BEAUMONT, Texas - Earning the first win of the
Michelle Kuester era, the volleyball team of Lamar University impressed Thursday night in front of a sellout crowd in the season opener. The Cards took down Texas Southern University in four sets in McDonald Gym.
The offense was spread pretty evenly amongst LU's attackers with five Cards totaling at least seven kills.
Dannisha House led the way with nine kills and three total blocks, and
Nina Pevic and
Tomar Thomas each had eight kills. Pevic had four total blocks, while Thomas racked up three aces. Freshman
Abigale Nash and senior
Ivette Dim also contributed offensively with seven kills apiece.
The defensive effort was also shared among Big Red student-athletes with Nash and
Alyssa Legette each totaling eight digs and libero
Zahria Scott adding in another seven. All told Lamar excelled as a team, beating the Lady Tigers of TSU in every category, most demonstrably in service aces - 12 to just six.
LU did get off to slow starts in both the first and second set, trailing by as much as five in the first 10 points in both games, but in both instances a timely stoppage of play by Kuester got the Cards back on track. The Redbirds used several big runs of their own in the opening sets to win handily, 25-19, in sets one and two.
Another slow start in the third set hamstrung Lamar early on, with TSU leading by as much as seven, 11-4. The Cardinals made a run of it to pull within two points, 11-9, and force a Texas Southern timeout, but unforced errors on five of the next six TSU points put the Lady Tigers back out front, 17-9, before a kill by Dim ended the run. Texas Southern held off LU long enough to take the third set, 25-13.
Tied as late in the fourth set as the 26th point, momentum swung several times in the pivotal game. TSU hung tough with Big Red for most the game until errors started to catch up to the Lady Tigers. Seven of Lamar's final 10 points came off Texas Southern mental mistakes, and on match point in front of a raucous crowd Nash and Dim combined for a block, sending the masses stuffed into McDonald Gym into an uproar. Lamar took the fourth set 25-17 and the match in four sets.
The Cards return to action in their second game of the Cardinal Classic at noon on Friday. They'll face Southern University, then conclude their portion of the tournament with Howard University at 7 p.m. on Friday evening. The Cardinal Classic will also feature games between TSU, Southern, and Howard at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Friday and at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
