Air Force Academy
Nicholls State
Falcons Remain Winless with 3-0 Loss to Nicholls State
9/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 7, 2002
The Air Force volleyball team continued to struggle, losing its seventh straight match. The Falcons fell 3-0 (30-22, 30-20, 30-26) to Nicholls State in their final game of the Fresno State Invitational.
"I am disappointed with the outcome of the match," Penny Lucas-White said. "We did some positive things, but Nicholls State is a team we should have beaten. We need to regroup, work on some of our weaknesses and prepare for our next matches."
Game one looked to be close throughout, until the Colonels rallied to take a six-point lead at midway through game to go ahead 19-13. The Falcons took a timeout to regroup and came back to win the next four points to pull within two of the lead. It was as close as they would get however, and the Colonels would take the game 30-22.
Air Force looked listless to start game two, allowing the Colonels to score the game's first five points. The team would never recover from the slow start, dropping the game 30-20. The team would fall behind again early in game three, losing five of the first six points. They would battle back however, taking their first lead of the game at 11-9. The lead was short lived however, as they would fall behind 14-15 and never lead again in the game, eventually losing 30-26.
Delavane Diaz led the Falcons with a season-high 15 kills on 37 attacks with just four errors (.297 percent). She came up just shy of the double-double, notching nine digs. Tiffany Bishop added 12 kills and Lamecca Jefferson had 10 kills. Christina Nigro had a season-high 12 digs to lead all players. Kristin Huitt notched 38 assists and five digs. The Falcons finished the match with a .179 hitting percentage, totaling 42 kills on 112 attacks with 22 errors.
Nicholls State's Kui Fletcher notched a double-double with 22 kills and 10 digs. Jennifer Fukino had 45 assists for the Colonels.
The Falcons are 0-7 and off to their worst start in the history of the program. Before this year, the team had never opened a season with more than five consecutive losses. They will seek their first win of the season in the Air Force Invitational, Sept. 13-14. The Falcons host teams from Georgia State, UC Irvine, Northern Arizona and Furman in the two-day tournament.
