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The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team won its Southland Conference opener Saturday, defeating Northwestern State in four, 25-22, 25-13, 18-25, 25-19, at Prather Coliseum.

SLU (2-10, 1-0 SLC) has won back-to-back matches, posting its three best attack percentages of the season over the course of the last week. The win is also the second in as many meetings with Northwestern State (6-10, 0-1 SLC).

Crispin Adams, who hit a match-high .647, led the way for Southeastern in the opening set. The preseason All-Conference selection recorded four of her 11 kills and two of her three service aces. The Lady Lions pulled away late in the set, scoring four of the final five points – three of those coming on kills by Karlee Wilkerson.

Southeastern doubled down on their lead in the second set by way of sheer domination, hitting a phenomenal .528 as a team. Cicily Hidalgo, the reigning Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week, tallied a mind-boggling nine kills – without an error – on 10 attempts (.900) to lead the way. Wilkerson, a senior from Springfield, Louisiana, and Addie Vidrine added five kills each in the set.

The Lady Lions offense cooled off temporarily in the third set (.167) as Northwestern State kept the match alive, but SLU finished it off as Hidalgo returned to form in the fourth. The freshman from Opelousas, Louisiana picked up seven more kills in the final set.

Hidalgo (20 kills, 10 digs) and setter Gracie Duplechein (51 assists, 15 digs) once again turned in double-doubles, their fifth and seventh of the season, respectively. It also marks the fourth consecutive match in which Hidalgo has recorded at least 20 kills.

Vidrine and Wilkerson added 12 kills apiece to Southeastern’s offensive attack, joining both Adams and Hidalgo in double figures.

Ansley Tullis, a sophomore from Slidell, Louisiana, led SLU with 23 kills while also chipping in six assists on offense. Jolie Hidalgo added 13 kills, joining her sister Cicily as well as Tullis and Duplechein in reaching double digits.

UP NEXT

The Lady Lions continue Southland action next week with a pair of road matches. SLU travels to preseason conference-favorite Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-7, 1-0 SLC) for a 6:30 p.m. match Thursday and then on to San Antonio, Texas for a 1:30 p.m. match Saturday at UIW (5-10, 0-1 SLC).

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.