LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team came out swinging but would eventually fall 3-0 to New Mexico State at the CUSA Tournament on Friday afternoon inside Liberty Arena.
New Mexico State (20-9, 11-5) took the lead early, but LA Tech (8-21, 3-13) fought back into the first set. Down 9-5, the Bulldogs put together a 5-1 run by getting kills by four players. Later in the set, a small three-point run would give Tech a 17-15 lead, but back-to-back errors by the Bulldogs tied it up. With the set tied at 20 apiece, New Mexico State would close it out on a five-point run.
New Mexico State would get up by as much as 10 early in the second. The Bulldogs would close the gap by taking advantage of a couple of Aggie errors. Still, the deficit would be too much to overcome as NMSU took the 2-0 advantage.
The Aggies would pull away in the third set and take the match 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-12).
Jailen Hurley led the Bulldog attack with seven kills and a .357 hitting clip.
Sa'Myah Medford and
Sydney Jackwin finished with six kills apiece.
McKenzie Johnson, Jackwin, and
Izabely Benjamin finished with 13, 11, and 10 digs, respectively.
QUOTABLES
Head coach
Amber McCray
"This loss is tough because I truly feel if we could have just taken control in that first set when we had the opportunities to do so, it could have made a huge difference in the match, but failing to do so allowed NMSU to come out swinging lights out with a ton of confidence in sets 2 and 3 that we struggled to stop.
Jailen Hurley played well again to close out a solid offensive stretch ending her sophomore campaign, so that's exciting moving forward knowing we have two more years with her. We finish the season with a major first crossed off the list, but also so much room to grow. There was a ton of youth on the floor for us tonight and truly all year, picking up some valuable experience that will no doubt help us in the years to come."
NOTABLES
- Three Bulldogs finished with 10+ digs, the seventh time this season.
- Hurley finished the final three matches hitting .522 and 27 kills.
- Lauren Albrecht and Krohn had 10+ assists in the same match for the 17th time this season.
- Seven different Bulldogs finished with a kill.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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