Volleyball Loses Five-Set Marathon in RRAC Championship Match

Photo courtesy of Xavier University of Louisiana Sports Information.

NEW ORLEANS (Nov. 12, 2023) – The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) volleyball team lost a heartbreaking five-set match against Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) in the Red River Athletic Conference championship match. The Saints move to 19-12 on the season while the Gold Nuggets improve to 19-7.

Head Coach Scott Mattera commented, "I can honestly say I've never been more heartbroken for a team. We did so many things right and just didn't come out on top. It's not just pleasantries for me to say that I am proud of this group, how much they have grown and the type of people they are. We played some beautiful volleyball this year."

History

The Saints were 7-3 against the Gold Nuggets prior to the match.

Basics

The Saints lost a back-and-forth match against XULA on Saturday. OLLU held the Gold Nuggets to under .200 percent hitting in every set despite the loss. The Saints started strong by winning the first set on eight kills and only one error. The teams swapped sets in the next three frames before a deciding fifth set.

OLLU jumped out to a 13-8 advantage in the final set. The Gold Nuggets rallied for five straight points to tie the match. Both teams had multiple match points, but a kill by Kennedy Wade and an attacking error by Madalyn Gonzalez sealed the match for the Gold Nuggets.

Mia Dorsey and Gonzalez were named to the RRAC All-Tournament team.

Scoring overview

Set One – OLLU 25 – XULA 17

Set Two – XULA 25 – OLLU 17

Set Three – OLLU 25 – XULA 22

Set Four – XULA 25 – OLLU 23

Set Five – XULA 19 – OLLU 17

Set review

In the first set, OLLU recorded eight kills and one error on 32 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .219.

The Saints had eight kills in the second set and nine errors on 38 total attacks for a hitting percentage of -.026.

In the third set, OLLU recorded 14 kills and three errors on 31 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .355.

The Saints had 14 kills in the fourth set and eight errors on 51 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .118.

In the fifth set, OLLU recorded seven kills and five errors on 31 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .065.

On the offense

Overall, the Saints had 51 kills for a hitting percentage of .137. XULA totaled 64 kills for a hitting percentage of .127.

Dorsey led the Saints with 17 kills. Lauren Reynard assisted on 40 plays for OLLU.

Defensive standouts

OLLU had a total of 78 digs, led by Tina Trevino with 20. Allison Mata totaled eight blocks.

Serving it up

Reynard led the Saints with three service aces.