RUSTON, La. – Junior Hadley Swartz fired 10 kills and dug a team-high 16 balls en route to her first double-double of the season as the ULM volleyball squad fell in straight sets (21-25, 22-25, 22-25) to Louisiana Tech Friday night inside Thomas Assembly Center.
The first set featured eight ties and five lead changes before LA Tech (4-4) took control after pushing three straight points to take a 21-18 lead. ULM (5-5) never could recover and at 24-21 in LA Tech's favor, Alexa Lister fired a kill to secure the set. Swartz blasted a set-high six kills, and ULM actually swung at a better clip (.175) than LA Tech (.120).
The second set the Lady Techsters jumped out to a 6-0 lead on three kills, an ace and two Warhawk attacking errors. The Warhawks would actually score the next five points and again brought the set within one at 23-22 before a service error and Lady Techster kill gave LA Tech a 2-0 set advantage. Junior Hope Pawlik spearheaded the ULM offense in the second set with five kills and a .364 attacking percentage.
LA Tech had another quick start in the third, scoring seven of the first 10 points. A kill from junior Kaitlyn Shearer sparked a 7-3 ULM run to tie the set at 10. Shearer slammed another kill before a Lady Techster attack error brought the set to within one for the Warhawks at 16-15, but LA Tech would counter by scoring the next four points, three from the kill column.
Sophomore Bayleigh Hoffman took over to serve for ULM at 24-20 and got a kill from Swartz and a LA Tech bad set to cut the deficit to two. However, Lady Techster attacker Angela Papach ended the match on the very next point with an attack that the ULM defense could not handle. Shearer converted on a set-high five kills complemented by a highly efficient .571 attacking percentage.
“For the first time in two years I can honestly say our serving hurt us,” head coach Patrick Hiltz said. “Give LA Tech credit – they passed very well and we didn't. They won most of the long rallies and both teams dug the ball very well.”
ULM had the better attacking percentage over LA Tech in all three sets. The service game, on the other hand, was off for the Warhawks tonight, recording just three service aces and 12 service errors to the Lady Techsters four and two. Hoffman nearly posted a double-double with 32 assists and nine digs while Pawlik added eight kills and seven digs.
Marta Monne and Lister prevailed as the go-to attackers with a match-high 11 kills apiece for the Lady Techsters. Monne added 14 digs for the double-double, and LA Tech libero Alejandra Aviles anchored the defense with a match-high 22 digs.
ULM looks to rebound tomorrow against Lamar at noon and Southern at 5 p.m. in its final two matches of the LA Tech Volleyball Invitational inside Thomas Assembly Center.
“Tomorrow will be interesting to see what kind of mental fortitude we have,” Hiltz said. “Tomorrow will tell us if we really believe we can be a winning team or not.”
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