RUSTON, La. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team opened the Conference USA season on Sunday with a commanding 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 17-25, 25-20) victory over UAB.
Jordyn Carswell paced the Lady Techsters with 12 kills and 14 digs, her third double-double of the season.
Madeline Davis and
Kaitlyn Adams also posted double-digit kills, racking up 13 and 12 respectively.
Mia Prostran and
Abigail Hildenbrand distributed the balanced attack with 41 assists between them.
"It's awesome to pick up our first conference win. We really wanted to make strides early in the season, and it is definitely a huge confidence-booster for our program to play as well as we did against another up-and-coming conference team," said LA Tech head coach
Amber McCray.
"We did a nice job today controlling our first contact today which allowed all of our hitters to be options, and then our setters did a great job distributing the ball," McCray continued.
The Lady Techsters controlled the first set from start to finish, taking a 2-1 lead and maintaining an advantage for almost the entirety of the frame. Two kills from Adams gave Tech a 4-1 lead early and Hildenbrand's serving helped the Lady Techsters extend the lead to 11-6 later in the set. UAB made a run to draw even at 20, but kills from Davis and
Elena Takova ensured that Tech would walk away with a 25-22 win.
The second set was Carswell's time to shine. The sophomore racked up six kills on seven attempts to lead the Lady Techsters to a 25-20 win. Tech hit .346 in the frame thanks to Carswell's error-free effort and five kills with just one error from Davis.
UAB responded after the break, leading nearly wire-to-wire in a third set win. The Blazers hit .279 in the frame and held Tech to just a .122 mark as a team. Adams kept the Lady Techsters in it with four kills, but it wasn't quite enough as they fell 25-17.
Tech bounced back with a dominant fourth set. The Lady Techsters jumped out to a 15-7 lead and didn't look back, winning 25-20. Davis led the team with five kills and an error-free set, hitting .455. As a team, Tech hit .355 and made just two errors in the frame.
Marie-Helene Verlinden added three of her four service aces in the set as well.
Morgan Currie led the Lady Techsters with 15 digs, including 9 in the third set. Verlinden totaled four service aces and played a role in half of Tech's six blocks.
The Lady Techsters take a brief break from conference play on Tuesday when they travel to Monroe to take on ULM. They return home Friday for a 7 p.m. match against Conference USA foe FAU.
Follow @LATechVB on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to keep up with the LA Tech volleyball program throughout the rest of the season.
