BEAUMONT, Texas — Behind a well-balanced attack, the Lamar University volleyball team finished strong to secure the sweep, 25-16, 25-12, 25-20, over the Nicholls State Colonels on Saturday afternoon at the McDonald Gym.

The Cardinals extended their winning streak to nine to remain in a two-way tie for third place in the Southland Conference, one game out of second and two out of first place.

"We're just trying to stay in the moment. We're not going to take it for granted. It's part of the process — the highs and the lows," said head coach Ariel Apolinario. "Today was a good day. We had multiple athletes performing at a high level on both sides of the ball.

"Our serving pressure, once again, was good. I would have liked to be a little bit cleaner at the end. It's been a long journey. We are getting closer to the end. Moving forward, I think we put ourselves in a good place so we can have a chance."

After two brief ties to begin the second set, LU went on a 4-0 run to lead 5-2. Taisha Rhone and Daniella Udegbunam each had a kill while Maja Malinowska served up an ace during the run.

There were seven ties in the score. At one point, the Colonels held a two-point lead before the Cardinals used a 3-0 run to take a 15-13 lead.

Rhone had one kill while Lyric Jordan came down with two clutch kills during the run.

The Colonels cut the deficit back down to one, but LU scored three unanswered points after kills by Jordan, Hailey McEllrath and Rhone.

LU put the set away by closing out on a 7-1 run that included two kills by McEllrath.

The second set began with three ties in the score until the Cardinals went on a 9-1 run to take a 12-5 lead.

Keeley Nellis served up two aces while Rhone had one during the run. Rhone also had a pair of kills while Malinowska tallied a solo block.

The Cardinals kept their foot on the accelerator as they closed out the set with an 8-0 run. Rhone served up four aces while Jordan tallied two kills to give LU a 2-0 advantage.

In the final set, there were five ties in the score.

Rhone broke a 4-4 tie with a kill and another service ace to put the Cardinals up by two points.

LU later extended its lead four after a kill from Malinowska.

Nicholls used a 4-0 run to make things interesting by tying up the score at 17-all.

The Cardinals regained their composure and went on a 5-1 run to secure the sweep. Rhone had three kills down the final stretch.

LU has four games remaining in the regular season. Three of the four are against teams that are ahead of LU in the conference standings.

"I'm looking forward to the competition and the challenge," Apolinario added. "I think that our group is ready to go out there and battle."

RECORDS: Nicholls (11-14, 1-11); LU (16-11, 9-3)

MATCH NOTES

• Rhone led the offense with 14 kills and seven service aces while she also had seven digs.
• Malinowska tallied 11 kills, one service ace, one solo block and 12 digs to record her 15th double-double of the season.
• Jordan finished with 10 kills and two digs.
• McEllrath had six kills and five digs.
• LU finished with 12 service aces, the second most tallied this season. The Cardinals also had 12 service aces in a four-set win over Louisiana Tech on Sept. 7.
• Alexa Gonzalez tallied 40 assists, two service aces, one block assist and five digs.
• Nellis aided the defense with four digs while she helped the offense with two service aces.
• Gabby Baker finished with 18 digs and two assists. Baker is two digs away from tying the second highest dig total in a season in program history (534 digs | Miriam Erickson, 1992).
• LU has recorded four nine-game winning streaks in program history: 2001, 1986, 1985 and 1976.
• The Cardinals have won five straight matches at home, their longest home winning streak since 2015.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals travel to Southeastern Louisiana for a 6:30 p.m. match on Thursday, Nov. 6.