LAKE CHARLES, La. -- The ULM Warhawks dropped a 3-0 decision to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to open play Saturday at the Big Daddy's Invitational, hosted by McNeese State.
Freshman Hadley Swartz was impressive once again, racking up a match-high 17 kills and hit at a .419 clip. Redshirt junior Iren Marinova slammed seven kills on 14 attempts with no errors and hit a match-best .500 (min.: 10 attacks).
“Hadley processes information very well. She's a big jumper so she was able to get away with things in high school that don't work as well at the NCAA level, but she's seeing the block very well and getting more comfortable with passing. She asks for the ball in crucial situations so we're very happy with her progress,” head coach David Fischer said.
“Iren really found some fire, as well. She had her best hit of the year on a slide. She had nice productivity today,” Fischer said.
In the first set ULM (2-9) battled through 10 ties and two lead changes. The Warhawks had a 20-16 advantage before the Golden Eagles (8-2) used a 6-2 rally to draw the set even. ULM broke the tie but quickly yielded the advantage after a service error.
With the set tied at 23-all, Blanca Ocana nailed a kill through the Southern Miss blockers to give the Warhawks a chance at set point. Sadly, ULM could not close out the set and the Golden Eagles took the opening frame 26-24.
ULM never had the lead in the middle set but did overcome a nine-point deficit to draw the match within four at 20-16. The Warhawks hung tough for the remainder of the set, outscoring the Golden Eagles 7-5 over the closing points.
“We slipped at the finish line in the first set. We had a chance to win and we had the momentum, but we effectively diffused it by missing two of our last serves out of two and not taking care of the ball with the pass. We let that one slip away and let that loss affect us in set two. We started down in set two but came back and made it respectable,” Fischer said.
Southern Miss used a big, early lead to grab the final set 25-18.
In the contest, Kayla Kane made her Warhawks debut, recording seven assists in one set.
ULM continues play later today against Prairie View A&M. First serve is at 2 p.m.
