Box Score Aug. 29, 2010
Box Score
JONESBORO, Ark. - Louisiana Tech (1-2) got a career-high 16 kills from
Kara Jones and double-doubles from
Kassia Pinto and
Clara Vido, but the Lady Techsters came up short in a hard-fought and emotional 3-2 loss (18-25, 25-22, 25-13, 22-25, 11-15) to Arkansas State in the ASU Invitational at the HPESS Facility Saturday afternoon.
In the first set, both squads would battle back-and-forth knotting the score at six before Tech would string together a series of mini runs behind Jones' four kills to build a 17-12 lead. Trailing by five points, Arkansas State (2-1) was forced to take a timeout to stop the Techster momentum. The time stoppage proved to be effective as ASU battled back and tied the score at 18 before taking the lead off of back-to-back kills by Cayla Fielder. Tech was unable to recover as the Red Wolves would go on a 13-1 run to close out the set, 25-18.
Capitalizing off of a strong finish in the first set, ASU raced out to an 11-9 lead before senior Taylor Fritz overpowered the ASU defense with her first kill of the night, trimming the set lead to one point. Exchanging points over the next few minutes, Tech would eventually go on a 5-0 run to close out the set, 25-22. Tech's hitting efficiency improved significantly from the first set, jumping from .054 to .389.
Enduring a hostile environment, Tech would win the third set in dominating fashion as the Lady Techsters had a hitting efficiency of .328 fueled by Vido's 10th kill of the evening, giving Tech the set point, 25-13.
With all of the momentum seemingly in the Lady Techsters favor, the match would take a drastic turn in the fourth set when Vido would leave the match due to injury. Without their starting outside hitter, Tech would fall behind 18-12 before storming back to knot things up at 18 apiece. Despite the tenacity to fight back, Tech's fourth set rally would come up short as ASU tied the match up with a 25-22 win behind a solid defensive effort, limiting Tech to a .024 hitting efficiency.
Showing a desire to steal a win on the road, Tech's run would fall short as ASU would capitalize upon a home court advantage en route to a 15-11 victory in the fifth set, claiming the match.
The Lady Techsters look to rebound on Friday as they travel to Arlington, Texas to take part in the UT Arlington Tournament.
