BEAUMONT, Texas — After a four-set win over rival McNeese, the Lamar volleyball team is hoping to carry that momentum into Saturday's match against Nicholls on the road. 2025 SCHEDULE: Nicholls began the season 10-1, which included a six-game winning streak … Nine of its 10 wins are against Southwestern Athletic Conference programs … Recently, the Colonels have dropped seven in a row … Nicholls has not won a set since Sept. 25 when it engaged in a five-set match vs. New Orleans … The Colonels are 5-1 at home, suffering their first loss to conference-leading Stephen F. Austin on Thursday.

2025 RECORD: 10-8 (0-5 Southland Conference)

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Outside hitter and graduate student Tamara Chavez leads the team with 237 kills and 259 points in 17 matches played … Graduate student and outside hitter / right side Maelie Chupin is second on the team with 82 kills … Junior setter Isabella Padilla has 501 assists … Sophomore setter Ava-Claire Calais and freshman libero / defensive specialist Karina Smith both have a team high 18 service aces.

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Nicholls has five players with 100 or more digs … Smith leads the back row with 149 digs … Calais is second with 130 digs … Freshman middle blocker Harper Holden has a team high 55 total blocks (45 block assists, 10 solo).

2024 RECAP: Nicholls went 7-20 overall and 2-14 in league play … The Colonels ended the season riding a 10-game losing skid ... The last winning season for Nicholls came in 2011 while its last trip to the conference tournament was in 2021.

HEAD COACH: Jonea Rima is in her third season at the helm … Rima spent six seasons at NAIA member Midway University. LU vs. Nicholls: The Cardinals are 35-14 all-time vs. Nicholls since the first meeting in 1979 … LU has won the last five meetings … The Cardinals defeated Nicholls three times in 2024 by four sets, five sets and a sweep … LU is 6-4 in the last 10 matches played in Thibodaux.
LEADING THE CONFERENCE: LU leads the Southland Conference in six of the seven categories — points (1,178.5), assists (832), kills (880), blocks (182.5), service aces (116) and digs (1,258).

NATIONALLY RANKED: The Cardinals lead NCAA Division I in total digs and total attacks (2,813) ahead of Western Michigan in both categories … LU ranks third in NCAA Division I in total blocks, 14th in assists and 21st in kills.

GO, GABBY, GO: Gabby Baker is back to being the NCAA Division I leader in digs (385) ahead of Gardner-Webb's Nalani McBride (373) … Baker is one of three underclassmen ranked in the top 10 in total digs in NCAA Division I … Baker continues to lead the Southland Conference in digs … Baker is 43 digs away from tying the 10th highest mark in a season for digs in program history, which is 428 held by both Shanda Hart (2000) and Natalie Sarver (2002).

BRINGING THE BOOM: Daniella Udegbunam is tied for fifth in NCAA Division I in total blocks with 89 (61 block assists, 28 solo) alongside Wyoming's Sarah Holcomb and Eastern Michigan's Hatteras Welker … Udegbunam is tied for the lead in NCAA Division I in solo blocks … Udegbunam leads the Southland Conference in total and solo blocks.

GETTING RECOGNIZED: Baker became the first defensive player at LU to earn Southland Conference Player of the Week honors since Lauren Stahlman in 2015 … Baker earned the honor back on Sept. 22.

MILESTONE MOMENT: LU had two setters eclipse the 1,000-assist career mark this season … Jo Moffitt reached 1,005 career assists in her three-year career while Alexa Gonzalez now has 1,338 in her two-year career.

THIS AND THAT: Maja Malinowska ranks third in the Southland Conference in kills (215) and second in points (252.5) … Gonzalez is fourth in the conference in assists (481) while she is fourth in service aces (26) … Kinley Elms is seventh in the conference in kills (154) and eighth in points (171).