Southern Miss Volleyball ended its four-game losing streak by sweeping its second home invitational of the year.
The Golden Eagles moved to 6-0 at home after the weekend and 7-5 overall on the season after beating Eastern Kentucky University, Lamar University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“It’s really fun to perform in front of our home crowd. I’m really excited about the production, it’s impressive,” Head Coach Radecki said.
For the Golden Eagles first match, they cruised past Eastern Kentucky early, sweeping the Colonels three sets to zero. The Golden Eagles would took the sets 25-19,25-22, and 25-20.
Sophomore Mia Wesley led the team with 11 kills and six blocks from Duquesne Moratzka, the most in a game this tournament. Cara Atkinson would be the most proficient hitter of the day with a .545 hitting percentage.
In the second match of the day a little after 7pm, the Golden Eagles again swept its opponent Lamar three sets to none. Southern Miss won the sets 25-16, 25-17, 25-15.
Lauren Talbert dominated throughout the game, especially in the second set. She finished the game with nine kills, six digs, one block and ace each and two assists.
“From switching back and forth from a defensive role to outside six rotation role, she [Lauren] has handled it well,” Radecki said. “I was really proud of her to come out and hit as well as she did.”
On the defensive side, Wesley and Lindsey Legg led the Golden Eagles with 11 digs in the match. Atkinson led in blocks for Southern Miss with four.
The Golden Eagles defensive stops held Lamar to a .194 hitting percentage. On the attack, Moratzka led the way with 13 kills.
“The whole team played great today, and we were connecting on all cylinders,” Kinsley Hanback said. “We’ve been talking about efficiency since last week and we were that today, and it was a lot of fun to play.”
Hanback’s play earned her tournament MVP after recording 29 kills on a .580 hitting percentage.
On Saturday, Southern Miss started slow to wrap up the invitational. The Golden Eagles dropped the first set 25-19 as Chattanooga’s Gylian Finch started the set with two aces and the Mockingbirds never looked back.
The Golden Eagles took the next set 25-16 after a thumping kill by Wesley. Southern Miss rallied off nine straight points in the set to win it easily.
The Golden Eagles then found its groove, rolling off the next two sets. Southern took set three 25-17, and to wrap up taking set four 25-13.
Southern Miss’s setter, Kenzie Smith finished with 51 assists on 18 digs and three blocks. Moratzka lead the attack with 14 kills and 2 aces and Mia Wesley, who closed out the match, had 13 kills and one ace.
After a home match on Tuesday, Southern Miss travels to Birmingham, Alabama to start conference play versus UAB.
