ITTA BENA, Miss. – The Devilettes host the Colonels of Nicholls State University, succumbing 3-0 in tightly contested sets. The opening two sets came down to simple tactics because the skills of both teams were evenly matched. A breakdown of the sets: 25-23, 25-19 and 25-7.

Mississippi Valley began the set with the first serve by Brooklyn Hudson. The serve was lost with a passing error between libero Sydney Robinson and middle hitter Illiya Trahan. Trahan came back with the block to even the score 4-4. With a serving error from Nicholls State, the Devilettes were tied again at 6-6.  With a fake set to Briana Watkins from Hudson, Trahan takes the attack on Nicholls. A side out error from Cynthia Richardson allows the Colonels to tie the game at 14-14. It was Trahan with an ace that forced Nicholls State to take their first timeout at 17-14.

A tip by Jaime Polk and an ace by Kalin Barnes pushed the Devilettes to 2-0 start. A split second decision by Polk kept the ball in play just long enough for Richardson to block when Nicholls State came to the net. The second set ended with powerful kills toward the Devilettes' libero.

The final set was a runaway for Nicholls State. Mississippi Valley was unable to gain their footing offensively, as the final score was 25-7.

Barnes paced the team with six kills, 11 digs and two aces.