DELAND, Fla. — Maja Malinowska and Kinley Elms spearheaded the Lamar volleyball team by tallying 53 combined kills on Day 1 of the Stetson Hatter Invitational on Friday at the Edmunds Center.

The Cardinals fought hard in the opening match but fell short in five sets to Northern Illinois while they suffered a sweep to Southern Miss in the second match.

MATCH 1: LU vs. Northern Illinois

LU overcame a difficult first set before gaining momentum to win the next two sets, holding the upper hand in the match with a 2-1 lead.

There were 15 different lead changes in the second set. NIU used a 5-0 run to lead by four in the middle of the set.

The Cardinals surmounted a comeback that featured a 6-1 run that gave them a one-point lead.

After that the pendulum began to swing back and forth until LU got a pair of kills from Elms and Lyric Jordan to close things out and tie up the match.

LU never trailed in the third set as the score was tied just once before the Cardinals went on a 4-0 run to pull ahead for a four-point lead.

The Cardinals used another 4-0 run to notch the win in the third set.

LU led for the majority of the fourth set.

On two occasions late in the set, the Cardinals were one point away from claiming the four-set victory, but the Huskies battled back.

NIU closed out the fourth set with a 3-0 run to force a deciding fifth set.

The Huskies went on a 10-1 run late in the fifth set to pull of the victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Malinowska led the offensive attack with 17 kills while she also led the defense with 19 digs.
• Elms finished with 14 kills and six digs.
• Jordan added to the offense with 11 kills.
• Taisha Rhone had nine kills and three digs.
• LU finished with 14 block assists and four solo blocks.
• Daniella Udegbunam had six block assists.
• Alexa Gonzalez tallied 28 assists, two service aces and seven digs.
• The Cardinals served up seven aces as Gabby Baker and Malinowska had two each and Jo Moffitt had one.
• Jo Moffitt also recorded 19 assists and 10 digs.
• Gabby Baker finished with 18 digs.

MATCH 2: LU vs. Southern Miss

The Cardinals fought hard during the first two sets.

LU trailed by as much as seven points in the middle of the first set until it put together a 4-0 run that included two kills each from Rhone and Malinowska, which cut the deficit to one.

Elms tallied a kill late in the set to get the Cardinals one point away from taking the win, but the Golden Eagles tied up the score.

LU regained the lead with a kill from Jordan, but Southern Miss closed out the set with a 3-0 run to notch the win.

The Cardinals found themselves down 13-6 in the middle of the second set after the Golden Eagles fired off a 7-0 run.

LU used a 4-0 run to fight its way back into the set, trailing by one point.

However, Southern Miss came away with the final kill to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

MATCH NOTES

• Malinowska and Elms led the offense with 11 kills each. On the defensive end, Malinowska finished with 10 digs.
• Malinowska finished the day with 28 kills while Elms had 25.
• Rhone finished with eight kills.
• Baker tallied 19 digs, eight assists, two service aces and one kill.
• Gonzalez had 16 assists and 12 digs.
• Moffitt finished with 12 assists and nine digs.

UP NEXT

LU wraps up the tournament taking on Stetson Saturday at 9 a.m. CDT / 10 a.m. EDT.