RUSTON – On Saturday afternoon, the Louisiana Tech volleyball team fell to New Mexico State, 3-0, inside the Thomas Assembly Center.
 
New Mexico State (11-4, 4-0) got off to a hot start by hitting over .600 as a team on the way to an 8-0 lead. LA Tech (5-11, 0-4) worked their way back into the match, taking five of the following seven points. The Bulldogs would call a timeout after the Aggies extended their lead to 15-6. NMSU would try to block a Courtney Carter spike, but it resulted in the ball going out of bounds on the tip and gave the Bulldogs three straight points. The two teams would be evenly matched the rest of the set, and the deficit would be too much for the Bulldogs to overcome.
 
The Bulldogs claimed the first two points of the second set, but the Aggies used a 12-3 run to force Tech to call a timeout. LA Tech would call another timeout with the deficit at 11. Tech would cut the deficit to single digits on several occasions, but NM State would take the set and a 2-0 advantage.
 
For the second day in a row, the third set was a battle. LA Tech jumped to a 4-1 lead, highlighted by back-to-back blocks by Anaya Hairston and Jailen Hurley. With the score tied at seven, NM State would go on a 6-1 run to take a 13-8 lead. Tech would use their second timeout with their backs against the wall and down 18-10. The Aggies increased their lead to 10 before the Bulldogs would fight back with an 8-3 run. Tech would fend off four set points, but NM State would take the match 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-20).

QUOTABLES
Head coach Amber McCray

"NMSU is a well-coached team who is having a great year thus far. They came in and executed their game plan very well, and it obviously disrupted our offense and defense substantially. We have to kill more balls bottomline, and that starts from   getting a better first contact, to more accurate setting to our attackers and their hitting choices.  This was not a great showing for us at all and we know that, but we have to have a short memory to flush this weekend and move on to preparing for SHSU."
  
NOTABLES

• Benjamin finished with a team high five kills.
• Hairston set a career high for the second match in a row with four blocks.
• Johnson finished with 21 digs, the third time this season and 18th time in her career with 20+ in a match.

 
UP NEXT
LA Tech travels to Huntsville, Texas to take on Sam Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 3-4. Both matches are set to begin at 6:30 p.m. CT and be streamed ESPN+.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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