Boxscore
BEAUMONT, Texas ? Senior Molli Abel produced a team-high 18 kills and .278 hitting percentage to lead
Lamar (6-7) to a 3-1 victory over Chattanooga (2-6) Friday evening at the PROS
Home Healthcare Invitational in Beaumont, Texas. The Lady Cardinals won 30-23,
30-21, 28-30 and 30-26.
In Game 1, both teams got off to quick starts with Lamar
battling out to a narrow 7-6 lead. The Lady Cardinals, fueled by four service
aces from sophomore Kaci Brewer, then
proceeded to go on a 15-1 run, fueled by four service aces from sophomore Kaci
Brewer, to take a commanding 22-7 advantage. The Lady Mocs mounted a late 16-6
run to close to 28-23 before an error and a kill by Brewer gave Lamar a 30-23
opening game victory and a 1-0 match lead.
That game set the tone for the Lady Cardinals as they
quickly jumped out to leads of 15-8 and 21-9 before Chattanooga closed to within 25-21 on a 12-4
run. Following an exchange of points to make the score 26-22, Lamar wrapped up
the game with four straight points for a 30-22 game two victory.
The Lady Mocs bounced back in the third game, pulling out to
leads of 15-11 and 28-21 before the Lady Cardinals put together a 7-0 run to
tie the game at 28-28. Back-to-back attack errors by Lamar quelled any ideas of
a comeback as Chattanooga
got on the board with a 30-28 win.
In the fourth game, the two teams battled through eight ties
and five lead changes before LU pulled out to a 27-24 advantage. Several points
by the Lady Mocs were not enough as the Lady Cardinals finished off the game
with a 30-26 win for a 3-1 match victory.
Leading the way for Lamar was sophomore setter Adrianne
Meengs with a match-high 42 assists and Brewer with 12 kills and 13 digs.
Junior Andrea Hamilton posted a team-high 24 digs while freshman Destiny Mason
and Lauren Rush added 13 and 11 digs, respectively.
For Chattanooga, senior
middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.)
posted a team-high 13 kills while junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
recorded a match-high 31 digs. Senior setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond,
Texas) registered 28 assists and 10 digs while
junior setter Michaela Huff (Dallas, Texas) and senior outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston, Texas)
added 11 and 10 digs respectively.
The Lady Mocs resume play Saturday morning at 11 a.m. EST
when they face UC Riverside for the first time in program history. Chattanooga will wrap up action at the tournament with a
5:30 p.m. contest against Jackson State.
