RUSTON, La. – Jax State volleyball fell 3-2 to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Wednesday evening in LA Tech's Thomas Assembly Center.
The Gamecocks (13-14, 7-8) and Bulldogs (9-20, 2-13) split the first four sets forcing a determining fifth set that LA Tech won 15-8 to clinch the match. In the match, Jax State tallied 63 digs, 50 kills, 45 assists, eight blocks, and seven aces.
Kayla Williams continued to be Jax State's main offensive weapon as she totaled 23 kills. The next most kills came from
Sophia Schweikert who added nine, while senior
Sanni Rantanen had eight kills, respectively.
Charlee Solomon was productive as she led the Gamecocks with 37 assists and three service aces. Solomon also had 14 digs, enough for second most on the team.
Luci Wilkinson led Jax State with 18 digs, while
Madison Konopka had 11 digs.
Also defensively,
D'Yanna Spicer led the Red-and-White with five total blocks. Rantanen and
Izzy Whittaker tied for the next highest with three total blocks.
After Louisiana Tech controlled the first set on the way to a 25-14 win, Jax State responded in the second set with a 6-1 run capped by a Solomon kill to go up 20-11. LA Tech made a late push cutting the Gamecocks' second set advantage to 24-18 before a bad set by the Bulldogs ended the set with Jax State winning 25-18 and tying the match at 1-1.
In the third set, Jax State fell behind 18-13, but a 4-0 Gamecock run made it 18-17 LA Tech. A Whittaker kill made it 23-21 Bulldogs late. LA Tech scored back-to-back points to win the set 25-21.
Jax State used a 6-0 scoring run in the fourth set to go up 18-12. Thanks to the run, Jax State outscored LA Tech 6-to-4 to take the fourth 25-17 and tie the match again, this time at 2-2.
The fifth set saw the teams share blows early, but LA Tech eventually used a 10-1 run to win the set and match.
Jax State and LA Tech take the court again Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at LA Tech.
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