RUSTON, La. - The ULM Warhawks swept Mississippi Valley State 3-0 on the first day of the Louisiana Tech Invitational Friday afternoon.
"Overall, it was a good opening game for us," head coach Charlie Olson said. "We walked out of the gym going 1-0."
ULM (5-3) showed its depth on Friday, allowing multiple players an opportunity to see the court. Mikaela Worley led the Warhawks with 13 kills. Hailey Hughes, Shaska Davis and Alix Christie all ended the game with six kills apiece.
Darby Fisher ended the night with 20 assists. McKinley Thiede wasn't far behind with 16 assists of her own. Chloe Carenza led ULM with 12 digs.
MVSU (2-10) jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start in set one. An attack error by the Devilettes would give the Warhawks their first point of the game. Worley would follow that up with a kill to make the score 4-2. Another kill by Worley tied the set at six.
MVSU took control of the set again, but a block by Worley and Hughes would turn the momentum back in favor for the Warhawks and give ULM the lead, 16-15.
Albany Schaffer gained a service ace to build the lead to 22-17. Christie netted a kill to give ULM a set one win, 25-21.
"It wasn't the prettiest volleyball, but as the match continued, we became more comfortable in the gym," Olson said.
Both teams started set two on fire and traded points with each other. However, a kill by Worley gave ULM a 4-3 lead. A few points later, Davis would gain a monster kill to increase the Warhawks' lead, 10-5.
ULM went on to score six unanswered points. A kill by Hughes effectively ended the set to give the Warhawks a set two win, 25-13.
Lauren Appelman started ULM off in set three with a kill to give ULM its first point of the set. However, MVSU would stay in control for the beginning of the set. Hughes would turn the momentum back in favor of ULM to take a 15-14 lead. Kills by Emma Vann and Appelman gave the Warhawks a set three win, 25-21.
The Warhawks will start day two of the tournament on Saturday against Nicholls State at 10 a.m. ULM will then take on Louisiana Tech at 4:30 p.m.
"We will need to come out with more tenacity tomorrow morning against a very scrappy Nicholls team and then we'll game plan for Tech," Olson said. "We're just taking it one game at a time."
Links to live coverage, including live stats, for the Louisiana Tech tournament can be found on the volleyball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com. Follow along with all things Warhawk Volleyball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @ULM_VB.
