Sept. 30, 2009

RUSTON - The number four ranked volleyball team in the country will be coming to Ruston, La. Thursday night as the Louisiana Tech volleyball team gets set to take on the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine (11-2) in the Thomas Assembly Center at 7:00 p.m.

The Lady Techsters (11-7) went 2-1 last week, defeating a McNeese State team that was 12-1 at the time and coming off wins over SMU and Alabama. Tech also topped Utah State (25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 20-25, 15-6) before falling in four sets to New Mexico State (25-19, 22-25, 14-25, 21-25). The win over Utah State was Tech's first WAC victory since Sept. 29, 2007 (26 matches), and its first-ever win in a WAC opener.

Hawaii opened up Conference play last week with a pair of sweeps over Boise State and Idaho. Hawai'i has now won seven straight matches and 21 consecutive sets this season.

The Techsters are led this season in kills by sophomore outside hitter Nataliya Panova who has totaled 143 kills on the season. Junior libero Lori Hunsucker leads the team in digs with 248 which is good enough for tops in the conference in total digs. Fellow junior Kara Jones leads Tech in blocks on the season with 71 total blocks and Jones' 18 solo blocks is number one in the conference.

After facing No. 4 Hawaii Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. the Techsters will stay at home through the weekend and will continue WAC play when they battle Nevada Saturday afternoon in the Thomas Assembly Center at 2:00 p.m.