NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team split a pair of matches to open the Battle of the Boot at Prather Coliseum on Friday.
LA Tech (5-6) dominated the first and fourth set but had to battle in the middle portion of the match against Southern (1-5).
The Bulldogs opened the match with a quick 6-3 lead, but the Lady Jaguars battled their way back to tie the match with three straight errors by Tech. Taking advantage of two consecutive errors by Southern, LA Tech reeled off four successive kills from their outside hitters to close out a 9-2 run to pull away and eventually take the first set.
LA Tech would continue that momentum into the second stanza with six straight points, highlighted by a block from Megan Cooley and Ashley Taylor to force Southern to call a timeout. The Bulldogs would have six set points before the Lady Jaguars would reel off the final eight to take the second set.
The third stanza would continue to be a battle, with the teams going back and forth. LA Tech would pull through in the end with six of the final seven points, and McKenzie Johnson would secure the last two with two of her career-high six aces in the match.
The Bulldogs jumped out from the beginning in the final set and wouldn't let the Lady Jaguars come close. A six-point run to open the set forced Southern to call their timeout. That wouldn't slow down the Bulldogs as they would build their lead to double digits as early as 13-3 and run away with the 3-1 win (25-16, 24-26, 25-21, 25-10).
LA Tech returned hours later for the nightcap against the host Northwestern (4-7). The Bulldogs did all they could in the first set, but the Lady Demons had a response for everything hit their way.
The Bulldogs had to use a timeout after Northwestern went on a 5-0 run, but Tech settled down and went one of their own, with Lauren Albrecht dumping it over the net to cut the deficit to one. Northwestern would use their second timeout after Jailen Hurley and Sa'Myah Medford got a block that gave the Bulldogs a lead at 21-20. The Lady Demons would close out the second set on a 4-1 run to take a 2-0 advantage.
Northwestern took all the momentum in the third set with the first four points. LA Tech would try to fight back, but a six-point run by the Lady Demons would increase the lead to where the Bulldogs were not able to recover, falling 3-0 (20-25, 23-25, 16-25)
QUOTABLES
Head coach
Amber McCray
"We knew coming into tonight that this would be the battle of who could be the most balanced team, and unfortunately we didn't do what we needed to in terms of winning the serving and passing contest to get this win. I felt we had some players like
Lauren Albrecht and
Ashley Taylor who played hard all match, so we need everyone to rise and match that kind of effort to get where we need to be. Playing well only in spurts is crushing us, especially against good teams like NSU. We need to learn to stay both aggressive and disciplined in tight moments so we can finish out these close sets that are making all the difference in matches."
NOTABLES
- LA Tech finished with 14 aces against Southern, their fourth time with 10+ in a match this season.
- Johnson finished with a career-high six aces against Southern. After adding two against Northwestern, she has seven games with multiple aces.
- Taylor finished with 15 kills and seven blocks between the two matches.
- Albrecht finished with 24 and 16 assist in the two matches, giving her nine straight games of 10 or more assists. The only match she has not recorded double-digit assist was against Arkansas St.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs return on Saturday, Sept. 16, for the final match of the Battle for the Boot against Southeastern with the first serve scheduled for 2 p.m. CT.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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