Houston, Texas -- The Louisiana Tech volleyball team fell, 3-1, to Houston Baptist Saturday afternoon at the Marriott Westchase Invitational.  
 
Scores of the match in favor of Houston Baptist were 21-25, 25-15, 25-8 and 25-12. The loss drops LA Tech to 3-3 on the year, while Houston Baptist improves to 4-2 overall.
 
With the score knotted at 6-6, LA Tech used a surge on sophomore Mallory Meers serving to jump out to an early 10-6 lead. The Lady Techster pushed their lead out to 15-10 on a pair of kills by sophomore Mackenzie Murray and an ace by freshman libero McKenzie Johnson. Houston Baptist would claw back and even the score at 16-all before a double-block by sophomores Morgan Smith and Murray sparked a 3-0 run to force HBU into a timeout. The Lady Techsters closed the first set with kills by Murray, Smith and senior Jordyn Carswell to take a 1-0 match lead.
 
Houston Baptist controlled sets two and three, with 25-15 and 25-8 set win. The Huskies collected 24 kills over the two sets to take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
Both teams traded points to start the fourth set, before a 6-0 by Houston Baptist pushed the Huskies out in front 12-6. The Lady Techsters would close to within four at 12-8 but would not get any closer. Houston Baptist would close the match with a 13-4 run to claim the victory.
 
NOTABLES

• McKenzie Johnson led the Lady Techsters with 14 digs.
• Murray lead the offense collecting seven kills
• Carly Doros recorded 3 total blocks for LA Tech
• The Lady Techsters served up five aces as a team.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Amber McCray
"This is a tough loss because I feel we came out doing a great job following the game plan and the moment they responded, we stopped. HBU is a good, well-rounded team. They served exceptionally well to get us out of system and then capitalized with their blocking. Though we are playing short handed right now with a number of key injuries and various people out, we have to find a way to stay keyed in playing smart and hard with what we have because then good things can still happen."
 
UP NEXT
LA Tech wraps up the weekend later this after when the Lady Techsters take on Lamar at 4:30 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For all the latest in LA Tech Volleyball, follow them on Twitter (@LATechVB), Instagram (@latechvb) and Facebook (LATechVolleyball).