Southern Miss and Louisiana split a two-match Sun Belt volleyball series in Lafayette, with the Golden Eagles winning the opener in five sets and the Ragin’ Cajuns taking the rematch. Southern Miss is 15-8 overall and 6-6 in conference play; Louisiana is 12-13 and 7-5.
Southern Miss won the first match 3-2, with set scores of 22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 24-26 and 15-9. Louisiana took the second match 3-2, winning 20-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-20 and 12-15.
The opener turned in the fifth set after Louisiana forced the decider by scoring four straight points to win the fourth set, 26-24, despite trailing 24-22. Southern Miss fell behind 3-5 in the fifth, then moved ahead 6-5 on a Morgen Durgens ace. The Golden Eagles closed with a 9-3 run. McAda had three kills during the stretch, and Aubrey Judd scored the final two points.
Judd led Southern Miss with a career-high 18 kills in the opener. McAda recorded her eighth kill of the second set to cap a 25-18 win and helped the Golden Eagles take the third, 25-23, after they scored six straight points while trailing 18-17.
In the rematch, Louisiana won the first two sets before Southern Miss answered with consecutive 25-20 wins to force a fifth. The Golden Eagles could not finish the comeback, as Louisiana won the final set 15-12.
McAda led Southern Miss across the series with 35 kills and 37 digs, recording a double-double in each match. Judd added 36 kills, including a .531 hitting percentage in the rematch. Allie Hazelwood had 103 assists over the two matches and a career-high 18 digs in the opener. Southern Miss recorded 19 blocks, compared with 16 for Louisiana.
Southern Miss was scheduled to host South Alabama on Nov. 6-7 for its final home matches of the season.
