The Colonels volleyball team rebounded from a Friday night loss against South Alabama to take home two wins Saturday in the Lady Panther Invitational against Prairie View A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.As the Colonels began its final weekend tournament of the regular season, a battle against the South Alabama Jaguars resulted in 27 tied scores and 12 lead changes during three games. In the end, the Colonels dropped its first match 3-0 with scores of 25-23, 26-24 and 25-20, respectively.
The second day, the Colonels took the first match against Prairie View by a score of 3-1 with scores of 17-25, 25-21, 25-11 and 25-19, respectively. The win was followed by another against Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3-0 with scores of 25-12, 25-11 and 25-9, respectively.
Overall, the Colonels produced a weekend worth mentioning because freshman outside hitter Jennifer Brandt earned all-tournament honors by finishing the weekend with a 3.0 kill/set average, freshman middle blocker Jasmine Harris tallied 15 total blocks during three matches and senior Amy Whitehead raised her career assist total to 3,05.
Whitehead set the school’s career assists record last season, and this weekend she became the first Colonel volleyball player in school history to exceed 3,000 assists. Whitehead accumulated 91 assists in three matches this weekend.
“I’m very excited about it,” head coach Chris Laird said. “She’s been a big part of this team since she got here. Hopefully she can keep going forward and continue to achieve some more goals. If we can get her closer to 4,000 and give her a chance to reach that, it would be amazing. She’s done a great job, and she’s been a good leader for us. We’re excited to have her in our program. It’s a testament to the hitters around her and the passers that get her the ball that help her get to 3,000.”
The two wins marked the end of a three-week road stretch away from Nicholls. The last time the Colonels played at home was on Sept. 1 against Southern Miss. before enduring a three-week trek to tournaments in Georgia, Alabama and Texas.
“It’s been tough being away from home so much,” Laird said. “The regular season tournaments are about us playing with some heart. We did that well at times over the last three weekends.”
The beginning of conference play begins Friday at 7 p.m. when the Colonels will face off against Southeastern Louisiana in Stopher Gym.
Senior outside hitter Rachel Spreen prepares to serve in practice. The Colonels won two of the three games this past weekend. The team will open up conference play on Friday against Southeastern at 9 p.m. (Jamison Taylor)
