RUSTON, La. -- The Lady Techsters volleyball team held their own but fell to Rice, 3-0, Friday night inside the Thomas Assembly Center in Conference USA action.

LA Tech drops to 6-15 overall and 0-7 in C-USA play, while Rice improves to 10-5 on the year and 5-0 in conference play. Scores of the match in favor of the Owls were, 25-16, 25-18, 25-20.

LA Tech held their own early in set one holding a 4-3 lead, but a 6-0 run by the Owls pushed their advantage out 11-4. A pair of kills by sophomore Faith Menary and a kill by sophomore Morgan Smith cut Rice's lead down to 19-13, but the Owls responded with another 5-0 run and claimed the opening frame 25-16.
 
In set two Rice held an early 8-6 lead, before a trio of kills by senior Jordyn Carswell and sophomore Carly Doros gave the Lady Techsters a 9-8 lead. Rice answered scoring six of the next eight points to take a 14-11 advantage. Following a kill by freshman Jaena Bell that cut the score to 14-12, Rice put together a 5-0 run to extend their lead out to 19-12. A kill and an ace by Menary and a kill by Carswell cut the deficit to 20-15, moment later. After back-to-back points by Rice, the Lady Techsters got kills by Meers and Carswell as well as a solo block by Doros to make the score 22-18, before three straight points by the Owls gave them a 25-18 set win.
 
The third set saw the Lady Techsters race out to a 5-1 lead, featuring a pair of kills by Bell and an ace by sophomore Samantha Hicks. Rice battled back evening the score at 7-7, before back-to-back kills from sophomore Marley Maurer pushed Tech out to a 10-8 lead. Rice answered with a 6-1 surge to take a 14-11 lead to force a Lady Techsters timeout. LA Tech showed some fight of their own tying the score on a 18-18 on a Maurer kill. The Owls would then score seven of the next nine points to claim the match with a 25-20 set win.
 
 
NOTABLES

• Faith Menary lead the Lady Techsters offense with nine kills, while also collecting eight digs.
• Jordyn Carswell added seven kills while hitting a season-high .412.
• Marley Maurer contributed four kills hitting .667 in set three alone.
• Meghan Dunnigan collected 15 digs, the sixth time this season with 10 or more digs.
• Dunnigan's 15 digs were her second most digs in a match this season.
• Laura De Pra dished out 16 assists for the Lady Techsters, while Mallory Meers added 14 assists.
   

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Amber McCray
"Rice is obviously the division leader and a very talented team, but there were several aspects of tonight to be proud of. One of our consistent bright spots all year has been the play of our freshman Libero McKenzie Johnson, but tonight it was Meghan Dunnigan stepping up in her absence to make a number of defensive plays and anchor our serve receive. Both Jordyn Carswell and Marley Maurer also provided a much-needed spark offensively late in the match by taking some aggressive swings and finds ways to score. We missed a number of easy plays tonight that we all wish we could get back, but we believe if we clean those up and keep fighting on the tough ones, we can put ourselves in better positions to compete tomorrow."

UP NEXT
The Lady Techsters returns to the court tomorrow after the second match of the series against Rice at 1 p.m. inside the Thomas Assembly Center.
 
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