HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Anaya Hairston, Sydney Jackwin, and Ashley Taylor led the Louisiana Tech Volleyball Team to a 3-1 victory over Sam Houston on Tuesday night at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum in Huntsville, Texas.
 
LA Tech (6-11, 1-4) drew first blood on the opening serve, but Sam Houston (6-12, 0-5) responded with three straight points. Hairston stepped up massively with a set-tying block, one of her career-high five blocks. The teams would continue to battle back-and-forth, with the Bulldogs taking a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. LA Tech would get two points out of the timeout to extend the lead to three. The Bulldogs got up 22-19 on Jackwin's fifth kill, but the Bearkats would get the final six points to take the opening set.
 
Sam Houston got out front early in the second set, but a rocket by Luisa Araujo jump-started a 4-1 run to give the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead. The Bearkats would get to 15 first, but the Bulldogs wouldn't let the set get out of hand. Sam Houston had back-to-back aces to secure a 20-18 lead, but the Bulldogs would close out the set on a 7-2 run to flip the first set score in Tech's favor. Hairston and Carla Esquer combined for the final three points, with the two combining for a block, followed by Esquer with a kill, and Hairston finished it off with a kill of her own.
 
The third set started as a battle with six ties and five lead changes early. With the score tied at eight, Ashley Taylor had two aces in three tries to put the Bulldogs up on top for good. Tech would finish the set on a five-point run to take the 2-1 advantage.
 
Sam Houston took the momentum with a 7-3 run to open the fourth set. The deficit stayed at four when LA Tech took advantage of a service error from Sam Houston's Avery Fowler. That started a 4-0 run that was capped by an ace from Jackwin to tie things up at 12. The Bulldogs got to set point at 24-21 off a block by Esquer and Taylor. The Bearkats would tie things up before Taylor closed out the match to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 win (22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 26-24).
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Amber McCray
 
"All I can say is wow. This was the total team effort we have talked about all season that will get us wins. So many good players stepped up tonight. Syd was unstoppable for majority of the match, Carla came through with some huge kills in key moments, both Ashley and Anaya were on fire at the net attacking and blocking, and McKenzie was incredible anchoring our first contact all night. I felt overall our setters, Lauren and Grace, handled our set distribution well and put our attackers in some really good positions. Sam Houston is a well-coached team and they made adjustments all night that kept us on our toes, but I'm proud of the way our team responded to still go get the stops we needed to win. Last and definitely not least, our sideline was amazing. Getting this road win would absolutely not have been possible without them. Our challenge now is to enjoy this for a quick moment but reset quickly so we can go get another one tomorrow."
   
NOTABLES

• Jackwin finished with her fourth double-double of the season with 16 kills and 18 digs.
• Anaya Hairston set a career high for the third match in a row with five blocks. She also finished with a career high six kills.
• Taylor tied a career high with six blocks.

 
UP NEXT
LA Tech and Sam Houston return to the court on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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