RUSTON – Louisiana Tech fell to 1-7 in Conference USA play following a 3-0 loss to Middle Tennessee inside Thomas Assembly Center on Saturday afternoon.
Middle Tennessee (15-6, 7-3) came out on fire and jumped to a quick 7-0 lead. LA Tech (6-14, 1-7) was able to put together a 4-2 run to pull within 13-7. The Blue Raiders finished out the first set on a 13-5 run and finished the set with a .321 hitting clip.
The Bulldog defense couldn't find the answer to slow down the Blue Raider attack in the second set. MTSU continued to hit a high mark at .370. Tech scored on two straight rallies on two separate occasions to cut the deficit to 12-8, forcing MTSU to call a timeout. The Bulldogs had their longest run with three straight highlighted by two kills by Grace Luevanos to pull within three at 15-12. MTSU closed the set on a 7-3 run to take the 2-0 advantage.
LA Tech fought hard in the third frame and locked the score at five apiece. MTSU had back-to-back aces to cap off a four-point run to take the lead for good. The Bulldogs closed the gap to three at 9-6 and 11-8 before the Blue Raiders scored five of the next six. MTSU finished the set for a 3-0 decision (25-12, 25-16, 25-15).
QUOTABLES
Head coach
Amber McCray
"MTSU is a great team that we unfortunately did nothing to stop. They outplayed us in every facet of the game, and we failed to fight back today.
Grace Luevanos had a solid weekend for us leading us offensively both days, but we can't keep relying on one person to carry the load. It's mid-October, but we are still looking for a complete game from all of our players and searching for consistency from any of them match to match. Next week is another opportunity to find it."
NOTABLES
- Luevanos tied a career-high with nine kills and finished the series with 14 kills on a .289 hitting percentage.
- Lauren Albrecht finished with 10 assists and now sits at 988 for her career. She has 16 games with 10+ assists on the season.
- The Bulldogs finished with no aces for the first time this season.
- Ashley Taylor finished with three blocks, giving her 76 total blocks on the season.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs travel to El Paso, Texas, on Oct. 20-21 for a two-game series against UTEP. The first match is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on Friday, with the second game starting at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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