HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team dropped the second leg of its weekend road trip, falling 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-17) to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Sunday afternoon from Reed Green Coliseum.
 
LA Tech (6-16, 1-6 C-USA) saw positive performances from a few key pieces in the lineup, but were unable to counter lengthy Golden Eagle (10-10, 4-3 C-USA) runs in each of Sunday's three stanzas. Carter Mirich and Kaitlyn Adams each finished with six kills on the afternoon, while junior Madeline Davis led the Tech offensive output with seven kills. Jayde Penn provided some late offense with four kills, all coming in the final frame.
 
Abigail Hildenbrand led Tech with 24 assists, while Southern Miss' Sarah Bell recorded 35 helpers, most of which were distributed to Kylie Grandy, who led all players with 13 kills.
 
The Golden Eagles hit .362 as a team, while Tech struck at a .114 clip. The Techsters did out-block Southern Miss, 5.0-4.0 on the day, propelled by four total blocks from Davis.
 
In the first set, the Lady Techsters raced out of the gates, taking an early 4-1 lead behind kills from Davis and Hendricks. Later on in the frame, Southern Miss would claw back to even, and both teams went back and forth for the next several points. Trailing now, at 11-10, Emily Boylan and Hendricks combined for an emphatic block, squaring up the set at 11.
 
With the score even at 12, Southern Miss quickly put together a 3-0 run, which after a Tech timeout, ballooned to 7-0. Trailing 19-12, the Lady Techsters were unable to curb the momentum from the big run, and dropped the first set, 25-17.
 
In the second stanza, it was Southern Miss' turn to come out as the aggressors, staking a 4-1 lead. However, Tech showed some resiliency early on, putting together a 3-0 run and evening things up at four. Both teams battled for the next several points, before Southern Miss once again utilized a 7-0 run, and took a 17-10 lead in the frame. The Golden Eagles would take eight of the final 12 points, and staked a 25-14 triumph in set two.
 
In the third frame, the Golden Eagles pushed out ahead, and took a quick 11-5 lead. Tech responded late in the set, piecing together a 6-0 run, its largest of the afternoon, but the hosts finished on a 3-1 run, and took the set 25-17, while capturing the 3-0 run.
 
The Lady Techsters will return home and regroup for a home conference showdown with UTEP on Friday, October 19. First serve is set for 7 p.m. from the Thomas Assembly Center. Admission is free to all LA Tech Volleyball home matches.