THIBODAUX, La. – Down a pair of key players and on the end of a long stretch of away games, one may think the UCA volleyball team may be wearing down a bit. Nothing could have been further from the truth Thursday night as the Sugar Bears swept Nicholls State in Southland volleyball action 25-18, 25-22 and 25-18.
“It was a great road win,” said first year head coach David McFatrich. “But as good as it looks, we can do better.”
It would have been hard for Jessica Nagy to have been better in the first set as she set the tone early, tallying seven kills on just 16 attempts to go along with three service aces in the first game. Nagy finished the night with a match-high 16 kills, four aces and 10 digs.
While Nagy manned the right side, junior outside hitter Lindsey Barron manned the left. Barron, a Mandeville, La. native, chalked up 15 kills and hit .342 on the evening.
“Barron was great on the left side tonight and Nagy was great on the right,” said McFatrich. “We have to do a better job of connecting with our middles and that’s something we will work on before tomorrow night.”
Lauren Dear, filling in for the injured Marissa Collins, who was unavailable Thursday, stepped up and answered the call with flying colors. Dear earned a career-high 44 assists to go along with six digs and two kills.
“I’m very proud of the job Lauren did filling in for the injured Marissa Collins,” said McFatrich.
UCA was able to hold the Colonels to a hitting percentage of just .126 on the evening while having three players earn double-digit digs. Nagy, along with Shelbee Berringer, recorded 10 digs while Cristin Curl led the way with 32.
With the victory, UCA improves to 7-8 overall and 3-1 in Southland play while Nicholls fell to 14-5 and 1-2 in league play.
“It wasn’t our best night as far as execution is concerned but when you can go on the road and win 3-0 you can be happy with that,” said McFatrich. “It’s a road win and we are very road weary. This one is really nice because it comes at the back end of a long road stretch.”
The Sugar Bears are back in action tomorrow night in Hammond, La. as they will take on SE Louisiana at 7 p.m. It will mark the end of six straight weeks on the road before UCA hosts its first home match of the 2011 campaign Tuesday night at the Prince Center against UAPB.
