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By MATT DEARMAN mwd004@latech.edu Tech’s volleyball team returned to Ruston on Oct. 16
after a two-match road trip to California, where they defeated Fresno State in
five games on Oct. 15 to bounce back from a three-game sweep by San Jose State
two days earlier. “It’s good to be back in Ruston,” head coach Heather
Mazeitis said. “We’ve been on a long road trip, we need some home
matches.” Following the match with Fresno State, the Lady Techsters
improved to 15-8 on the year, 2-5 in the Western Athletic Conference, while the
Lady Bulldogs fell to 3-14, 1-6 in the WAC. The Techsters started the night off strong, taking
control of the match early with a solid performance in the opening game
recording 16 kills with just four errors on their way to a 30-26 victory. Fresno State answered back,
however, as the Lady Bulldogs took an early lead in game two and held on to tie
the match with a 30-24 score. The momentum from game two carried over into the third
for Tech was able to bounce back from there, as they recorded
19 kills off of just four errors to even the match with a 30-23 game four
victory. In the final game of the night, Fresno pulled ahead
quickly and appeared to have the match won with a 14-9 advantage, but the
Techsters rallied back with a series of blocks from Carly Johnson to pull even
the score at 14. Tech and Fresno then battled for the next few services,
with the lead changing hands five times before Tech finally clinched the game
and the match with a 30-18 score off of an ace serve from Anielle Da Silva. “You can never count these girls out,” Mazeitis said. “It’s been a big
plus with our team this year, they never quit.” Leading Tech offensively in the match was junior Ambra
Hayes with 20 kills, followed by sophomore Shannon Phillips with 13, Da Silva
with 11 and Stacey Clark with 10. Megan Haas headed the Techster defense with 21 digs, with
Da Silva and Clark adding 13 each. Johnson also contributed to the defensive effort with six
attack blocks. Prior to the match with Fresno, Tech met with conference
foe San Jose State Oct. 13 (8-9, 3-2 WAC) in a three game losing effort for the
Techsters. The Spartans came out hot against the Lady Techsters,
tallying 52 kills on their way to a sweep with scores of 30-26, 30-24 and
30-24. “San Jose didn’t make many mistakes,” Mazeitis said,
“They didn’t allow many opportunities for us to close the gap. We came out flat
against them, and they took advantage of it.” Hayes anchored the Tech offense against the Spartans with
17 kills followed by Da Silva with 14. Haas and Brittany Nakamura led the
Techster defense with 10 kills and seven kills, respectively. Before going to California, Tech traveled to
Natchitoches, La., to face off with in-state rival Northwestern State (5-10),
where the Techsters emerged victorious in five games. Northwestern State took the reigns of the match early,
claiming the opening game with a score of 30-25 before Tech answered back with
a 30-27 victory in game two to tie the match at one game a piece. In the third game of the afternoon, the Demons put
together a 12 point rally to best Tech 30-20 and go ahead 2 games to one. Tech responded well in the fourth game, effectively
slowing down the Demon offense and tying the match with a 30-21 win before
claiming the victory on the day with a 15-10 win in the fifth. “[Northwestern] is always tough to play,” Mazeitis said
of the match. “It always seems to go five games. It was a fun match; everyone
was getting fired up.” The Techster offense was again led by Hayes, who recorded
27 kills on the day, with Da Silva contributing 23 kills to the effort. Defensively, Haas racked up 20 digs, followed by Hayes and
Da Silva with 17 each. Sophomore Maria Romanowski also recorded 66 assists in
the match. Tech will return to action tonight, as they play host to
Boise State at 7 p.m. in the Thomas Assembly Center, and then again on Oct. 22
when they face Idaho. |
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