Sept. 8, 2001

Stats

Los Angeles, CALIF. (September 8, 2001) - Loyola Marymount sophomore setter Nicole Oehlman continues to make a statement for national player of the week honors with impressive play that lifted the Lions to a 3-1 win (26-30, 30-22, 30-22, 30-26) over New Mexico in the second session of the LMU Volleyball Classic at Gersten on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions, thanks to Oehlman's 15 kills and 32 assists, improve to 4-2 on the season and 2-0 in the tournament. They will take on Arizona State, who also improved to 2-0 in the Classic with a 3-0 win over Indiana early Saturday morning. The two teams will play at 7 p.m., following New Mexico and Indiana's match at 5 p.m.

Oehlman's 15 kills are a career high, doing it in a mere 21 attempts for a hitting percentage of .714. For the tournament Oehlman has been a thorn in the opponent's side, hitting for an amazing .667 (28 kills in 42 attempts). On top of her kills, she has totaled 79 assists, six aces and 14 digs through the two games.

In the match, the Lions took an early game one lead at 20-18, but fell behind and couldn't recover from a late New Mexico rally. The Lobos went on to score a 30-26 win in game one. LMU would go on to claim three straight games, 30-22, 30-22 and 30-26. The Lobos fall to 1-3 on the season.

Oehlman had offensive support, including Kristin Gallup's 18 kills and freshman Dina Debernardi's best game of her young career with 13 kills. As a team, the Lions finished hitting at a clip of .311.

Once again the Lions serve was a do-or-die proposition. The Lions finished with nine aces, compared to only four for New Mexico. That gives the Lions 20 aces in the two tournament contests. However, they netted 13 service errors against the Lobos, giving them 29 in the Classic.

-GO LIONS-