RUSTON, La. | The Grambling State University volleyball team broke one streak on Wednesday night, but could not overcome Louisiana Tech, falling in four sets, 3-1, at the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court. 

Grambling State (1-2), which had not won a set against Louisiana Tech since 2009 – a span of 12 straight matches - took the opening frame 25-16. The Lady Techsters (2-2) answered and tied the match at 1 with a 25-13 win in the second set. Louisiana Tech never trailed in the third set and survived a furious GSU rally to claim the 25-22 victory. The Lady Techsters closed out the match in the fourth set with a 25-22 win. 
 

HOW IT HAPPENED 
First Set 

• Grambling State, which never trailed in the set, jumped out to a 4-1 lead after a pair of service aces by Kai Williams 
• A kill from Jayden James extended the Lady Tigers advantage to 10-6, forcing the Lady Techsters to call a timeout 
• Kills by Haley Gomez and Williams, along by a service ace by Ana Calderon, pushed the GSU lead to 14-7 
• The Lady Tigers continued to press Louisiana Tech, taking a 16-10 advantage and forcing another timeout after a kill by Williams  
• Louisiana Tech slowly tried to climb back into the set, closing the gap to 18-13, but a bad set by Chard'e Vanzandt and a block solo by Maggie Plush pushed the advantage to 20-13 
• The Lady Tigers closed out the set off three straight errors by Louisiana Tech, giving GSU its first set victory over the neighboring school since 2009 

Second Set 

• Louisiana Tech raced out to an 8-5 lead and continued to push the margin, extending the advantage to 10-5 before a James kill 
• The Lady Techsters continued to play with intensity, extending the lead to 16-9 
• Grambling State tried to climb back into the set, cutting the margin to 19-12, but Louisiana Tech proved to be too much in the set with a 25-13 win 

Third Set 

• Louisiana Tech opened the set with a 3-1 lead off a service error and attacking error 
• Grambling State trimmed the deficit to 4-2, but back came La. Tech, extending the margin to 7-3 
• The Lady Techsters continued to push the advantage, stretching the lead to 13-5 
• The Lady Tigers continued to battle from behind, using 5-2 run to close the gap to 17-13 and forcing La. Tech to call a timeout 
• Kills by Williams and Adaizah Millett, along with service aces by James, helped bring Grambling State all the way back, tying the set at 18. 
• Back came Louisiana Tech, taking a 22-19 lead after kills by Ashley Taylor  
• The Lady Techsters proved to be too much as GSU could not recover in a 25-22 

Fourth Set 

• After a back-and-forth affair early in the set, the Lady Techsters started to put some distance between themselves and GSU, grabbing a 7-4 advantage 
• Grambling State closed the gap to 9-8 after an attacking error by La. Tech and a kill by Gomez 
• An attacking error by the Lady Techsters tied the set at 13 and the Lady Tigers picked up a 14-13 advantage after an error by Andrea Spasojevic 
• Back came Louisiana Tech with three straight points to grab a 16-14 lead 
• The Lady Tigers remained resilient, tying the set at 17 and forcing La. Tech to call a timeout 
• Louisiana Tech answered with three straight points to grab a 20-17 advantage 
• With La. Tech leading 23-18, Grambling State continued to trim away at the deficit, closing the gap to 23-21 before the Lady Techsters were forced to call a timeout 
• Louisiana Tech closed out the match with kills by Taylor and Spasojevic 
   

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Grambling State finished with 39 kills, hitting .146 in the fourth sets 
• The Lady Tigers added 64 digs, six service aces and five blocks 
• Jayden James paced the offense with 13 kills and nine digs 
• Kai Williams tallied 10 kills and seven digs 
• Ana Calderon chipped in a team-high 18 assists 
• Hillary English registered 14 digs, while Nyah Ellis added 13 
• Louisiana Tech finished with 53 kills and hit .191 in the match 
• The Lady Techsters recorded 75 digs, nine service aces and seven blocks 
• Sydney Jack led Louisiana Tech with 19 kills, hitting .292, along with 17 digs for the double-double 
• Ashley Taylor tallied 11 kills 
• Ashley Jones recorded 41 assists 
• Andrea Spasojevic and McKenzie Johnson each registered 13 digs to pace the defense 
• Meghan Dunnigan chipped in 12 digs 

UP NEXT 
Grambling State continues its road swing with three matches at the University of North Alabama (UNA) Volleyball Classic in Florence, Ala., this weekend. The Lady Tigers will play host North Alabama at noon on Friday, a match streamed live on ESPN+, followed by a 3 p.m. contest against New Orleans. GSU concludes tournament play at 11 a.m. on Saturday against Lamar. 

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