RUSTON – After back-to-back weekends on the road, Louisiana Tech is at home to face New Mexico State in a pair of Conference USA matchups.
 
Friday will be Senior Day as the team will honor six Bulldogs – Jailen Hurley, Carla Esquer, Giulia Bonifacio, Grace Lueva­nos, Charlize Williams, and Kaeden Robinson.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
Match One
Date/Time: Friday, Oct. 31 | 2 p.m. CT
Location: Thomas Assembly Center
Live Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
Live Video: ESPN+
Match Two
Date/Time: Saturday, Nov. 1 | 1 p.m. CT
Location: Scotty Robertson Memorial Gymnasium
Live Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
Live Video: N/A
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (7-17, 0-10 CUSA)
LA Tech was unable to get its first conference win of the season this past weekend, fall­ing in straight sets to Missouri State in both matchups.  It marked the first ever meetings between the two programs.
 
Giulia Bonifacio combined for a team-high 19 kills while hitting .214 versus the Bears, registering team highs in both matches.  The senior has led the Bulldogs in kills in eight matches this season, including three of the last four.  She tallied 10 kills in the first meet­ing at MSU, marking her fifth match of the season with double-digit kills.
 
Jailen Hurley continues to pace LA Tech offensively with a team-high 185 kills and a .230 hitting percentage.  The senior is 15 kills away from matching her single season best of 200 which she did last season.  If accomplished, she would become the first Bulldog since Kaitlyn Adams and Madeline Davis to record 200+ kills in back-to-back season (both did it in 2018-19).
 
Riley Steubing has served as the starting libero/defensive specialist in 22 of the 24 matches, having seen action in a team-high 87 sets.  Defensively, the junior has totaled a team-high 333 digs (eclipsed her single-season high total of 329 from last season) with an average of 3.83 digs per set, both ranking fourth in CUSA.  She has tallied 10+ digs in 17 matches, including seven of the last eight.
 
Sydnee Carter continues to be the lone Bulldog who has started all 24 matches this season.  The setter paces the team in passing with 359 assists, the most by a LA Tech freshman since Ashley Jones (2022).  She totaled 28 assists in last weekend's matchups against Missouri State, extending her streak of consecutive matches with 10+ assists to nine.
 
ABOUT NEW MEXICO STATE (13-10, 6-4 CUSA)
New Mexico State snapped a four-match losing streak this past weekend, sweeping both contests against Middle Tennessee by a score of 3-1 at home. 
 
Maggie Lightheart was named CUSA Offensive Player of the Week for her efforts, tallying 42 kills in eight sets for an average of 5.25 per frame while boasting a .313 hitting percentage.  She anchors the team with 264 kills this season followed by Tess Fuqua who has 207 to her credit.
 
Lightheart is also deadly in the serving category, having amassed 44 service aces which leads the league and ranks seventh in the country. 
 
Defensively, the Aggies are strong in the middle ranking second in the conference and 63rd in the nation in opponent hitting percentage at .183.  NM State has three players with 60+ blocks this season, led by the duo of Kate Sinclair and Mia Fox who have 74 and 72, respectively. 
 
THE SERIES
New Mexico State holds a 22-1 series advantage over LA Tech.  The Bulldogs won the first meeting in straight sets over the Aggies at the Volleyfrog Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas in 1996.  Since then, NM State has won 22 straight matchups with 16 of those com­ing as Western Athletic Conference opponents and the last five as CUSA foes.
 
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