NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Lamar volleyball suffered a sweep to the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks on Saturday afternoon at the Debbie Humphrey's Court at Shelton Gym.

SFA finished tied for the top spot in the Southland Conference as it was crowned a co-champion alongside UTRGV.

The Ladyjacks won the head-to-head over UTRGV to secure the No. 1 seed.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals will be seeded fifth as they take on No. 4 Incarnate Word next week in Commerce.

Regardless of how the season finishes, LU has recorded back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2008 and 2009.

The Cardinals held a brief 3-2 lead in the opening set until SFA went on an 11-1 run to take an eight-point lead.

SFA kept up the energy using a late 4-0 run to lead by 15.

LU put together three unanswered points which included a pair of service aces by Maja Malinowska, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

The Cardinals held a 5-3 lead in the second set after back-to-back kills from Kinley Elms.

LU kept it competitive as it continued to hold on to a two-point lead after Taisha Rhone put down a kill.

SFA used a 6-1 run to flip the script and take a five-point lead.

Aided by two kills from Malinowska, the Cardinals went on a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to three.

The Ladyjacks closed out the set on a 4-1 run to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

LU took a 5-2 lead early in the third set using a 4-0 run that included a kill from Sydnee Griffen and a service ace by Alexa Gonzalez.

Lyric Jordan kept the Cardinals on top with a kill, but SFA surged back with 6-1 run to take a five-point lead.

SFA outscored the Cardinals, 5-2, to secure the sweep.

RECORDS: LU (17-14, 10-6); SFA (20-7, 15-1)

MATCH NOTES

• Malinowska finished with eight kills, nine digs, two service aces and one solo block.
• Rhone, Elms and Jordan each tallied three kills. Rhone and Elms each had four digs on the defensive side.
• Gonzalez finished with 17 assists while she had nine digs, one service ace and one block assist.
• Gabby Baker led the defense with 10 digs. Baker is now 13 digs away from tying the single season program record for digs. The record is 602 digs set by Andrea Hamilton in 2007.
• Hailey McEllrath also had three kills while she tallied three total blocks (Two block assists and one solo block).

UP NEXT

The Cardinals take on Incarnate Word at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 in the opening round of the conference tournament in Commerce.