Final Stats

RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech (8-8, 0-2 C-USA) opened Conference USA-play on Friday night at the Thomas Assembly Center, falling in straight sets (25-13, 25-14, 25-19) to reigning conference champion WKU (15-2, 3-0 C-USA).

Angela Papach single handedly led the Louisiana Tech attack, registering a game-high 12 kills in the contest, to go along with a .286 attacking percentage. Defensively, the Lady Techsters were led by Lala Aviles who recorded 13 digs in the game, inching ever closer to the school record of 1,477 digs in a career. With the 13 digs, Aviles is now up to 1,460 and the senior will have an opportunity to break the school record in Sunday's match against North Texas.

The Lady Toppers had two players record double-digit kills as Rachel Anderson recorded 11 kills, followed by Amara Listenbee's 10 kills. Georgia O'Connel led the way defensively with a game-high 16 digs. As a team, WKU had eight blocks, while the Lady Techsters managed just four.

After dropping the first two sets, LA Tech played the powerful WKU team closely in the final set. After holding an early 5-4 lead, WKU used a 6-0 run to pull ahead 10-5. LA Tech got as close as being down 20-16 but did not have enough firepower to pull off the set victory.

Louisiana Tech will be back in action on Sunday afternoon, hosting North Texas at 1 p.m. Admission to the contest is free and the game will be streamed live on CUSA.TV. Fans can follow @LATechVB on Twitter for updates throughout the contest.