Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT — Earning the first win of the Michelle Kuester era, the volleyball team of Lamar impressed Thursday night in front of a sellout crowd in the season opener. The Cards took down Texas Southern in four sets in McDonald Gym.

The offense was spread pretty evenly amongst LU’s attackers with five Cards totaling at least seven kills. Dannisha House led the way with nine kills and three total blocks, and Nina Pevic and Tomar Thomas each had eight kills.

The defensive effort was also shared among Big Red student-athletes with Nash and Alyssa Legette each totaling eight digs and libero Zahria Scott adding in another seven. All told Lamar excelled as a team, beating the Lady Tigers of TSU in every category, most demonstrably in service aces — 12 to just six.

LU did get off to slow starts in both the first and second set, trailing by as much as five in the first 10 points in both games, but in both instances a timely stoppage of play by Kuester got the Cards back on track. The Redbirds used several big runs of their own in the opening sets to win handily, 25-19, in sets one and two.

Another slow start in the third set hamstrung Lamar early on, with TSU leading by as much as seven, 11-4.

Tied as late in the fourth set as the 26th point, momentum swung several times in the pivotal game. Lamar took the fourth set 25-17 and the match in four sets.

HIGH SCHOOL

At the Santa Fe tournament, PNG defeated South Houston 25-5,25-5 and Boling 25-9, 25-15, but lost to Alvin Shadow Creek 22-25, 25-20, 15-13. That ended a 10-match winning streak for PNG.

Also in Santa Fe, Nederland lost to Santa Fe 25-10, 25-8, but beat Bridge City 19-25, 25-11, 15-13 and Pasadena High 25-18, 25-21.