RUSTON, La. -- The Louisiana Tech volleyball team took the West Division leader Rice to four-sets Saturday afternoon in C-USA play inside the Thomas Assembly Center.

LA Tech falls to 6-16 overall and 0-8 in C-USA play, while Rice improves to 11-5 on the year and 6-0 in conference play with the win. Scores of the match in favor of the Owls were, 25-11, 25-16, 21-25, 25-15.

Set one saw Rice surge out to an 11-2 lead with a 9-0 run, before a kill by sophomore Morgan Smith ended the run. The Owls extended that lead to 21-8, before Smith and Sophomore Faith Menary sent balls to the floor, cutting the lead down to 22-11. Rice would then get three straight kills taking the opening frame 25-11.
 
The Lady Techsters opened the second stanza with an ace by Menary and a kill by sophomore Carly Doros to grab an early 3-0 lead. With the score knotted at 7-7, LA Tech got kills by sophomore's Mallory Meers and Ainsley Yanz as well as a double-block by Smith and freshman Jaena Bell to take a 10-7 advantage. Momentum changed as Rice put together a 10-1 run giving the Owls an 19-12 advantage. After a kill by Smith made the score 21-15, Rice scored four of the final five points to claim the second set 25-16.
 
Rice got out to an early 8-4 lead in set three, but a kill by sophomore Jordyn Carswell cut the deficit down to one at 8-7. With the Owls holding a 13-10 advantage midway through the set, the Lady Techsters used a kill by Carswell and back-to-back ace serves by Meers to even the score at 13-13. The two teams traded point the rest of the way until Tech was able to score six of the last eight points, featuring kills by Smith, Carswell and sophomore Mackenzie Murray as well as a pair of blocks by Smith and Bell for a 25-21 set win.
 
Rice responded surging out to an 6-2 early lead and extended it out to 18-10 midway through the fourth set. The Lady Techsters were able to close to within seven at 18-11 on a Carswell kill. But, the Owls closed the match strong claiming the fourth frame 25-15 and the match 3-1.
 
NOTABLES

• Jordyn Carswell collected her fifth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs today.
• Faith Menary added nine kills and six digs while hitting .276 on the day.
• Morgan Smith played above the net, collecting five total blocks for the third time this season.
• Jaena Bell tied her season-high with four block assists.
• Meghan Dunnigan led the Lady Techsters back-row with 11 digs, her seventh time this season with 10 or more digs.
• 11-of-th-12 Lady Techsters that played today recorded at least one kill.
   

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Amber McCray
"Today's bright spot was watching Jordyn Carswell continue to stay aggressive and complete a solid weekend of showing senior leadership. As has been the case all year, we play well in spurts. But, spurts are simply not good enough to win matches in C-USA and especially not in our West Division. We are going to use this bye week to regroup and find ways to control the controllables for our last six matches of the year, beginning with our energy, talk and effort."

UP NEXT
The Lady Techsters hit the road for a mid-week match at Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday, Oct. 19 in Itta Bena, Miss.  
 
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