HLB baseball coach resigns
June 17, 2014
Texas Roadhouse Open: New restaurant specializes in steaks, fun
June 17, 2014
The fall sports season is still a few months away.
But the Nicholls soccer and volleyball teams are already aware of who they will be playing in the 2014 season.
The Colonels announced their schedules for the two woman’s sports this week, challenging slates that will pit the teams against top flight competition around the Southeast.
The Colonels’ volleyball team is in a rebuilding stage and hopes to continue to leap forward in the Southland Conference standings.
For Nicholls soccer, the Colonels are eager to build off their best season in school history.
SOCCER TO BE CHALLENGED BY ROAD-HEAVY TILT
Last season set a golden age for Nicholls soccer, as the team posted a 12-6-2 record, including a 6-5-1 mark in Southland Conference play.
The best part of the team’s run arguably was the fact that a lot of it unfolded from the comforts of home. The Colonels played a record 11 home matches along the way, going undefeated in nine of those games.
But this year, Nicholls will be heavily challenged away from home. The Colonels will play 13 of their 20 matches on the road, a schedule that will take the team into four states along the way.
“With a great group of returnees and what I believe to be the most talented class from top to bottom, I can’t help but to get excited about the upcoming year,” Nicholls soccer coach Dylan Harrison said. “We will have some tough contests at the beginning of the year, but we will use them to help us better prepare for conference.”
The “tough contests” that Harrison referenced in the early weeks of the season will all be played away from Thibodaux.
The Colonels open the 2014 season with five-straight matches, including a season-opening tilt with Southern Mississippi on Aug. 22 and a non-conference match with SEC powerhouse LSU on Sept. 2.
LSU has become one of the prominent programs in the South over the past several seasons. The Tigers are routinely in the NCAA Tournament and have cracked the Top 25.
In between the meetings with the Golden Eagles and the Tigers, the Colonels will play in the Crowne Plaza Hotel Invitational in Little Rock, where they will square off with the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Nicholls will return from their match with LSU and have a two-match homestand against a pair of Louisiana-based foes.
The Colonels will open their 2014 home season on Sept. 5 with a match against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Two days later, they will host the University of Louisiana-Monroe. Nicholls beat both ULL and ULM on the road last season, defeating Lafayette 2-1 and trumping ULM 3-2 in overtime.
After the two-game homestand, Nicholls will travel for six of their next seven matches, which include the start of Southland Conference play.
Nicholls will play at Alcorn State on September 12 before opening league play on the road at McNeese State on September 19.
The Colonels then return home after that match to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on September 21 before traveling for four-straight matches – a stretch of games against Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, Lamar and Southern.
After the heavy travel slate, the Colonels will play four-straight home games from Oct. 12-24 against Central Arkansas, Northwestern State, Stephen F. Austin and Houston Baptist.
The team will then close the 2014 season with road tilts against Southeastern Louisiana and Sam Houston State.
If able to reach the Southland Conference Tournament, the Colonels will compete from November 6-9 in Beaumont, Texas.
The 2014 Nicholls team will return a slew of its top players from last year’s squad, including elite goal scorer Spencer Valdespino.
The Colonels also will unveil an elite recruiting class this season, arguably the best haul the team has had in recent years. If the class pans out, the Colonels should be in position to make a deep run during the future.
VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE FILLED WITH PRE-SOUTHLAND TOURNEYS
While the Nicholls soccer team tries to build on its historic season, the Colonels’ volleyball team is aiming to rebound from a tough year in 2013 under first-year coach Tommy Harold.
The Colonels unveiled their schedule this week, a challenging group of games that will bring the Colonels to some of the most prestigious pre-conference tournaments in the Southeast.
The Colonels will open the year with their first 13 games on the road – their entire pre-conference schedule will be played away from Thibodaux.
Nicholls opens the season with three games at the Southern Mississippi Tournament from August 29-30. While there, Nicholls will play Alabama A&M, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Southern Mississippi in the two-day span.
The next weekend, Nicholls will travel to Lafayette for the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Volleyball Classic, hosted by the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
While at that tournament, Nicholls will tangle with Southern and ULL before a rematch with the Golden Eagles.
From Lafayette, Nicholls will then compete in the Mississippi State Tournament from Sept. 12-13 where they will match up with Memphis, South Alabama and Mississippi State in their two-day stay in Starkville.
To close out the non-conference tournament schedule, the Colonels will play in the Jacksonville/University of North Florida Tournament. While there, Nicholls will square off against North Florida, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Charlotte and Dayton.
From the tournaments, Nicholls heads straight into Southland Conference play.
The Colonels will open with four-straight home matches in the league, beginning with the home opener with Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 25.
Nicholls will close out its regular season in Stopher Gymnasium, as well, hosting McNeese State on Nov. 15.
If able to reach the Southland Conference Tournament, Nicholls will compete in Natchitoches from Nov. 21-23 on Northwestern State University’s volleyball gymnasium.
Nicholls finished with a 5-23 record last season in Harold’s first season with the team.
They believe that they have a roster built for a turnaround in the new campaign.
