Nov. 10, 2007

Box Score

BEAUMONT - After gutting out a game one win, the Lamar University volleyball team cruised past the UT-San Antonio Roadrunners for a 3-0 win, and their first Southland Conference title since the 2001 season at McDonald Gym

The Lady Cardinals improve to 24-8 on the year and 15-1 in SLC play, winning the eighth overall conference championship in school history. It is the fourth Southland Conference championship for Lamar. The Lady Cardinals won their first two SLC titles in 1983 and 1984 and their third in 2001. The win also secures the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for LU. The Roadrunners fall 13-30 on the year and 5-11 in conference play with the loss.

"This win and the conference championship is huge in capping off the turnaround of this program over the last three years," head coach Justin Gibert said. "It's the goal I set out to achieve when I started here and the goal this team set at the beginning of the year. It's an overwhelmingly positive thing for this team. No Lamar is established as a top tier program again."

The Roadrunners gave LU all they could handle in game one, but could not close the door in the game. Trailing 29-24, the Lady Cards mounted a furious rally to tie the game at 29. With the momentum on their side, Lamar outlasted UTSA down the stretch and pulled out a 34-32 win, despite 24 kills by the Roadrunners.

With game one in their pocket, the Lady Cardinals jumped all over the Roadrunners in game two and cruised to a 30-17 win. The Lamar offense was dominant, posting 16 kills with a team hitting percentage of .424, while the defense held UTSA to just .135.

In game three Lamar continued their strong play as they overpowered UTSA for a 30-27 win. The offense posted a .241 hitting percentage and their defense stifled the Roadrunners who managed to hit just .026. The championship point was hammered down by senior Molli Abel, her 10th of the match.

For the match the Lady Cardinals were led by Abel's 10 kills while Meagan Adams contributed seven kills and 11 digs while hitting .353. Adrianne Meengs passed out 32 assists and Andrea Hamilton had 15 digs to lead the LU defense.

The Roadrunners were led by Kendra Rowland's 15 kills and 10 digs while Victoria Prior added 13 kills. The setting duties for UTSA were split by Jordan White and Rebecca Hrapmann who had 22 and 19 assists apiece, while their defense was led by Audrey Hiser's 15 digs.

As a team the Lady Cardinals out hit UTSA .237 to .157 and won the digs battle 58 to 57. The LU defense also won the battle at the net, knocking down seven blocks while the Roadrunners had four.

The Lady Cardinal will be in action again of Friday at the Southland Conference tournament, hosted by UTSA.