LCU End Rams Invitational With Back To Back Sweeps

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The first two days may have been a little rough for the Lady Wildcats (2-3) but they ended their trip to Mobile on a high note with two 3-0 sweeps over Florida Memorial and Southern University-New Orleans.

LCU 3, Florida Memorial 0 (25-17, 26-24,25-21)

LCU Lady Wildcats took their first win of the season with a sweep of the Miami Gardens-based Florida Memorial Lions. Live Oak HS alum Kate Campbell led LCU with 11 kills. Cother once again collected a sleuth of assists with 25. LCU hammered 14 aces as a team Kierra Jones leads the way with 4. LCU's defense also was strong with a block from Mallory Wills and Jones had 4 block assists. LCU had 14 total block assists in the win. Cother also had 11 digs with Leah Stamps right behind at 10.

LCU started out taking advantage of some Lion mistakes followed by two kills from Katie Spell and another Campbell. LCU jumped out to the 6-2 lead early. Abby Revell kicked off a 5-0 run followed by back-to-back aces from Madison Danley. The Lady Wildcats took the 12-5 lead. The Lions closed the gap within 13-9 on a kill from Julia Carneiro. LCU bounced back immediately with two kills from Campbell and an ace from Cother. The Wildcats had built a 17-9 lead. The Lions tried to close the gap again on a 4-1 run and 19-14. A kill and an ace from Spell along with a block from Revell and Mallory Wills push the lead back to eight at 22-14. Wills closed out the first set win with a kill.

Campbell kicked off the second set with three kills and another from Spell to give LCU the 4-1 start. Back-to-back aces from Julia Carneiro tied at 4. The Wildcat scream was found again by two aces from Kierra Jones and a block from Dynasty Brown and Summer Martin. LCU led again 8-4. Florida Memorial went on a 7-2 run and took their first lead at 12-10. A block combo from Jones and Campbell followed by an ace from Leah Stamps gave LCU back the lead at 14-12. Some Wildcat miscues gave the Lions back their lead on a 5-0 run and a 17-14 score. Kills by Jones and Campbell and an ace by Angelina Medrano cut the Lions’ lead to 18-17. LCU stayed close and then a kill by Cother and an ace from Spell flopped the lead back in LCU’s favor to 22-21. Florida Memorial reclaimed the lead again from a kill from Desiree Donald a block from Carneiro and a single point from claiming the second set. LCU rattled three points from two kills by Campbell and a block from Jones and Cother to take the second set 26-24.

LCU started the third set in the lead again at 3-1. Carneiro jumped on two kills along with a kill from Juliana Medina and an ace from Lauryn Brown. The 6-0 run gave the Lions a 7-3 lead. The Wildcats closed in 7-5 with a kill from Spell and Revell. Florida Memorial took another 5-0 run to 12-5. The lead stayed on pace to 14-7 before LCU closed to 14-10 with kills from Wills and an ace from Madison Danley. The Lions pushed the lead back to 17-11. A kill and a block from Campbell sparked a 4-0 run to close LCU back to 17-15. Carneiro tried to stop the progress but a blocked combo from Jones and Spell followed by an ace from Jessica Smith cut the Lion lead from within 1 at 18-17. LCU took the lead back at 20-19 with two aces from Jones and a kill by Spell. Carneiro’s kill tied it at 20. LCU took advantage of some Lion errors and expanded to 23-20. LCU closed out with a kill from Wills and an attack error from the Lions.

Game Stats from Louisiana Christian University:

https://dxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net/sidearm.nextgen.sites/lcwildcats.net/stats/volleyball/2024/pdf/20240824024358-VB%20vs.%20FMU.pdf

LCU 3, SUNO 0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-14)

The wins continued to roll for the Lady Wildcats as they achieved their second win on Saturday afternoon. Once again Kate Campbell led LCU with 14 kills. Cother collected a massive 30 assists and led aces with 2 in the second match of the day. Campbell and Jones led the defense with 3 block assists each. Leah Stamps kept the action rolling with 12 digs.

LCU started early with a 5-0 run behind kills from Jones and Summer Martin and an ace by Jessica Smith. LCU led 6-2. SUNO eventually climbed back to tie the Wildcats at 11. The Lady Wildcats fired off a 9-2 run with three kills from Campbell as the lead went to 20-13. LCU maintained their lead until the end of the set at 25-17.

Set two saw Cother start with an ace followed by mistakes by the Knights as LCU jumped out to the 4-0 lead. Mistakes kept burying SUNO as the lead jumped to 8-2. SUNO attempted to close the gap on a 3-1 run to 9-5. LCU countered with a 4-1 run to push back to a 13-6 lead with kills from Wills, Jones, and Campbell. The Knights closed again off Wildcat errors to 13-9. Enough was enough for LCU. Two kills each by Jones and Spell along with another from Campbell put the Wildcats on a 6-0 run and a 19-9 lead. SUNO tried to close in but LCU held on for the second set win at 25-18.

LCU took the early lead once again at 7-5. Campbell’s two kills and an ace by Madison Danley highlighted a 7-1 run to 14-6. Another spark from two kills by Summer Martin gave LCU the 20-10. The Wildcat lead was too big to overcome for the Knights.

Game Stats from Louisiana Christian University

https://dxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net/sidearm.nextgen.sites/lcwildcats.net/stats/volleyball/2024/pdf/20240824062200-VB%20vs.%20SUNO.pdf

LCU Lady Wildcats will make a trip to New Orleans on Tuesday and face two locals in a rematch with SUNO at 5 pm and a Dillard match at 7 pm