JONESBORO, Ark. – The Louisiana Tech volleyball fell 3-2 to North Alabama and 3-0 to host Arkansas State on Friday to open the Arkansas State Invitational inside First National Bank Arena.
LA Tech (0-2) would fall behind by four early in the first set, but the Bulldogs would use a 7-2 run to claim the lead at 11-10. The teams would battle back and forth the rest of the set, with neither team gaining an advantage larger than three. North Alabama (1-0) claimed the final two points for a 25-23 set one win.
The Bulldogs kept things close early in set two, but a 6-0 run by the Lions put the set out of reach. LA Tech would be unable to get any closer and fall behind 2-0.
Grace Luevanos would give the Bulldogs all the momentum to start the third set. Luevanos would start the set with an ace and add three more within the first seven serves. LA Tech would not allow UNA to recover and take the third set.
Set four continued to go the Bulldogs' way. Taking a 10-8 lead halfway through, LA Tech used an 8-2 run to take a commanding lead. A Luevanos kill and
Lauren Albrecht ace would close the set out and tie the match at two-sets apiece.
The final set would be another battle, but UNA's 4-0 run would give them an advantage. A late 3-0 run by the Bulldogs would not be enough as the Lions claimed a 3-2 win (25-23, 25-17, 15-25, 17-25, 15-11). LA Tech was outhit .179-.211, with
Jailen Hurley tallying a career-high 12 kills and
Courtney Carter finishing with 11 in her collegiate debut.
In the final match of the first day of the invitational against host Arkansas State (2-0), the visitors found themselves in another tight match. After the fifth ace of the day by Albrecht gave the Bulldogs a 15-12 lead, the Red Wolves would use a 6-0 run to take the lead. LA Tech would fight back into the set, but the host would get the final two points to take set one.
LA Tech would jump out to an early lead in the second set, but a 7-0 and 6-0 run by Arkansas State would allow them to pull away and claim a 2-0 advantage.
The third set would be another battle, with neither team gaining an advantage of more than three. The Red Wolves would use an 8-3 run to end the match with a 3-0 victory (25-22, 25-15, 25-23).
Hurley led the team with kills in both matches, combining for 21 on the day.
Grace Krohn finished with 27 total assists, and
McKenzie Johnson led the team with 35 digs.
QUOTABLES
Head coach
Amber McCray
MATCH 1
" Though the outcome didn't swing the way we wanted, I am proud of the fight we showed in this match against a veteran UNA team. To go down 0-2 and respond the way we did in sets three and four took a level of maturity well beyond the years of experience we had on the court.
Grace Luevanos came in off the bench in set three to light a fire under our team that was unmatched. Sometimes you have to get to set five to learn how to win set five, and I felt this morning was a great step in the right direction towards showing what this team is capable of."
MATCH 2
"Hats off to Arkansas State for outplaying us in nearly every facet of the game. They are a high-powered, fast offensive team with multiple players who could score, and we did not do the little things we needed to do defensively to counter that. The silver lining is that even with an offense that struggled significantly all night, we were still in position to compete if we take away even just one of their runs in set one and three. Now we will look to make the changes we can right now, bounce back and put ourselves in the best position to compete against Little Rock."
NOTABLES
- Luevanos and Albrecht finished with five aces each. The last time a pair of teammates each finished with five aces was against the University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff on Sept. 3, 2013, when Jessie Ely finished with six and Alejandra Aviles finished with five.
- LA Tech finished with 16 aces as a team, the most since the Bulldogs recorded 20 against UNO on Sept. 7, 2013.
- Johnson finished with 20 digs against North Alabama, the 16th time in her career she recorder 20 or more digs in a match.
- Luevanos set a career high with nine kills and five aces against North Alabama.
- Albrecht finished with a double-double in her first action as a Bulldog.
UP NEXT
LA Tech closes out the opening tournament against Little Rock on Saturday, Aug. 26. First serve is scheduled for noon CT.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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