RUSTON, La. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team battled back from a 2-1 match deficit to send Tuesday evening's contest to five sets, but fell to the visiting Warhawks by a 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 25-17, 17-25, 15-10) final from the Thomas Assembly Center.
 
The Lady Techsters (6-11) saw solid offensive team play, as four teammates notched 10+ kills in the balanced offensive attack. Freshman Jordyn Carswell led the way with a team-best 15 kills and 19 digs, while fellow freshman Lara Hendricks and junior Madeline Davis both chipped in 11 kills. Sophomore Carter Mirich added 10 kills of her own to go along with nine digs.
 
One of the more impressive all-around statistical efforts of the evening came from freshman setter Abigail Hildenbrand, who secured 42 assists and 21 digs (both team highs). Hildenbrand asserted her offensive game in the fourth set when the Techsters needed it most, and struck for two of her five kills in the frame, to go along with a pair of blocks. Her efforts etched her team-leading sixth double-double of 2018.
 
Tech struck for 63 kills as a team, as opposed to ULM's (7-8) 62, but the Warhawks out-blocked the Lady Techsters 17-8 on the evening. Offensively, ULM was led by three players with 15+ kills, as Mikaela Worley (17 kills), Catherine Griffith (17 kills) and Taylor Wood (15 kills and nine blocks) did the majority of damage for the visitors.
 
The first set was the tightest of all five on the evening, as the opening frame saw 10 separate ties and five lead changes. A kill from Davis knotted things up late at 19 all, before ULM took a 23-21 lead. Tech capitalized on a pair of Warhawk miscues to again tie things up at 23, but ULM took the final two points and a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Facing a potential 2-0 deficit, Tech stepped things up in the second frame, and held ULM to its lowest hitting percentage of the night at .023 (10-9-44). The frame began with a 7-1 run from the visitors, but bit-by-bit, Tech chipped away at the deficit, and eventually tied the match at 13 after a big combo block from Marie-Helene Verlinden and Carter Mirich. Both teams went back and forth for the next few points before Tech took a 17-16 lead, and then churned out eight of the final 12 points, capped off by a kill from Hendricks to seal the 25-20 victory and even up the match at one.
 
In the third, ULM led all but once, and held Tech to a .116 hitting percentage, while ULM hit its best mark of the night at .342 (15-2-38), committing just two attack errors in the frame. The Warhawks would take a 2-1 lead in the match after completing a 25-17 set-three triumph.
 
With their collective backs against the wall, Tech came together as an offense and hit its best mark of the night at .327 (19-3-49). In the frame, Hendricks (four kills), Mirich (three kills), Emily Boylan (three kills), Carswell (three kills) and Hildenbrand (three kills) kept Tech afloat. With the score tied at 12, Tech took 13 of the final 18 points to send the match into a do-or-die fifth set.
 
With a 1-1 record in five-set matches coming into tonight, Tech refused to give ground early on in the final frame. Neither team led by more than one, before a ULM service ace gave the Warhawks a 6-4 lead. Tech trailed 8-6 as the teams traded sides, but Tech was unable to complete the comeback as ULM ended the match on a 4-1 run and took home the victory.
 
With their last non-conference matchup behind them, the Lady Techsters will turn their attention to conference foe Marshall (7-9, 0-2 C-USA) on Sunday at 1 p.m. from the Thomas Assembly Center.