RUSTON, La. -- The Louisiana Tech volleyball team hosts Conference USA foe Rice in the Lady Techsters annual "Dig Pink" matches this weekend inside the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La. The Lady Techsters and the Owls will battle Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of all that have and are continuing to battle Metastatic Breast Cancer. The LA Tech volleyball team has partnered with the Side-Out Foundation in efforts to raise funds to go towards research specifically for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: Friday, Oct. 15 | 6 p.m. / Saturday, Oct. 16 | 1 p.m.
Location: Thomas Assembly Center (Ruston, La.)
Series: Rice leads 19-3
Live Stream: Here
Live Stats:  Here

About Louisiana Tech (6-14, 0-6 C-USA)
The Lady Techsters enter this weekend with a 6-14 overall record and a 0-6 record in Conference USA play after dropping a pair of contests to UTEP last weekend. LA Tech has secured wins over Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Jackson State, Prairie View A&M, Lamar, Southern and New Orleans this season, with five of those six wins have come via sweeps.

Freshman Libero McKenzie Johnson has been a difference maker, leading the Lady Techsters in digs (374), digs per set (5.27) and aces (24). Johnson's 374 total digs ranks her 6th in the NCAA, while her 5.27 digs per set ranks her 16th nationally and 2nd amongst all freshman. Johnson set a new school record collecting 36 digs in a single match against North Texas on Oct. 2, surpassing Alejandra Aviles' 35 balls dug against ULM in 2015.

Sophomore Faith Menary paces the Lady Techsters offense with 173 kills (2.84 k/s), while sophomore's Carly Doros (122 kills, 1.74 k/s) and Morgan Smith (113 kills, 1.59 k/s) and senior Jordyn Carswell (111 kills, 2.02 k/s) have provided extra sparks to the Tech offense.

Sophomore Mallory Meers directs LA Tech's offense with 451 assists (7.52 a/s), with junior Laura De Pra assisting with setting duties, dishing out 132 assists (5.74 a/s) herself.

Defensively, the Lady Techsters rank 10th nationally with 1,197 digs and 24th in digs per set at 16.86. Five Lady Techsters average multiple digs per set while having collected 115 or more digs, including Johnson, in the back row. Meanwhile, in the front row, Smith leads the team and ranks seventh in C-USA in total blocks with 66 (0.93 b/s), while also holding a team-best .297 hitting percentage.

The Lady Techsters average 10.99 kills, 9.94 assists, 1.30 aces, 16.86 digs (leads C-USA) and 2.01 blocks per set, while hitting .287 as a team.

About Rice (9-5, 4-0)
Rice enters the weekend sporting a 9-5 overall record and a 4-0 mark in C-USA play, after playing an extremely tough non-conference schedule. Four-of-the-five Owls losses this season have come against top-25 opponents in No. 9 Pittsburgh, No. 13 Oregon, No. 12 Baylor and No. 1 Texas.  Rice brings a perfect 4-0 Conference USA record to Ruston after sweeping North Texas twice, and defecting UTEP 3-0 and 3-2 to open league action.  

The Preseason Player of the Year choice Nicole Lennon leads the Owls offense with 205 kills, ranking fourth in C-USA averaging 4.36 kills per set, while preseason All-Conference team choice Anota Adekunle adds 118 kills (2.62 k/s). Carly Graham directs the Rice offense with the second-best average in the league with 10.46 assists per set (502 assists. Four different Owls have collected more than 135 digs, with Nia McCardell leading the back row with 177 digs (3.61 d/s). Adekunle anchors the Owls front line recording 42 total blocks (10 solo, 32 assists) while six other Owls have collected double-digit block totals.

Rice averages 13.78 kills, 12.73 assists, 1.08 aces, 16.12 digs and 1.94 blocks per set while hitting .255 as a team.

Series History
Rice leads the overall series 19-3, having won the last six meetings over the Lady Techsters. The Owls captured a pair sweeps against LA Tech last season in Ruston, La. The Lady Techsters last defected Rice, 3-2, on October 25, 2015 inside the Thomas Assembly Center.

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