Southern Miss (15-6, 4-2 C-USA) hosted conference foe Louisiana Tech (10-12, 1-5 C-USA) on Friday, sweeping the Lady Techsters, 3-0.
Friday’s win elevated the Golden Eagles’ win streak to nine consecutive of the series against La. Tech.
In set one, Southern Miss solidified its dominance with an early 9-3 lead, forcing La. Tech to call a timeout.
In the span of the opening point to the six-point lead, the Lady Techsters committed five costly errors. An La. Tech timeout would not do much to kill the Golden Eagles momentum as they produced a 10-5 run. Kylie Grandy’s four kills during this run would be the spark to ignite the flame as Southern Miss never lost its step and went on to win the set, 25-16.
The Golden Eagles would not lose that step as they kept the offensive pressure on the Lady Techsters early in set two. Southern Miss managed to obtain a 6-1 lead, yet again forcing La. Tech to call a timeout.
La. Tech’s timeout would be more efficient this go round as it produced its own run to cut the deficit to only five at 17-12. For La. Tech, errors would be the biggest factor for the Lady Techsters to overcome as it committed eight in set two, three at costly times to loss the set, 25-18.
“La Tech really came on strong in that third set.” said Head Coach Amanda Berkley. “La Tech had a lot of energy in that set, and we had to counter that.”
Set three would a back-and-forth bout as the teams would trade six consecutive points.
The error bug would now bite Southern Miss as the Golden Eagles caused four consecutive errors to give La. Tech a 10-7 lead, the only lead La. Tech saw all night. Southern Miss would not let the errors control their play for the rest of their set, as Stephany Purdue and Grandy would contribute six kills between the both of them to sway the momentum Southern Miss’ way and regain the lead, 21-18.
The story of the day would hit for La. Tech as it committed a costly service error to give Southern Miss game set point. Chanel Joyce finished the job for the Golden Eagles as they completed the sweep, 25-23.
Southern Miss looks to continue its winning ways as it travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn. Friday to face Middle Tennessee. The first game will begin at 7 p.m.
