RUSTON - The Louisiana Tech Volleyball team heads north to compete in the Central Arkansas Invitational this weekend. The UCA Invitational will host LA Tech, Southern Illinois, and Lady Techsters' in-state rival ULM Friday and Saturday at the Prince Center in Conway, Ark.
 
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION (CONWAY, ARK.)
Tournament: Central Arkansas Invitational
Dates: Friday, Sep. 9 - Saturday, Sept. 10
Location: Prince Center (Conway, Ark.)
Lives Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
 
Game 1: vs. Southern Illinois | Friday, Sept. 9 | 1:00 pm CT
Series Record: First Meeting
Last Meeting: N/A
 
Game 2: vs. ULM | Friday, Sept. 9 | 4:00 pm CT
Series Record: LA Tech leads 26-9
Last Meeting: Sept. 6., 2022 | Ruston, La. | La Tech, 3-2
 
Game 3: vs Central Arkansas | Saturday, Sept. 10 | 4:00 pm CT
Series Record: Central Arkansas lead 5-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 18, 2015 | Conway, Ark. | Central Arkansas, 3-0
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (3-5)
LA Tech defeated ULM Tuesday 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 15-10) in their first five set match of the season after an exhilarating 2-1 comeback. Two Lady Techsters ended the night with double-digit digs, Andrea Spasojevic with 15 and Morgan Smith with 10. Spasojevic recorded her second double-double in her career with a season high of 19 kills and 17 digs.
 
Ashley Taylor brought her a-game with a season-high of 19 kills and tied a season-high with five blocks.
 
McKenzie Johnson added another 29 digs to her team-leading 112 digs on the season. Johnson ranks second in C-USA with a 16.27 dig average.  
 
Ashley Jones registered 51 assists in Tuesday's game against ULM, her second performance of 50+ assists this season.
 
ABOUT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (3-3)
Southern Illinois had two players land on the Colonel Classic All-Tournament team last weekend after finishing 2-1 including two, 3-0 wins over Southern University and Nicholls State.
 
Anna Jaworski averaged .42 kills, 11.83 assists, and 2.08 digs per set, while Tatum Tornatta averaged 3.17 kills, .67 digs, and .50 blocks to help lead SIU to three wins in four tries last week.
 
The Lady Salukis' Caci Bulmahn was named the Missouri Valley Conference freshman of the week after an average 3.25 kills and 3.33 digs per set as the Salukis won three of their four matches last week.
 
ABOUT ULM (3-4)
The Warhawks fell to The Lady Techsters on Tuesday in a 2-3 deficit. Madeline Williams led the team with 18 kills along with five blocks. Logan Jeffus and Madeline Villarreal had 13 kills each while Brynn Botkin added 10.
 
Callie Humphrey reached a season high of 20 digs, while Taylor Thomas, Cameron Rogers and Kailey Friedrich also had double-digit digs with 19, 18 and 12, respectively.
 
Earlier this season, ULM recorded their first tournament sweep in 32 years at the Molly Howard Memorial Tournament. In the tournament, they took down Bethune-Cookman (3-0), UC Riverside (3-1) and host Houston Baptist (3-1).
 
ABOUT UCA (3-3)
The Sugar Bears host the Central Arkansas Invitational placing them back in the Prince Center for the first time this season.
 
They come into this weekend having dropped three matches last weekend in Houston at the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup, against Houston ( 0-3), Oregon State (0-3), and Alabama (1-3).
 
Jamiryana Hall recorded 28 kills over the weekend along with Kendall Haywood's six blocks. Izzi Szluczewski and Caylan Koons were able to put up 63 combined assists for the Sugar Bears.
 
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