With a 15-14 record overall and 13-7 Southland Conference record this season, the Lady Colonels volleyball team clinched its second consecutive Southland Conference tournament berth this weekend with home victories over Northwestern State and Louisiana-Monroe.
The Lady Colonels will enter the tournament as the sixth seed and will face third seed and defending Southland Conference champion Texas-Arlington tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. at the Convocation Center at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Since 1993, the Lady Colonels have clinched four Southland Conference tournament berths. They are all-time 2-5 in tournament play, with one second place finish.
In her fourth season as head coach, head volleyball coach M. J. Engstrom said the Lady Colonels’ focus is now on advancing in the conference tournament.
“We now have to shift our attention to the conference tournament and get ready to try to bring home a championship,” Engstrom said. “I think this team can compete with any team in this conference, and if we can continue to do the things that we do well, I think we’ll be fine.”
Senior setter Jennifer Fukino said the Lady Colonels must avoid mistakes and play positive ball in the Southland Conference tournament.
“We just have to go out there and play our game and do everything right so we can do well in the tournament,” Fukino said.
The Lady Colonels swept all three regular season matches last week against Lamar, Northwestern and Louisiana-Monroe to sit at a three-way tie at fourth place with Texas-San Antonio and McNeese State. The Lady Colonels received the sixth seed due to a tie breaker based on won-loss record against higher seeded teams in head-to-head conference matches.
This season, the Lady Colonels swept the season series against Texas-Arlington (16-12, 14-6 SLC). In the first meeting, the Lady Colonels defeated Texas-Arlington 3-1. In the second meeting in Thibodaux, the Lady Colonels won the match 3-2.
“We match up pretty well against them, and it has always been an exciting match,” Engstrom said.
The winner of the Lady Colonels versus Texas-Arlington match will face Stephen F. Austin in the second round Saturday at 4:30 p.m.Nicholls 3, Louisiana-Monroe 0
Led by senior outside hitter Caley Carter’s 14 kills, the Lady Colonels defeated the Louisiana-Monroe Lady Indians in three sets (30-24, 30-22 and 30-16) Saturday afternoon in Stopher Gym.
Freshman middle blocker Atina Porter contributed 13 kills and four digs, freshman middle blocker KaLeigh Butler added seven kills and senior libero Cheri White notched 10 digs.
The Lady Colonels offense hit .353 for the contest and produced 14 service aces. Louisiana-Monroe hit .131 and produced four aces.
Nicholls 3, Northwestern 1
In a four-game match on senior night, the Lady Colonels defeated Northwestern 30-20, 28-30, 30-28 and 30-25 Friday night in Stopher Gym.
Carter led the Colonels with 18 kills and 10 digs. Freshman middle blocker Brenda Ross added 13 kills, senior outsider hitter Becca Beall added 12 kills and senior libero Cheri White added 21 digs.
The Lady Colonels finished with 10 service aces, while Northwestern finished with five.
Lagniappe: Carter and White received honors from the Southland Conference this week. Carter was named to the Southland Conference offensive honor roll list by averaging 5.2 kills per game in three games against Lamar, Northwestern and Louisiana-Monroe. She surpassed 500 kills on the season and moved up to No. 2 in the Lady Colonels record book for most kills in a single season. White was named to the defensive honor roll list by coming up with back-to-back 21 kill games against Northwestern and Lamar.
