0 in league play. 
 
"We have a special environment. Our kids feel comfortable in there because our kids have made it special. They walk in and compete, that's what they do every day. That is a credit to them," said Edwards. "The other part of that is our fan base, I love our fan base.  They are there through the thick and thin.  I think we do a good job of putting a respectable and respectful group of kids on the floor."
 
Lamar will not return to McDonald Gym until Oct. 13, when it matches up against Sam Houston State for the second time in 2015.  That match also opens up a three-contest home streak.  The next the Cardinals hit the floor will be at Abilene Christian on Oct. 8 and at Incarnate Word two days later.