RUSTON – The Louisiana Tech volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker, 4-1, to Sam Houston Tuesday night inside the Thomas Assembly Center.
 
After two LA Tech (6-12, 0-5) errors to open the match, Sam Houston (8-8, 3-2) pushed their lead to 5-0 and forced the Bulldogs to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Jailen Hurley and Charlize Williams started to push Tech in the right direction. Points from the pair bookended a 7-2 run.
 
The Bearkats would use a three and four-point run to hold an 18-12 lead. A pair of sharp hit balls by Giulia Bonifacio would cut the lead down to three. The Bulldogs would cut the lead down to one on three occasions before finally giving up the set point.
 
The defenses did their part in the second set. Combined, the two teams had 17 kills and 17 errors. Tech's defense forced Sam Houston into nine errors, including two blocked balls, to jump out to an eight-point lead. After the media timeout, the Bulldogs committed four errors to help the Bearkats pull within one. The teams traded points until the visitors took a two-set lead with the final three points.
 
Tech's offense finally came alive in the third, hitting .295 with only two errors. The Bulldogs had five with multiple kills. Charlize Williams led the way with four, followed by Hurley and Carla Esquer with three, and Rori Gray and Megan Cooley had two apiece. LA Tech would take the set on a block from Esquer and Williams.
 
The final set was another close battle with 14 ties and six lead changes. LA Tech would again have five players with multiple kills. Hurley, Esquer, and Gray led the way with three, while Williams and Grace Luevanos added two. That would have Tech knocking on the door to force a decisive fifth set, but Sam Houston would take the final five points.
 
Hurley led the Bulldogs with 12 kills on a .357 hitting clip. Williams hit .286 with eight kills and seven blocks. Esquer finished with nine kills, and Gray had eight. Lauren Albrecht had her first double-double of the year with 27 assists and 10 digs.
 
Lylah Washington and Alyssa Fielder had double-doubles to lead Sam Houston. Washington finished with 12 kills and 17 digs, while Fielder had 12 and 11.
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Amber McCray
 
"Shout out and thank you to our crowd for being incredible all night.  It's extremely disappointing we did not feed off their energy to take control of the match early like we could and should have. Hats off to Sam Houston for coming in with a game plan and executing it effectively from the start. Single missed opportunities early and through the middle of sets continue to bite us at the end, so we need to find a way to capitalize on those. Tomorrow we will make the adjustments needed to slow down their outsides and serve more aggressively to again contain their other attackers. We know we were right there and that we are capable of playing a complete match so we can come out with a win tomorrow night."
 
NOTABLES

• Charlize Williams had 6 or more blocks for the fourth time this season and surpassed 250 blocks in her career.
• Meghan Scharpenberg reached 100 career aces.
• The 84 digs were the most by the Bulldogs since they had 101 against Lamar on September 9, 2023.
• The double-double was the seventh for Lauren Albrecht at LA Tech.
• Tech dropped to 6-11 all-time against Sam Houston.

 
UP NEXT
The series concludes on Wednesday with the Bulldogs and Bearkats facing off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
 
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