Box Score SAN ANTONIO, Texas (September 5, 2014) – Lubbock Christian took care of business in the Alamo by wrapping up their season opening tour with a 3-0 sweep of Southern Nazarene in the first game of the St. Mary's Classic on Friday in Bill Greehey Arena.
Maddie Johnson, coming off a career-high night versus St. Mary's, was again effective with her game-high 13 kills, and
Samantha Matthews showed improvement at the net, racking up nine kills and a solo block. The Lady Chaps (2-0, 1-0 Heartland) took the match by scores of 25-22, 25-20, and 25-17 while outpacing the Crimson Storm (0-1, 0-0 GAC) by 17 kills.
Matthews began the match with a cross court kill, and Johnson followed suit for a quick 2-0 LCU lead. Setter
Erin Fisher threw off the defense by sending a set over for a 5-2 Lady Chap advantage. A kill by SNU's Taylor Jacobs tied the game at 10-10 before the teams exchanged several lead changes. The Lady Chaps were clinging to a 20-19 lead until another headsy play by Fisher and consecutive kills by
Ariel Froeschl,
Christiana Tavo and Johnson pushed the contest to game point at 24-19. A pair of SNU kills and an LCU attack error pulled the Crimson Storm to within 24-22 and forced Head Coach
Jennifer Lawrence to call a timeout. Johnson came through after the break with a shot to the back corner to give LCU a 1-0 match lead.
In the second game,
Bryce Shankle served up two aces for an early 5-4 LCU advantage. Four Lady Chap kills, including a powerful shot by Tavo that knocked an SNU defender down, pushed LCU out front, 9-5. A tip by Matthews over two SNU blockers gave the Lady Chaps an 18-14 advantage that progressed to an eventual 25-20 set win.
The third set saw a 7-7 tie until the Crimson Storm began to struggle and commit four sequential errors, leading to an SNU timeout. Southern Nazarene closed the gap to 14-12, but Johnson came alive to extend LCU's lead to 18-14. The Lady Chaps then went on a 7-3 run, finished off by a pair of Tavo kills, to claim the non-conference victory.
Fisher dished out a game-high 38 assists while adding a dozen digs, and
Malori Maddox tallied a game-high 14 digs and contributed a pair of aces. LCU now holds a 49-10 all-time record over Southern Nazarene.
The Lady Chaps jump back into conference play tomorrow versus Texas A&M International University in Laredo at noon in the Kinesiology and Convocation Building.
