RUSTON -- The Louisiana Tech volleyball team fell to UTEP 3-1 (25-21, 25-12, 22-25, 25-20) on Friday night in the Thomas Assembly Center. 
 
The Miners took an early lead in the first set with a 6-0 scoring run that the Lady Techsters fought through to keep themselves in the set. Down by six, LA Tech collected a 3-0 scoring run off of two UTEP errors and a kill from Carla Esquer to close the gap. Tied at 14-14, UTEP gained a three-point lead from two bad sets and an attack error to give them the lead they needed to finish the first set on top. Andrea Spasojevic totaled three kills and four digs to start her journey to her eighth double-double of the season. 
 
The Lady Techsters fell behind in the second set after two 4-0 scoring runs from the Miners. LA Tech was not able to recover and fell 25-12. Spasojevic added three more kills along with four digs.
 
Determined to put up a fight, LA Tech began the third set with a 5-0 scoring run off of five UTEP errors to give them an early lead. The Miners did not settle and bounced back with a 9-0 scoring run to give them a five-point advantage midway through. The Lady Techsters slowly started to gain momentum to only trail the Miners by two late in the set. A 4-0 scoring run was exactly what the Lady Techsters needed, and that is what they delivered. Starting with a UTEP error, followed by a kill from Imana Ellis, Esquer, and a service ace from Kalee Cadwell, LA Tech took a two-point lead bringing the score to 22-20. With the set on the line, Ellis and Spasojevic produced back-to-back kills to give the Lady Techsters what they needed to come out on top. 
 
The Lady Techsters trailed throughout the fourth and final set, but not without keeping UTEP on their toes. Only down by one, the Miners produced three kills in a row to give themselves a four-point lead midway through that they were able to hold onto for the remained of the set. LA Tech fought hard to make a come but, but came up short falling 25-20.
 
QUOTABLES 
Head Coach Amber McCray
 
"Tonight was the tale of two different matches. I felt we competed hard and brought great energy in sets 3 and 4 to give ourselves chances. UTEP is a well-coached team with attackers who can beat you in all positions, and while we did a solid job containing their outsides who gave us the most problems last time, tonight we let their right sides take over the match. We also made extremely too many errors and gave up too many plays that should have been advantage Tech, but instead turned into points for UTEP. Overall, there were several encouraging points we can take from tonight knowing that's a good team competing towards the top of our league right now, and we are right there with them in spurts. We will work to find more consistency together as we look to rebound quickly this Sunday at UAB."
 
NOTABLES 
•          Andrea Spasojevic collected her eighth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 15 digs. 
•          McKenzie Johnson added double-digit kills with 17 digs. 
 
UP NEXT 
The Lady Techsters hit the road to Birmingham, Alabama to continue C-USA play against UAB on Sunday, Oct. 16 at the Bartow Arena.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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