LAFAYETTE, La. – The App State volleyball team (10-4, 1-2 SBC) fell short to Louisiana (10-3, 2-1 SBC) in four sets (23-25, 17-25, 25-21, 22-25) on Friday.
Louisiana 3, App State 1
Senior
Keionna Mackey led the team with 12 kills and served up two of App State's five aces. Sophomore
Bella Hutchens registered nine kills, while senior
Maya Winterhoff made eight kills on a clip of .533. Fellow senior
Ali Morris matched Winterhoff with eight kills and made nine digs. She also combined with sophomore
Lou Johnson for four of App State's five solo blocks on the night. Redshirt senior
Addison Heidemann dished out 30 assists and helped the Mountaineers to a team hitting percentage of .226, while sophomore
MeMe Davis led the team in the digs category, registering 12. App State recorded 10 blocks to Louisiana's six.
The Mountaineers and Ragin' Cajuns battled through a tight first set, knotting the score on 15 occasions and trading the lead six times. App State met Louisiana at 20-20 with a kill from Johnson, who made five of her seven kills in the first set. Heidemann set Hutchens up for a kill to knot the score at 22-22. The Ragin' Cajuns managed to take the set, 25-23, with a late 3-0 run.
Hutchens opened the second set with a kill. The Mountaineers built off kills from Winterhoff, Johnson, and Hutchens, as well as a solo block from Morris to gain a 10-7 edge. The Ragin' Cajuns leapt to an 18-11 lead after capitalizing on an 11-1 run. Despite the Mountaineers' efforts to narrow the deficit, Louisiana took the set, 25-17.
App State commanded the lead throughout the third set, only allowing one tie at 1-1. Additionally, the Black and Gold recorded a hitting percentage of .276, while holding Louisiana to a hitting percentage of .156 over the course of the set. With kills from Heidemann and Hutchens, as well as a block from the duo of Johnson and Mackey, App State jumped ahead, 5-1, early. The Mountaineers extended the deficit to 18-11 with a 4-0 run that included a kill from junior
Maria Contreras, an ace from Heidemann, and back-to-back kills from Mackey. Winterhoff made a kill, which Davis promptly followed up with an ace to bring App State to set point (24-19). A kill from Mackey secured the set, 25-21, for the Mountaineers after the Ragin' Cajuns held the Black and Gold to a pair of set points.
Over the course of the fourth set, App State and Louisiana tied 10 times and exchanged the lead four times. With a 4-0 run that featured kills from Mackey and a solo block from Johnson, the Mountaineers took a 12-8 lead. The Black and Gold maintained its lead with a kill from Hutchens and back-to-back kills from Morris. Louisiana found momentum late in the set, taking a 20-19 edge. A kill from Hutchens knotted the score at 22 all, but Louisiana went on a 3-0 run to take the set, 25-22, and the match, 3-1.
Looking Ahead
The Mountaineers and Ragin' Cajuns return to the court at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) on Saturday.
