HAMMOND - The Louisiana Tech Volleyball team finished the first day of the Battle for the Boot 1-1 on Friday after beating Southern, but falling short to Northwestern State 2-3 in Hammond.

GAME 1
LA Tech (7-6) brought down Southern (0-11) in the first match of the day on Friday morning (25-9, 26-24, 29-27). Kalee Cadwell started her run for assists in the first set with eight, along with her two aces. LA Tech began the set with a 7-0 scoring run to give them a large lead that they were able to maintain throughout the set. Farther into the set, the Lady Techsters produced another 7-0 scoring run to put them at an 18-point advantage. 
 
The last two sets were not as easy of a win. In the second set, the Lady Techsters were behind most of the set until their 4-0 scoring run caught them up with the Lady Jaguars, including two kills from Chard'e Vanzandt and a service ace from Ainsley Yanz. Tied at 24-24, Vanzandt delivered another kill followed by an error from SU to take a 2-0 advantage. 
 
The third set went back and forth for LA Tech and Southern. Southern held its ground until the Lady Techsters collected three errors from SU and a kill from Cadwell and Ashley Taylor to give them the lead. Sydney Jackwin closed the match with an ace to send the Lady Techsters into their second match of the day with a victory. 
 
GAME 2
LA Tech fell 2-3 (19-25, 26-24 24-26, 25-19, 13-15) in a hard-fought, five-set match-up against Northwestern State. McKenzie Johnson began her run at breaking her own program record for most digs in a match with seven in the first set. The Lady Techsters collected 15 kills throughout the set, five from Andrea Spasojevic. 
 
The Lady Techsters were able to come back and tie it up in a neck-and-neck second set. Cadwell and Johnson anchored the team in digs with eight and seven, respectively. LA Tech took an early two-point lead with a 5-0 scoring run with a kill for Taylor and Jackwin along with three errors from NSU. The Lady Demons were able to come back and gain their own two-point lead until Addison McDermott delivered a bad set to drop their lead to down to one. Jackwin then provided a service ace to tie the set, followed by another NSU error and a kill from Spasojevic to end it. 
 
Northwestern took a lead in the match due to another back-and-forth third set. Neither team led by more than three points, but LA Tech was not able to close out the set. The Lady Techsters had a combined 12 kills and 20 digs, led by Johnson, adding nine more to her record. Jackwin collected five of the 12 kills and three digs to put her on track to her fifth double-double of the season. 
 
LA Tech was able to force a fifth set by holding NSU in the fourth. The Lady Techsters held a lead for most of the set due to a 5-0 scoring run early on in the game. A kill from Vanzandt and two kills from Taylor, followed by back-to-back errors from NSU gave LA Tech a five-point lead. That was not stopping the Lady Techsters from expanding their lead. Carla Esquer delivered a kill, followed by an ace from Jackwin, along with two more NSU errors gave LA Tech a seven-point lead. NSU was not able to come back before the set ended to tie the match 2-2. 
 
In the heart-wrenching fifth set, LA Tech and NSU went neck and neck, tying the game five times. The Lady Techsters held on until the very end, only down by one until NSU's Breanna Burrell delivered the match point kill to end the match. Cadwell was able to add six more assists to her new career high of 42, along with her 18 career high digs. 
 
 QUOTABLES 
"This is such a tough loss (against Northwestern State) because we had plenty of opportunities to close out close sets again and failed to do so. Kudos to NSU because with the game on the line in the fifth set, they were the more aggressive team and it ultimately won them the match. Hats off to our defense because they kept us in it by giving us chances, we just have to have our offense step up and convert."
 
NOTABLES
•          McKenzie Johnson set a new career high in digs while breaking her own LA Tech volleyball program record with 37. 
•          Sydney Jackwin recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 15 digs along with 17.5 points. 
•          Kalee Cadwell recorded a career-high 42 assists to go along with 18 digs for a double-double.
•          The Lady Techsters are undefeated against Southern (3-0). 
•          LA Tech picked up its first sweep of the season.  
 
UP NEXT UP NEXT
LA Tech will face Southeastern in their final game in the Battle for the Boot tournament at the University Center on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 12:30 p.m. CT.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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