BEAUMONT, Texas - Carried by an incredible six point comeback in the first set, Lamar University (7-11, 2-6 SLC) grabbed momentum by the horns and ran away with a three-set victory over Nicholls State University (10-9, 4-4 SLC) on Saturday.
Malaysia Murdock led the way with 10 kills on a .500 hitting percentage, two blocks, and two digs, contributing 11 points.
Abigale Nash also had 11 points with nine digs, one assist, two blocks, and 10 digs.
Dannisha House,
Bre'Ala Box, and
Kayla Neumann each had six kills, and
Annika Slovak had 33 assists and three kills to accompany four digs. Neumann and Nash each had double-digit digs, and
Erin Pequeno had another seven digs.
"I thought we did a really good job of staying at high energy with very aggressive play," said head coach
Michelle Kuester. "That's been a focus at practice lately; going down swinging. I thought they did a good job maintaining that even when the pressure was on."
The pressure was strongest in the first set with Nicholls jumping out to a 13-7 lead to open the game. Murdock slammed home a kill off a Slovak assist to break that streak, and an attack error opened the door for LU. The Cards outscored the Colonels 14-8 to tie the set at 21-21, and though Nicholls won the next point, Lamar didn't step off the gas. Big Red won the next three points on a Nicholls service error, a kill by Murdock, and a kill by Box to force a set point, 24-22. Nicholls responded with back-to-back points out of a timeout, but a Nash spike and an attack error by the Colonels gave the game 26-24 to Lamar.
Nicholls again pressed an early advantage in the second set before Lamar came storming back. The Colonels led 4-2 before LU captured a 6-4 lead, and big performances by Nuemann, House, and Nash in the middle of the set led Lamar to a 12-6 advantage. The Cards didn't trail again in the set and never allowed Nicholls within three points as they won the set 25-19.
Out of the halftime locker room the Colonels initially stumbled, letting Lamar jump out to a 9-4 lead, but Nicholls came storming back, taking the next five points to tie the game at 9-9. A service error gave LU a brief lead, but Nicholls tied it again at 10-10, 11-11, and 18-18. Serving problems again put LU ahead 19-18 before consecutive attack errors from the Cards gave Nicholls its first lead of the game at 20-19. Lamar would tie the game at 21-21 on Cardinal kills and Colonel attack errors, and Big Red took the next two points to lead 23-21. A kill by Nicholls pulled the Colonels within one before three consecutive service errors by the two teams ended the match. Lamar took the third set 25-23 and the match in straight sets.
The Cards open the second half of Southland Conference play on Tuesday at McNeese with Lamar currently sitting in 11th in the standings. McNeese is just below LU at 1-7 in SLC play. The Cards then travel to Houston Baptist (tied sixth, 4-4 SLC) on Saturday before returning home to host UIW (13th, 0-8 SLC) on Halloween. A three-game home stand will open November with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (fourth, 5-3 SLC), New Orleans (fifth, 4-3 SLC), and Southeastern Louisiana (tied sixth, 4-4 SLC) coming to town. Road matches at Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian will close the regular season.
"We're a young team and still learning, but we're making good strides," said Kuester. "I think people are going to be caught off guard by us in the second half of conference play and our moral is only on the way up. That's a good thing for the second half of the conference season."
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