SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word volleyball team defeated Southland Conference rival Southeastern Louisiana, 25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23 at the McDermott Center on Thursday night.

The Cardinals (5-13, 3-6) started the match very strongly in the first set taking a commanding 9-1 lead. After the Lions battled back and got to a point away 13-12, UIW then won seven straight points to help them take the first set. They finished with 14 kills on only four errors in the set.

The second set started with the Lions (10-12, 4-4) taking a 1-0 lead, but they would never see the lead again.  They cut the lead down to 18-15 after they took five straight points which caused UIW to take a timeout to settle the team down. The Cardinals did just that as they took the next four points and seven of the last nine to take the second set, 25-17.

With the Cardinals looking to sweep the Lions and holding a commanding 16-12 lead in the third set, the Lions rallied back to tie it at 17.  The lead switched five times in the set, but the Lions took the last four points to take the third set, 25-22.

Set four turned out to be a nail-biter.  Both squads came out strong on the attack. There were three lead changes and eight ties as the Lions got to two points away from the win at 23-20, but the Cardinals would fight back to win the last five points while being against the wall.  They used a Madison Williams (New Braunfels/Canyon HS) ace, an Autumn Lockley (Leander/Leander HS) kill and the definitive kill by Angelique Vidaurri (San Antonio/Southwest HS) to earn their third conference win of the season.   

Bryaunea Hall (Copperas Cove/Copperas Cove HS) led the Cardinals in a big way with 13 kills, only three errors and a match-high hitting percentage of .455.  Shaina Garza (San Antonio/Warren HS) helped UIW with 12 kills, eight digs and an ace. Kaitlyn Brooks (Sugar Land/Fort Bend Austin HS) dished out 24 assists and added eight digs.  Defensive specialist Jordan Reifstek (Allen/Oswego East HS) led the Cardinals with 13 digs.  As a team, UIW hit .265 and had seven team blocks.

For the Lions, Sarah Friedman led the team with 12 kills and Landry Bullock was right behind with 11.  Brooke Balser had 18 digs and Mikayla Shippy collected 30 of the team's 48 assists. As a team, SLU hit .211 and had seven team blocks.

With the win, the Cardinals now have a 3-6 conference record and will look to add to that total with three straight games at home, starting with Saturday's game against New Orleans at 11 a.m.
####
pr15519smm