HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Lady Techsters captured their first Conference USA win of the season behind 15 kills from sophomore Faith Menary Saturday afternoon in a 3-1 win over Southern Miss inside the Volleyball Wellness Center.  

LA Tech improves to 9-17 on the year and 1-9 in Conference USA play with the win, while the Golden Eagles fall to 11-15 overall and 3-9 in C-USA with the loss. Scores of the match in favor of the Lady Techsters were 26-24, 15-25, 25-23, 25-21.

Menary got things going early collecting back-to-back kills to give the Lady Techsters a 10-7 lead early. Southern Miss battled back to even the score at 13-13 before another kill by Menary and a kill by sophomore Carly Doros pushed the Lady Techsters advantage out to 17-14. The Golden Eagles once again evened the score at 18-18, but kills by sophomore's Mackenzie Murray and Mallory Meers as well as an ace serve by freshman McKenzie Johnson allowed the Lady Techsters to pull away for a 26-24 set one win.

With the score knotted at 6-6 early in set two, Southern Miss rattled off nine of the next 10 points to take a 15-7 lead. A kill by junior Laura De Pra, an ace serve by Menary and a double block by Murray and sophomore Morgan Smith cut the deficit down to 19-13, before Southern Miss scored six of the final eight points to claim the set 25-15.

Set three saw LA Tech surge out to a 12-6 lead behind a trio of blocks and five kills from five different Lady Techsters. The Golden Eagles clawed their way back to within one at 19-18 but and ace by De Pra and kills by Doros and Menary gave the Lady Techsters a 25-23 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Golden Eagles lead 6-5 early in the fourth set before a kill by Murray sparked a 4-0 run giving the Lady Techsters a 9-6 lead. A block by Smith and Bell as well as a kill by Meers extended the Lady Techsters advantage out to five at 15-10 midway through the set. Menary recorded a pair of kills before Meers collected the Lady Techsters seventh ace on match point for the 25-21 set and 3-1 match win.
 
NOTABLES

• LA Tech picked up their first win in Conference USA play since Nov. 10, 2019, snapping a 23-game C-USA losing streak. The Lady Techsters defected Southern Miss, 3-1, on that day back in 2019.
• The Lady Techsters picked up their first road conference win since defeating UTEP on Oct. 27, 2017.
• LA Tech improves to 6-24 in the overall series against the Golden Eagles.
• Faith Menary led the Lady Techsters offense with 15 kills while collecting nine digs today.
• Morgan Smith recorded six total blocks, the fifth time this season she has collected five or more total blocks.
• Carly Doros collected eight kills on 18 attempts for a .444 hitting percentage, while tying her career-high with five total blocks.
• Mackenzie Murray recorded eight kills, one shy of tying her career-high.
• Mallory Meers dished out 29 assists while also collecting four kills, nine digs and three total blocks.
• McKenzie Johnson finished the afternoon with 26 digs, her 10^th game this season with 20 or more digs.
• Johnson has recorded double-digit digs in 21-of-the-22 games she has played in this season.
• The Lady Techsters out-blocked the Golden Eagles 11-5 in the match.
   

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Amber McCray
"I am so beyond proud of our Lady Techsters right now. After being so disappointed in our level of fight last night, we responded today with the grittiest match we've played all year. It truly took everyone to get this win today against a very good and well coached Southern Miss team, but I have to shout out Faith Menary and Carly Doros for leading us offensively. Faith took some gutsy swings in crucial moments and Carly not only led us in hitting efficiency but also provided several critical blocks that proved to be a turning point in each set. Our passers stepped up to provide us a number of opportunities to score, and I believe this was one of our best setting matches of the year in terms of distribution and delivery. We also served very aggressively the entire match allowing defense to capitalize on getting Southern Miss out of system and picking up 11 total blocks. Even with all the adversity this team has faced this year, we know good things can still happen as long as we COMPETE. I'm thrilled to see us buy into that today."

UP NEXT
The Lady Techsters return home for the final two matches of the year, facing off against UAB on Friday, Nov. 5 and Saturday, Nov. 6 inside the Thomas Assembly Center. Friday's match is set for 6 p.m. while Saturday's match is set for 2 p.m.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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