RUSTON, La. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team could not rally back from an early deficit, and fell in straight sets, 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-21), to the visiting Marshall Thundering Herd on Sunday afternoon from the Thomas Assembly Center.
 
LA Tech (6-12; 1-2 C-USA) faced an uphill battle from the start of the match, as Marshall (8-10; 1-3 C-USA) rushed out to an early 6-1 edge in the first set. However, the Techsters showed some resiliency in the first frame, clawing back and taking their first lead of the match at 14-13 after a resounding kill from junior middle blocker Madeline Davis. The lead would change hands a couple more times before a 3-0 Marshall run to bring the Herd lead to 21-18, forced a Tech timeout. Marshall would maintain the edge through the end, and take the first set, ultimately, 25-20.
 
Despite out-hitting Marshall, .300 (15-3-40) to .275 (15-4-40) in the first, the Lady Techsters found themselves trailing early on. Sophomore Carter Mirich paced the Tech offense with a match-best six kills in the opening frame.
 
In set number two, Tech came out as the aggressive team early on, setting the tone of the set behind an early three-point lead at 7-4, courtesy of a pair of early kills from junior outside hitter Kaitlyn Adams. However, the Herd responded with the largest run of the day – a 6-0 burst, flipping the advantage the visitor's way at 10-7. LA Tech would not lead in the remainder of the set, fighting off a pair of set points, but eventually fell 25-17, to trail 2-0 in the contest.
 
Marshall hit its highest mark of the day in the second at .344 (14-3-32), while limiting Tech to its lowest mark of the match at -.028 (9-10-36).
 
Looking for the sweep, Marshall raced out to a 3-0 lead in the third, which was quickly countered by a resilient Tech squad, who took a 4-3 lead behind a big combo block from Marie-Helene Verlinden and Adams. Neither team owned a lead larger than one through the first half of the set, before a 4-0 Herd run forced a Tech timeout with the score 14-10 in favor of the visitors. Tech put together a late rally, drawing to within three at 23-20, but Marshall came away with the set, 25-21 and the sweep.
 
Davis and Adams both notched eight kills for the Techsters, while Alyssa Zucco led the way with 13 digs. Abigail Hildenbrand turned in 27 assists on Tech's 33 kills as a team. Marshall finished the afternoon hitting .239, while Tech hit .105. The Herd narrowly out-blocked Tech, 5.0-4.0 as well.
 
The Lady Techsters will look to shake off the tough result next weekend, traveling to Florida to take on FIU on Friday (6 p.m. CT) and Florida Atlantic on Sunday (12 p.m. CT). Both matches will be streamed live on CUSA.tv (subscription required).