FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team fell to conference-leading Lawrence Technological University, 3-1, (26-24, 19-25, 16-25, 20-25), on Saturday afternoon in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) play in the Schaefer Center.
Jordan Aylward finished with a match-high 12 kills while
Emma Westra and
Allison Cole each had seven.
Genna Karbowski had 18 assists while
Madison Park had a double-double of 14 assists and 11 digs.
Havilyn Cummings, Cole and Aylward all had four blocks while
Madeline MacDonald had 31 digs.
The first set was all Blue Devils early as they raced out to a 5-0 lead and built a 16-10 advantage. Finding themselves trailing 20-11, the Warriors dug deep and rattled off eight consecutive points to pull within one. The visitors responded with three straight points to get on the verge of set point, but the hosts got their first with a 4-0 run to make it a 24-23 game. The two teams traded points before a LTU error gave the Orange and Black the 26-24 victory to take a 1-0 lead.
Set two would be another hard-hitting contest with Lawrence Tech going up 12-7 early, but saw the Warriors battle back to make it a two-point set at 14-12 and 16-14. That would be as close as the Warriors would get though, as the Blue Devils used a 9-4 spurt to take the set 25-19 and knot the match up at 1-1.
LTU got off to another fast start in set three, this time beginning the game with a 7-2 run and adding a 5-0 spurt to extend their advantage to 13-7. The Blue Devils cruised the rest of the way as they took a 2-1 lead with the 25-16 victory.
The Warriors would get out to the early lead in the fourth set by using a 12-8 run, with Alyward and Cole both collecting three kills and Westra adding two of her own. A 7-0 spurt that was a part of an 11-1 run from the visitors appeared to put the set out of reach with a 21-14 lead for the Blue Devils, but Tech would not go away lightly. A 6-1 run put them back in the game at 22-20, but LTU won the next three points to take the set 25-20 and earn the 3-1 match win.
Tech (14-6, 6-4 WHAC) returns to action on Friday, October 11 with the start of the 2019 Liz Lykowksi Memorial Tournament inside the Schaefer Center. The Warriors open tournament action against Thomas More University at 2 p.m. Friday while they will take on Goshen College in the "Liz" game at 6 p.m.
