MONROE, La. — The ULM volleyball team (4-6) defeated Mississippi Valley State (1-7) 3-1 (25-11, 25-19, 24-26, 25-11) on Saturday afternoon. The freshmen led the team to victory, helping ULM remain undefeated at home.
Grace Troxell played both sides of the ball, making nine kills and 17 digs, while Zharia Alleyne hit .556 (6-1-9) for a season-high six kills. Alleyne and Tatum Clay contributed a team-high five blocks each, and Taylor Reid made her Warhawk debut. Reid and Kennedy Scott each notched their first career kills, with Scott adding a block as well.
The first set was all Warhawks, with ULM taking the lead and never surrendering it. ULM outhit Mississippi Valley State 15 kills to five and scored points in large batches. The Warhawks opened the match on a 5-0 run, including two early swings from Aniya Hall. ULM led 15-6 at the break, and sealed the set 25-11 on Tatum Clay's ninth solo block of the season.
The second set was much closer than the first, with eight ties and three lead changes throughout. The Delta Devils took an early 4-0 run to lead 6-3. The Warhawks regrouped after Mississippi Valley went up 11-6 and responded with five consecutive points to lead 15-14 at the media timeout. ULM broke out to a three-point lead after back-to-back kills from Zharia Alleyne and Abby Cunningham, and then a combined block from the two. The Warhawks took the set 25-19, capitalized by a Myla Matavao kill.
ULM carried that momentum into the third set, going up 9-3 on back-to-back aces from Tatum Clay. The set saw freshmen Kennedy Scott make her first career solo block and kill and Taylor Reid make her collegiate debut. Myla Matavao made back-to-back kills to go into the break on top by eight points, but the Delta Devils began to chip away at the deficit. The score was tied at 22, 23 and 24 points, until Mississippi Valley State closed the set 26-24 on a block.
The Warhawks sealed the match in the fourth set, jumping out to a 6-3 lead on Tatum Clay and Kenzie Behl's block. ULM extended the Delta Devil deficit to seven points on Grace Troxell's first ace of the season. Consecutive kills by Zharia Alleyne, Abby Cunningham and Aniya Hall made it 21-10 Warhawks, and Behl claimed ULM's victory with her sixth kill of the match, bringing the score to 25-11.
The match was Abby Cunningham's sixth game of the year in double digit kills with 10. Kenzie Behl had an efficient day at the net, hitting .500 (6-0-12) with no errors, and adding two blocks.
The Warhawks will wrap up the non-conference slate at the Lamar Invitational next weekend, facing Sam Houston and Lamar on Friday (Sept. 18) and North Dakota on Saturday (Sept. 19).
