LA Tech volleyball program battles through uncertain fall

RUSTON, La – This Saturday will mark 343 days since Louisiana Tech’s volleyball team took the court against another opponent.

As the 2019 season came to a close in Hattiesburg against Southern Miss, the strange, unconventional 2020-21 season will get its start in the same spot that head coach Amber McCray concluded her first season with the program.

The Lady Techsters have had not one, but two start dates changed this season. The original season opener was against Northwestern State on Sept. 1. However, on Aug. 21, the Conference USA decided to move volleyball and soccer to the spring.

While the decision moved the volleyball season to the spring, the C-USA allowed its member schools to play a few fall matches. The Lady Techsters scheduled three matches for the fall with the season opener set for Oct. 15 at SFA. After Oct. 15’s matchup in Nacogdoches, Texas, was also canceled, the Techsters finally found their start date of Oct. 24.

“We as a team, we’re really excited,” senior Emily Boylan said. “We had to go home early because of COVID, and now we have a whole group of newcomers that we get to work with.

“Just dealing with all these changes shows our resiliency. I love the fight that I’ve been seeing from this program.”

Similar to the 2020-21 season, the transition for Tech’s nine newcomers has also been atypical. Instead of arriving in late July and meeting new members of the program for the first time right before the season’s start, LA Tech’s returning student-athletes got to connect with the nine newcomers over Zoom before their arrival in Ruston.

“Being able to form the relationships over Zoom was good,” Boylan said. “Just being able to see their faces and getting to know people before they even came here was helpful.”

One newcomer, redshirt freshman Mallory Meers, joins LA Tech after spending the 2019 season at Cal Baptist. The Lee’s Summit, Missouri native redshirted at Cal Baptist, sitting out her first season of college.

Meers transferred to Tech and began practicing with the team in early March. Unfortunately, she only practiced twice with her new teammates before offseason practices were canceled.

“It was more disappointing than anything because after I decided to transfer, I was sitting out for a while, so I was ready to get back in the groove of practicing,” Meers said. “It’s made me ready for this season and hungrier to get better.”

After playing in their first intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday, the Lady Techsters will get their first look against two conference opponents this weekend. Not only will it be Meers’ first chance to play in a collegiate match, but it will also be her first competitive match since nationals during her senior year of high school.

Overall, whether it’s the start of a Lady Techster’s career or their final season in Ruston, the team is prepared to translate their bond formed in practice to the live stage.

“Playing against somebody who’s not our own teammates is going to be big for us,” Boylan said. “Getting to show the work we’ve put in over the past few months is exciting.”

LA Tech will take on Southern Miss and UAB this Saturday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The first match against the Golden Eagles is set for 11 a.m. Match two against UAB is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Both matches will stream live for free on CUSA.tv.