Sophomore middle blocker Rachael Bunn and junior outside hitter Tiffany Thomas work together to block a shot from Nicholls. The pair combined for five total blocks against the Colonels. The Lion’s Roar / Cyprien Campeaux
The Lady Lion volleyball team finished their regular season last week, coming away with a win and a loss. Their week started off with a home victory against Nicholls on Tuesday, Nov. 11, then finishing with a loss to the University of Central Arkansas.
Tuesday’s matchup against Nicholls was the season’s second meeting between the Lady Lions and the Colonels, with Southeastern coming out on top 3-1. This match ended in favor of the Lady Lions, thanks to a defense that held Nicholls to a .104 attack percentage and 23 errors. Although they gave up the second set, the Lady Lions were able to pull away for a victory, with the final score resulting 25-23, 21-25, 25-13, 26-24. Leading the way for the Lady Lions victory was junior defense specialist Morgan Todd. The Mandeville native set a career-high 41 digs and also added in four assists.
Topping the team in assists for the match with 36 was junior setter Mikayla Shippy. Junior outside hitter Tiffany Thomas led the home squad with 14 kills and tacked on 17 digs to record the second double-double of her career.
Head coach Jim Smoot emphasized the importance of the match with Nicholls.
“We had a good game against Nicholls. We were fighting for the seventh seed in the conference tournament,” said Smoot.
Thursday’s regular season finale match against UCA took place in Conway, Arkansas as the Sugar Bears defeated the Lady Lions in four sets 22-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-15.
This was the second time the two teams had met during the regular season, with UCA taking the match earlier in the season 3-1.
Despite winning the first set of the match, the Lady Lions were unable to finish out the match and lost the remaining sets.
Although the result was not favorable, the match marked the eighth time this season Southeastern has recorded an attacking percentage above .200. Thomas led the Lady Lions in kills with 14 for the fourth consecutive match. Shippy continued to lead the team in assists, tallying 31 in the loss.. Todd did not set a new career high during the match, but did lead with 16 digs.
With the final loss the Lady Lions finish the regular season with an 8-8 record in conference. The eight victories are the most from Southeastern since the 2002 season. The Lady Lions earned the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Southland Conference tournament that begins Nov. 21 and finish Nov. 23. Southeastern will take on No. 2 seed UCA for the third time this season this Saturday at 11 a.m. in Natchitoches. Smoot plans to work on defending the UCA attack to get past the conference foe they have lost to twice thus far this season.
“The main key is to handle their jump serves better than we did this past week and get our middle blockers more involved in the attack,” said Smoot.
Lady Lion news can be found on lionsports.net.