NACITOCHES, La. – The 2018 Louisiana Tech volleyball team gained some valuable experience and saw many positive signs up and down the young roster in an exhibition match against Northwestern State on Saturday evening.

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The Lady Techsters dropped the practice match, 3-1 (19-25, 15-25, 26-24, 20-25) but saw production from several newcomers, which will be crucial to the team's success heading into the 2018 regular season.

"Tonight's match gave us a great opportunity to work with our young team in a competitive setting against a real opponent," head coach Adriano de Souza remarked. "The big thing we took away from today is that we know more about our newcomers and our returners when they are placed under pressure. Definite highlights from tonight's contest were Lara Hendricks, Jordyn Carswell and Mia Prostran."
 
Tech saw two players finish with double-digit kill efforts, as newcomer Lara Hendricks led all players with 14 kills, while chipping in five digs. Fellow incoming freshman Jordyn Carswell added 10 kills of her own, along with 11 digs in a solid double-double effort.
 
Sophomore libero Alyssa Zucco led the way with a match-high 25 digs, while Tech's two new setters in Mia Prostran and Abigail Hildenbrand contributed 20 and 12 assists, respectively.
 
Tech dropped the first two sets before responding in a big way in the third frame. The squad raced out to an early 6-1 lead, and pushed that advantage as high as 15-8 before forcing the Demons to call a timeout. NSU would have a response, taking their first lead of the set at 24-23, but a pair of errors set Tech up for its first set point of the evening, which Jayde Penn and Madeline Davis converted on a big block – drawing Tech to within one at two sets to one.
 
Carswell was a key catalyst in the third frame for the Techsters, as she pounded home six kills on 12 attempts, and hit .417 for the set.
 
In the fourth set, Northwestern State jumped out to an early lead, but some late resistance from the Lady Techsters drew the deficit to as small as five. Tech fought off three match points before NSU's Hannah Brister drove home her 11^th kill of the evening, ending the exhibition contest.
 
The Lady Techsters will hit the practice floor a few more times for some fine tuning before tipping off their regular season in the Houston Baptist Invitational starting on Friday, August 24 against UTRGV at 9 a.m. CT. Tech will also take on host Houston Baptist and Prairie View A&M in the squad's opening weekend.
 
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