MIAMI – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team played a competitive third set, but was unable to crawl back from a 2-0 match deficit, and fell by a score of 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-22) to the host FIU Panthers on Friday evening from the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
 
LA Tech (6-13, 1-3 C-USA), playing in its first Conference USA road match of the season, was narrowly outhit by the Panthers (11-6, 4-1 C-USA), .194-.184, but notched just 31 kills on the evening, while FIU struck for 49 as a team.
 
The Lady Techsters saw solid defensive efforts, as the team out-blocked the Panthers 8.0 to 4.0 on the evening, led by three total blocks each for both Madeline Davis and Lara Hendricks.
 
Offensively, Davis did most of the heavy lifting for Tech in the match, as she led the team with nine kills, while hitting an incredibly efficient .438 from the field. Davis' season hitting percentage of .333 continues to lead the team, while ranking among the upper echelon of C-USA leaders.
 
Junior Morgan Currie led Tech with 12 digs and added a service ace, while Kaitlyn Adams chipped in seven kills.
 
The first set saw the first few points distributed evenly between both sides, before FIU staked an 11-6 lead – the largest in the set. Trailing 12-7, Tech rattled off five consecutive points with Marie-Helene Verlinden behind the service line, knotting the set up at 12 all. Neither team led by more than two until a 3-0 Panther burst forced Tech into its second timeout, trailing 20-15.
 
However, a resilient Tech squad pushed back, and facing set point at 24-22, took two straight to even the frame up at 24. A pair of ensuing FIU kills would ultimately end the hard-fought first set, 26-24.
 
In the second, Tech came out firing on all cylinders, staking a quick 5-2 lead behind a pair of kills from Adams. Tech would extend its lead as large as four at 7-3 before a seemingly instant 4-0 Panther run had both teams back even at seven all. Neither side could extend the lead past a point for the next several minutes, but a mini 3-0 FIU run forced a Tech timeout with the home team up 14-11. The Techsters would not get within three points the rest of the set as FIU staked a 25-20 win in set two. The Panthers notched 20 kills in the set as opposed to Tech's nine.
 
In the third, freshman Jordyn Carswell entered the match for the Lady Techsters and gave an immediate boost, notching two kills in the first eight points, giving Tech a 5-3 lead. FIU responded to tie the set at five, and then took a 6-5 lead, but could not extend its lead larger than that through the middle portion of the frame. As both teams struggled to take a commanding lead, Tech finally broke through late, taking an 18-16 edge and forcing the home team into a timeout.
 
Tech maintained its lead at 19-17, before a quick 2-0 FIU run tied things up at 19. An attack error from Hendricks gave the Panthers a 21-20 lead, and then the team took four of the final five points to secure the match triumph.
 
Tech will close out its weekend road trip at Florida Atlantic on Sunday. First serve is set for 11 a.m. CT.