Oct. 7, 2009
MOSCOW, Idaho--The Techsters will begin a four game road stretch over the next two weeks Thursday as the team gets set to take on Idaho at 9:00 p.m. CT before traveling to Las Cruces, N.M. for a match vs. New Mexico State Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT.
Louisiana Tech is coming off of a weekend in which the Techsters split matches falling to Hawai'i (11-25, 18-25, 12-25) before sweeping Nevada (25-20, 25-16, 25-21). The three-set win over the Wolf Pack was Louisiana Tech's first WAC sweep since the 2004 team beat UTEP in straight sets and the two WAC wins for the Techsters are the most since the 2003 season, when the team won four WAC matches.
Leading the Techsters this season with 164 kills is sophomore transfer Nataliya Panova while libero Lori Hunsucker leads the team in digs with 271 on the year. Leading Tech in blocks are Kara Jones with 78 and KC Clayton with 62. Jones currently ranks number one in the conference with 19 solo blocks and Clayton has recently solidified herself into third place all-time in Tech history with 343 career blocks.
Last week the Vandals fell in four sets (18-25, 17-25, 25-21, 22-25) to Eastern Washington before defeating Fresno State in five sets (22-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-16, 15-10) Saturday. The Vandals are ranked No. 1 in the nation in blocks per set with a 3.17 average and are led individually by Anna McKinney who ranks No. 4 in the nation with 1.52 per set and Debbie Pederson who ranks No. 13 nationally with 1.39 blocks per set.
The Techsters Saturday opponent, New Mexico State, swept Nevada (25-22, 25-21, 25-21) last week before falling in four sets to No. 4 Hawai'i (21-25, 25-15, 22-25, 11-25). The Aggies rank second in the league with 13.49 kills per set.
Louisiana Tech will be looking for its first ever win vs. the Vandals on Thursday and will attempt to add their second win ever vs. New Mexico State. Next week the Techsters will remain on the road as they continue conference play and travel to Hawaii and San Jose State. Matches can be followed online by logging onto the volleyball home page on www.latechsports.com, go to the schedule and then click on the Gametracker link to the right of the schedule.
