The Louisiana Tech Men's Volleyball B-Team is taking a new stride as they continue to produce more wins than ever. They began their new journey back in October, facing ULL and UNO at home along with several wins at LSU and the SIVA Kickoff Tournament. The team finished their pre-season run with a record of seven wins and six losses. The SIVA Kickoff Tournament gave the program the best outlook at what is to come during regular season. The team finished 5th overall in the Club Diviosional Gold Bracket, fighting off Texas State (B) in a true nail bighter of a final match.
To begin the regular season, the B-Team hit the road to Denton, Texas to play in the first Conference Tournament of the year hosted by the University of North Texas. The morning started against Texas A&M-Kingsville and Trinity University. A win against TAMU-Kingsville and loss against Trinity University progressed the team forward into a challange game against Oklahoma Baptist Universtiy. B-Team prevailed with their best win of the day, pulling out their highest hitting efficiency and strongest defense.
Bracket play continued on afterwards against Parker University. A tough loss against a skilled team left something more to be desired in their final game against none other than Texas State (B). A highly anticipated rematch proved to be just as expected - a game that came down to the wire. With Texas State taking the first set 23-25, Louisiana Tech fought in extra points to win the second set 26-24.
It all came down to the deciding set, with an opening run for the Bulldogs of 7-1. However, an medical timeout was taken for the Dogs' libero, Braden. Ending his day with a leg injury, Stephen Kershaw stepped rose to the challenge, switching from being an outside hitter to libero. A slow adjustment to new team dynamics put the Dogs behind for a possible match point for Texas State with a score of 14-16. However, after a quick timeout, B-Team found a new energy and rallied back. The now leading Bulldogs faced their own match point at 17-16. With Senior setter, Joe Shockley, at the service line, the Dogs took into defense. After producing a program high hitting percentage of .700 (15 kills, 1 error, 20 attempts), David Moore decided to end the match with a solo block out of the middle, giving the Dogs the win with a final score of 18-16 and a 5th place overall finish.
The Bulldogs are off to great start, and they look to continue their success in the next tournament at the SIVA Crossover Tournament in Grand Prairie, Texas. You can watch all games live for both teams on their YouTube page (@LATechMVB).
