RUSTON – Louisiana Tech makes its last road trip of the regular season this weekend as the Bulldogs play take on Sam Houston in a pair of conference matchups.
MATCH INFORMATION
Dates/Times: Friday, Nov. 7 (6 p.m. CT) | Saturday, Nov. 8 (1 p.m. CT)
Location: Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum (Huntsville, Texas)
Live Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
Live Video: ESPN+
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (8-18, 1-11 CUSA)
LA Tech is coming off its best performance of the season, taking four of seven sets from New Mexico State include a 3-0 sweep in the Saturday contest. The Bulldogs hit a season-high .376 (41-9-85) which was their best hitting percentage ever in a CUSA match. In doing so, they secured their first league win of the season while also snapping a 23-match losing skid to the Aggies.
Megan Cooley was the top Bulldog in the league series against New Mexico State. The outside hitter came into the weekend having played in just two sets in league play. She ended up playing six of the seven sets versus the Aggies, tying her career high of eight kills in each match with a team-high 44 total attacks. The junior also made her presence defensively with five total blocks, including a career-high four in the first match.
Jailen Hurley continues to pace LA Tech offensively with a team-high 197 kills and a .236 hitting percentage. The senior as highly efficient against New Mexico State, tallying 12 total kills on just 27 attacks. She is now just three kills shy from reaching 200 for the season, which would give her back-to-back years of 200+ kills (last Bulldog to do that was Kaitlyn Adams and Madeline Davis in 2018-19). Another Bulldog who was strong on offense was
Zari Gillispie who amassed 10 kills on 21 attacks while hitting .333.
Riley Steubing has served as the starting libero/defensive specialist in 24 of the 26 matches, having seen action in a team-high 94 sets. Defensively, the junior has totaled a team-high 356 digs, which ranks fourth in CUSA and 94th in the country. She has tallied 10+ digs in 18 matches, including eight of the last 10, and is on pace to become just the second Bulldog in the last decade to eclipse 400 digs in a single season.
Sydnee Carter continues to be the lone Bulldog who has started all 26 matches. The setter paces the team in passing with 393 assists, the most by a LA Tech freshman since Ashley Jones (2022). She totaled 34 assists in last weekend's matchups against New Mexico State, extending her streak of consecutive matches with 10+ assists to 11.
ABOUT SAM HOUSTON (8-17, 0-12 CUSA)
Sam Houston is still in search for its first conference win of the season, having dropped all 12. The Bearkats have been close a couple of times, falling in five sets to league-leader WKU as well as to Kennesaw State this past weekend.
Offensively, Sam Houston is hitting .188 as a team with an average of 11.7 kills per set. They rank first in the league and top 50 in the nation in both total attacks and attacks per set. Leading the way is outside hitter Chloe Monson who has 355 kills on the year, which ranks second in CUSA and 34th in the country.
Defensively, Shaelin White is the primary defensive specialist with 493 digs to her credit, helping Sam Houston rank first in the conference in total digs. Rachelle Reed is the top middle blocker with 94 blocks on the season.
THE SERIES
The Bulldogs trail in the all-time series versus the Bearkats, 6-12. Sam Houston has won three straight with LA Tech's last win coming in 2023 in Huntsville. The two programs first met in 1992.
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