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The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team dropped a pair of matches Friday in the UNM Tournament, falling to host New Mexico, 25-13, 25-17, 25-18, and UC San Diego, 20-25, 25-23, 25-13, 25-20, at The Pit.

SLU (0-6) faced both New Mexico (7-0) and UC San Diego (1-7) for the first time in program history.

The Lady Lions wrap up their participation Saturday at 11 a.m. against Seattle (2-6). Live stats will be provided and a link can be found on the volleyball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

MATCH ONE – New Mexico 3, SLU 0

New Mexico entered the match limiting its opponents to a national low in attack percentage (.031). The Lady Lions tripled that total but were unable to generate enough offense to pull out a victory.

Southeastern never led in the initial set but was tied as late as 7-7 in each of the final two sets.

Cicily Hidalgo, a freshman outside hitter from Opelousas, Louisiana, led SLU with 11 kills. Karlee Wilkerson, a senior from Springfield, added seven kills off a team-leading .286 attack percentage.

Gracie Duplechein, a freshman setter from St. Amant, Louisiana, handed out 18 assists and contributed nine digs. Ansley Tullis, a sophomore libero from Slidell, Louisiana, led the Lady Lions with 10 digs.

MATCH TWO – UC San Diego 3, SLU 1

A season-high 21 total blocks by Southeastern was not enough to hold down UC San Diego. The team block total was the most the Lady Lions have recorded in a match since posting 19 in a five-set match against Sam Houston in the 2019 Southland Conference Tournament.

SLU bounced back after a rough offensive effort in its first match of the day, hitting .179 in the opening set, but was unable to sustain the attacking pressure as the Lady Lions finished the contest hitting .052 as a team.

Hidalgo once again led the team in kills (15) and posted a team-high .344 hitting percentage. Duplechein dished out 26 assists in directing the offense.

Tullis’ 23 digs led the squad on defense and four players posted at least five blocks, including preseason All-Southland selection Crispin Adams with a career-high nine total blocks to lead all players.

DIGGIN’ IT CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the Southeastern volleyball program are encouraged to join the Diggin’ It Club. Lion volleyball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.

All membership fees and donations to both the Diggin’ It Club and S Club (volleyball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern volleyball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lady Lions Volleyball, follow @LionUpVB or @JWhiteSLU on Twitter, @LionUpVB on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.