The Nicholls volleyball team played its last two home games of the 2006 season over the weekend and earned a split by defeating Central Arkansa and losing to Northwestern St. The Colonels (9-20 overall, 3-11 in conference) will now travel for their last two games of the season Friday against Lamar and Saturday against McNeese.

In the first game of the weekend against the Sugar Bears, the Colonels let UCA gain an early advantage with a 30-25 win in the first set. Nicholls squared the match at 1-1 with a 32-30 win in the second match.

The Colonels would hold off UCA in the next two games 30-28 and 30-28 to give Nicholls the match. Senior middle hitter Atina Porter had 25 kills in the match leading all other players, which put her third on the all-time kills list at Nicholls with 1,264.

The next day Porter was honored on Senior Day as the Colonels hosted NSU. The Colonels gave up the first two sets 30-28 and 30-27 but won the third set 30-27.

In the fourth set the Colonels kept it close but lost 30-26, giving NSU the match. Porter’s performance in the game put her fourth all-time with kills in a season with 470 and put her fifth in assisted blocks and total blocks with 200 and 241, respectively.

“I’m grateful to be a part of such a great program, and I’ll definitely miss competing with my teammates,” Porter said.

Laird said he has seen the progression of his young players and expects the team as a whole to play with high intensity for the entire year in 2007.

“Every opportunity we have to step on the floor has to be with a purpose,” Laird said. “We have a lot of talent on this team, and now we have to show that our program can be a contender year in and year out.