The Lady Lions volleyball team didn’t let Hurricane Isaac slow them down as they turned a 3-1 record into a second place finish in the 2012 Tangi Tourism Lion Classic.
Head Coach Geno Frugoli said his team had no trouble handling the hurricane.
“I don’t think it was that hard because we got some extra practice time,” said Frugoli. “It may have benefited us in a way because we weren’t doing a lot of long traveling, and we were able to work on things we needed to work on. I thought our new players played a lot better because of it.”
The Lady Lions started off the tournament with a three set win over rival Southern, led by senior middle blocker Courtney Donald and freshman middle blocker Veronica Turk. Donald posted 10 kills, while Turk added six kills and three blocks.
Friday saw Southeastern split a pair of matches between University of Texas Pan American (UTPA) and Weber State. The Lady Lions opened the day with another three-set win over UTPA, a game in which sophomore middle blocker Zoe Douglas tied a career high of 8 kills.
The Weber State game marked the end of the hot streak, as the Lady Lions managed to win only one set. Turk reappeared near the top of the stat sheet with 14 kills, while transfer-senior setter Becky Bekelja added 44 assists, a season best. Donald finished the game with 20 kills.
Building on Thursday’s and Friday’s performance, the Lady Lions routed Louisiana Tech in their third three-set victory in as many days. While Turk saw a fair amount of playing time, it was another freshman that took center stage in this match.
“We put Shelby [Devlin] in because we thought it would be a good match up,” said Frugoli. “She’s a big kid, and she’s got to learn to be more aggressive, but that’s a part of every freshman when they come in. I’m really proud of her. I thought she did a good job tonight.”
Devlin notched 12 kills and three blocks in the match.
As for the season, Frugoli is seeing a large improvement of last year’s squad, including a boost in team chemistry.
“It’s night-and-day I think,” Frugoli said. “They believe in themselves a lot more. We’re .500 at this point in the season for the first time in a long time. We’re ready and hungry to play some more opponents in our conference. It’s totally different.”
The Lady Lions are set to play McNeese State at home on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. in the University Center.