BEAUMONT – Despite the 3-2 loss to Houston Baptist on Saturday, head coach
Alan Edwards and the Lamar University volleyball team can look to the positives of that match to carry them through the last three contests of its five-match road swing, starting with Stephen F. Austin at 6:30 Tuesday evening.
It is three-match week for the Cardinals (13-12, 3-8 Southland Conference). Match two is Thursday at 7 o'clock against New Orleans (15-13, 4-7), and the road finale of the season is at noon on Thursday at Southeastern Louisiana (11-17, 5-6).
The three matches on the week are crucial for LU and the Southland Conference Tournament. Lamar is one game back of the final spot to the league tourney, and sits behind UNO and Northwestern State, which Big Red fell to earlier this season. SLU sits in seventh place and the Ladyjacks (17-12, 8-4) are in third place, where it was when LU fell 3-1 to them at home.
At HBU, the Cardinals were down 2-0 at intermission, but responded by taking the next two sets and pushing the fifth set until they fell 21-19. LU had several players contributing to the match including
Carlyn Stella,
Haley Morton and
Ashley Ellis, who all tallied double-doubles in the contest.
Stella had a career-high 15 kills and 10 digs, Ellis had 31 assists and 10 digs and Morton had 23 assists and 15 digs.
Cortney Moore finished the day with 19 kills, and
Autumn Taylor and
Murielle Hlavac notched kills totals over 10 as well.
Against Stephen F. Austin earlier this season, the Cardinals jumped out to a quick start on a 25-23 set one victory.
Nicole Parish had a career day in that match with 19 kills and nine digs, led LU in both categories.
Chelsea Grant had 12 kills and Stella finished with nine.
Makenzee Hanna for SFA had 15 kills and Jacque Allen had 13 in that match. Senior OJ Olsen finished with 17 digs, which was one short of the 2,000
th dig she notched at home in the following match.
Justice Walker leads the Jacks with a 2.64 kills per set mark, she only had eight total (2.00 per set) against Big Red in the earlier meeting. Allen averages a 2.50 kills per set and has a team-high .313 hitting percentage. Abby McIntyre and Hanna also average more than two kills a set this season. Allen also marks in at 1.02 blocks a set and Olson at 5.13 digs a set.
The match against Stephen F. Austin can be seen on ESPN 3.
It's the only meeting for the Cardinals against New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana during the 2015 regular season campaign. Big Red holds the all-time series over both teams, 24-6 against SLU and 21-12 over New Orleans.
Last season, LU downed the Privateers in straight-sets, and has taken the last three meetings between the two programs. This season, UNO rides into the match on a three-contest win streak over Nicholls, McNeese State and Mississippi Valley State.
Blessing Dunn leads the team with 2.71 kills per set, followed by Cara Sander (2.33), Rondolyn Bryant (2.06) and Kaitlyn Grice (2.01). Grice leads the team with a .303 hitting percentage and 0.77 blocks a set. Four Privateers, including Dunn, have a digs mark of higher than two per set. Lauren Levy tops the team at 2.76, Shaylene Reimer at 2.48, Dun at 2.23 and Celeste Ramirez at 2.15.
The Lady Lions defeated Lamar in five sets last season, and has three wins in the last five matches over the Cards. They come in with three losses in their last four matches this season, two of the matches on the road and two at the University Center.
Landry Bullock is SLU's top offensive player with 3.07 kills per set and a .225 hitting percentage. Three other Lady Lions average two or more kills a set this season. Like kills, three Lions have two or more digs a set, led by Brooke Balser's 3.60.
Once the road trip is over the Cardinals return home to wrap up the regular season with matches against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Bap
