HAMMOND, La. – First-year head coach Reid Gann picked up his first Warhawk win as ULM volleyball ended day one of the Southern Showdown with a two-game split. It dropped the first match vs. the host Southeastern Louisiana before rebounding later in the day with a win vs. Jackson State.
 
"I liked our resilience today after a tough loss to a very solid Southeastern [Louisiana] team," Gann said. "The way we bounced back and took care of business against Jackson State was very encouraging."
 
In set one of the first match, the Lions (1-0) set the tone with a 4-0 run to start before two straight points from the Warhawks (1-1) cut the lead in half. Five consecutive points from SLU set the gap to a wide margin. With the score at 11-5, the Lions used another unanswered run to pull away with a 14-point gap. ULM never got within 12 points the rest of the way and faced the second set down 1-0.
 
The Warhawks started the set differently than the first, racing out to 4-1 and 6-4 leads, with freshmen Aniya Hall and Madison Derden producing half of the starting points. With both teams tied at 8-8, Southeastern Louisiana built a 5-1 run to take the lead. ULM responded with a 5-1 run, supported with kills by Hall and Amelia Piekut and a service ace by Morgan Howard. However, the Lions effectively put the set away with a monstrous 9-1 run, taking a 2-0 set lead.
 
ULM used its formula from set two and fired out the gate with a 9-4 start. SLU slowly climbed back into the set, scoring two points for the Warhawks' one. Finally, with a 14-12 ULM lead, the Lions pounced with eight unanswered points. A final four straight points from SLU sealed the set and the match.
 
It wasn't the best match for ULM in terms of hitting percentage, with a combined .020 percentage paired with 23 attack errors. Hall led the way in kills with eight, as Camryn Kimes totaled 17 digs on the match.
 
In the second match, with the set at 4-4, Derden struck for two kills as ULM took a 10-6 lead. With the Warhawks leading 14-12, they caught on fire, scoring seven on the next nine points, led by a pair of kills from freshman Chavon Weaver. Leading 21-17 and needing four points to win the set, kills from Derden, Kenzie Behl, and a final effort from Hall secured the 1-0 advantage for the Warhawks.
 
The Tigers had a strong start in set two, holding an 8-5 and then a 10-7 lead early. However, ULM arrived fully with a 7-0 scoring run, helped by five JSU attack errors and a bad set. With the score at 17-14, kills from Derden and Piekut and an ace from Behl gave ULM a commanding 21-15 lead late. The Tigers brought the score to 24-21 late, but Hall ended things with a kill again, giving the Warhawks a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third set featured no hot starts from either team, as an 18-18 tie was the result late, with Hall and Derden contributing six and three kills respectively for ULM. The Warhawks used a 5-1 run to bring the score near match point. A final attack error from the Tigers ended the match and gave ULM its first win of 2025.
 
The Warhawks saw improvement in their attacking game, landing 41 kills on 94 attacks with 17 errors, resulting in a .255 hitting percentage. Hall and Derden featured the first double-digit kills leaders of the season with 15 and 10 kills, respectively, in the match.
 
ULM ends the weekend tomorrow morning with an 11:00 a.m. first serve time vs. Louisiana Tech.