BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team took the first set, but eventually fell, 3-1 (21-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-21) to Florida Atlantic on Sunday afternoon from FAU Arena.
 
LA Tech (6-14, 1-4 C-USA) began the match accomplishing a feat no other team had achieved this season. The Techsters won the first set 25-21, marking the first set at home that Florida Atlantic (13-4, 4-1 C-USA) had dropped all season.
 
In the first, Tech hit its highest mark of the match at .385 (14-4-26), while holding the Owls to their lowest percentage of the contest at .212 (14-7-33). Midway through the frame, the Owls took an 11-10 lead, but shortly later, a resilient Tech squad rattled off a big 3-0 run, staking a 16-13 lead and forcing an FAU timeout. Tech would extend that lead as large as four at 19-15, but the Owls once again responded and cut the deficit to one at 21-20. Needing big plays down the stretch, Tech's Carter Mirich delivered with three kills in Tech's final four points of the frame, putting Tech ahead 1-0 in the match.
 
Owning a 1-0 lead on the road, Tech saw a difficult second set. The Techsters opened up a 4-1 lead in the frame, but the Owls answered with a 7-0 run to take an 8-4 lead. FAU would not trail in the remainder of the set, and held Tech to a .067 hitting percentage in the 25-13 set two win.
 
With the match all square at one, Tech faced another difficult frame, as the team did not lead in the third set, which FAU took 25-18. The hosts notched 14 kills in the third set, while holding Tech to just nine.
 
Now facing a 2-1 match deficit, Tech put together a highly competitive fourth frame. The offense was efficient in the set, hitting .375 (11-2-24), but FAU was even better, hitting .417 (21-6-36) to take a back-and-forth final set, 25-21. The frame was all square at 16 before the Owls staked nine of the final 14 points to claim the victory.
 
Mirich led the Tech offense with 10 kills and 12.0 points on the afternoon. Madeline Davis (nine kills at .333) and Lara Hendricks (eight kills) were two other offensive standouts on the day. Marie-Helene Verlinden contributes six kills while leading the team in attack percentage at .600. Starting libero Alyssa Zucco chipped in a team-high 10 digs.
 
Tech will return home this week before two more road C-USA battles next weekend, taking on North Texas on Friday and Southern Miss on Sunday.