Nicholls volleyball team captures first SLC win with triumph over Texas A&M-Commerce

It was a long time in coming in several ways for the Nicholls volleyball team Thursday night.

With Nicholls having won two of the first three sets, the Lady Colonels were only two points away from taking the match over visiting Texas A&M-Commerce, holding a 23-15 lead in the fourth set.

A kill by Commerce’s Yasmin Figueiredo off a serve by Nicholls’ Gracie Campbell started a four-point run for the Lions behind the serve of Maddie Allgood.

A kill by Commerce’s Jade Smith, an attack error by Nicholls’ Austin Perry, and a kill by the Lions’ Reese Fetty cut the Lady Colonels’ lead to 23-19.

A kill by Perry, followed by a kill by Fetty made the score 24-20 and sent Fetty to the service line.

Fetty’s serve was long, giving Nicholls match point at 25-20.

“I was like, ‘yes, yes, go out,” Nicholls sophomore middle blocker Paris Dixon said of the service error.

“I was just thanking her, basically,” said Nicholls freshman outside hitter Autumn Perry, referring to Fetty’s serve. “It was a nice little bow to tie off the game.”

The victory in Game 4 gave Nicholls a 25-14, 25-18, 21-25, 25-20 win – the first Southland Conference win of the season for the Lady Colonels. In snapping a 12-game losing streak to move to 1-9 in the SLC and 3-17 overall.

“We’ve been working the last couple of weeks on finishing,” said Jonea Rima after her first SLC win as Nicholls coach. “We are finally seeing some great performances. I think the girls were all locked in. Wanted the win, obviously, but really kind of grinding in and expecting to make that next point as a team.

“I saw a lot of leadership and a lot of passion. The work ethic was really great.”

“It felt great. We’ve been working so hard all season for this. We’ve had some tough losses, but I’m really proud of us finishing and pulling through,” said Campbell, who has missed most of the season with an injury.

Although the Nicholls losing streak had reached 12 games, the Lady Colonels have been more competitive in recent weeks. In two of its last three matches, Nicholls went to five games before eventually losing.

No one in a Nicholls uniform on Thursday, however, was looking to go five games.

“I’m glad we didn’t go five today. We finished after four. We should have won in three, but I’m glad we finished it at four,” said Campbell, who led Nicholls with 17 kills.

“It’s been so frustrating going to five sets. I feel like this game, we didn’t want to go five sets and we just pushed through,” said Dixon, who led Nicholls with six block assists while also coming up with eight kills.

“I was just thinking, ‘we are not going to five. We are winning this next set,’” said Perry, who had 11 kills and four block assists in the match.

Nicholls scored the first three points of the opening set and never trailed in taking what was arguably the best single set of the season for the team.

“We came out of the gate really clean. Not a lot of mistakes. We just made some really nice choices and were able to execute with the sets and hitting in general,” said Rima.

Leading 23-14, a kill by Jhayla Bolden, one of 10 she had in the match, allowed Nicholls to reach game point. A service ace by Perry gave the Lady Colonels a 1-0 lead.

Perry echoed her coach’s sentiments.

“I think that we just played really clean, and everybody did their part, and we really came together as a team,” Perry said.

Nicholls trailed early in the second set before taking the lead for good at 9-8 on a kill by Perry.

Leading 24-16, Nicholls surrendered a pair of points on attack errors by Campbell and Addison Phares before pulling out the set off a kill by Bolden.