Courtesy: Southland.org http://www.southland.org Nicholls senior Manieka Golden had 10 kills as the Colonels down UTSA, 3-1.

Nicholls 3, UTSA 1
THIBODAUX, La. - Nicholls dropped the opening set of Friday's Senior Night match to UTSA (10-17, 5-8 Southland), but the Colonels' rallied to win the next three straight for a 3-1 win that put Nicholls back into the Southland Conference Tournament hunt.

The Colonels (11-16, 5-8 Southland) entered the contest one game behind UTSA for the seventh spot in the eight-team tournament field and tied with Southeastern Louisiana for eighth. However, the Lions owned the head-to-head tiebreaker over Nicholls after winning both matchups between the two squads this season.

Friday night's win, coupled with Southeastern's loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, gives the Colonels the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Roadrunners for the seventh seed in the league tournament.

The Colonels were led by stellar performances from their senior class on Friday night as outside hitters Manieka Golden (team-high 10 kills) and Rachel Spreen (match-high three aces), setter Amy Whitehead (match-high 33 assists) were major factors in the Nicholls' victory.

"Tonight was a big night," head coach Chris Laird said. "What a great win on Senior Night. The girls played great. We lost that first set, but we kind of played inspired in the second, third and fourth sets and took care of what we needed to do. We talked about what we needed to take care of, and our girls did a great job of listening and adjusting. These seniors mean the world to me, and we're going to miss them, but we still have them for three more matches. So, we'll try to get the most out of them, but they did a great job tonight."

The Colonels got themselves in an early hole as UTSA came out and hit .346 (12-3-26) in the opening frame while limiting Nicholls to a .027 team hitting percentage (9-8-37) en route to a 25-17 win.

However, Nicholls rebounded in the second with a momentum-changing 25-16 victory to even the match at 1-1. The Colonels got three kills and an ace from Spreen to spark the offense, and the Nicholls defense posted 3.0 total blocks and took advantage of 16 Roadrunner errors as the Colonels never trailed en route to the win.

The Colonels continued to pick up steam in the second as Spreen once again led the team with three kills in the set. The Colonels posted a .290 team hitting percentage (10-1-31) with just one attack error while sophomore Rachel Yezak and freshman Jasmine Harris combined on 4.0 blocks to keep UTSA in check before taking a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 25-17 win.

Nicholls came out in the fourth set looking to dash any hopes UTSA may have had for a comeback. The Colonels never trailed in the fourth frame after opening up with an 8-3 run.

Golden led the way with four kills and no errors on eight attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. As a team, the Colonels hit at a .440 clip (12-1-25) while limiting the Roadrunners to a .139 (15-10-36) percentage en route to the 25-17 win and a 3-1 victory.

Friday's win also marks the first time Nicholls has surpassed the ten-won mark since a 19-14 season in 2002.

Nicholls will look to help solidify their standing in the conference tournament field when they return to action by hosting TAMUCC at 4 p.m. at Stopher Gym to conclude the home portion of their 2009 schedule.

The Islanders head into the match after claiming their first conference win of the season by virtue of a 3-0 win over Southeastern on Friday.


Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3, Southeastern Louisiana 0
HAMMOND, La. - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team broke into the Southland Conference win column on Friday night with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 26-24) win over Southeastern Louisiana.

The win moves the Islanders to 8-20 on the year and gives them their first league victory to move to 1-12.  The Lady Lions fall to 8-16 overall and 4-9 in Southland matches.

The win is the first conference win for first-year head coach Tony Graystone.  It is also the first conference road win by the Islanders since a 3-1 win against Sam Houston State on Sept. 27, 2007 in Huntsville.

"We feel pretty good tonight, they came up big and won close games," said Graystone. "They held their composure and won points when they needed too, especially in that last set."

The Islanders fought the entire match and refused to lose while playing each set to the closest possible margin to get the win.  The opening set saw the Islanders quickly fall behind 5-1 before scoring four consecutive points to knot the score at 5-5 and take the lead at 7-6.  It would be one of nine tie scores and five lead changes in the match.  The two teams were back-and-forth until the 19-19 mark when A&M-Corpus Christi tied the score then took the lead for good to take a 25-23 win and a 1-0 match lead.

The second set saw the same final score, 10 ties and four lead changes but a much different tempo.  The two teams battled to a 7-7 stalemate before the Islanders briefly took control of the set with a 10 to 3 run to stretch the lead to 17-10.  The Lady Lions responded with a run of their own to knot the match at 18-18.  The teams traded points all the way to a 23-23 deadlock before A&M-Corpus Christi scored the final two points, capped off by an Ariel Carlson kill to make it 25-23 and put the team on the brink of its first conference win.

It was an even closer affair in the third set, with the match being extended by a single point to allow the Islanders to take a 26-24 win.  Neither team led by more than five points at any time during the set with the lead changing hands four times.  After losing the lead at 14-13, A&M-Corpus Christi would not regain the upper hand until getting to match point at 25-24 with a kill by Courtney Wypiszynski.  An attack error on the SLU would end the set as the Islanders took a tough 26-24 win to sweep the match with a 3-0 final.

"The key tonight was our 12 hitting errors to the 30 for Southeastern," said Graystone. "We followed our game plan and kept moving around.

"We played a lot smarter tonight and held it together to win several extended rallies."

Emma Ridley once again led the Islanders in scoring with 13 kills to go along with 13 digs for her sixth double-double of the season.  The kills also put her at 410 on the year, making her the only Islander in history to surpass the 400 kill mark.  Jessica Korda followed Ridley closely with 12 kills while Shannon Hullum added five.  Carlson and Wypiszynski each had two and Jessica Jennett had one.

Victoria Sookiasian led the team with 18 digs while Jennett added 13 for the match.  Carlson led the team at five block assists with Ridley adding three.

The team now faces a quick turnaround as they travel the short distance to Thibodaux, La. to take on Nicholls in a 2 PM Southland Conference match.  They will be looking to get back-to-back wins in the final two road games of the season before returning home next weekend.

"Tonight was tough because of the long rallies and we looked tired at end," said Graystone. "We have a shorter ride tomorrow so I think the adrenaline will kick in and we shouldn't have a problem to get ready to play."