SAN ANTONIO — UTSA dropped a 3-1 decision (25-27, 25-21, 20-25, 18-25) to LSU on Friday night in the second match of this weekend's UTSA Classic.
The Roadrunners (3-7) were unable to carry the momentum from Thursday’s home-opening victory against Houston, but three players totaled double figure kills with Dajana Boskovic leading the way with 16. Dempsey Thornton added 14 winners and Marijeta Runjic had 10. Meanwhile, Jessica Waldrip just missed a double-double with 45 assists and nine digs.
UTSA ended up on the downside of a back-and-forth battle in the opening frame. The Tigers (4-4) took a three-point advantage at the 18-15 mark, but a 7-3 run propelled the Roadrunners to a 22-21 lead late in the set. Four more ties ensued before LSU won the opening stanza.
UTSA bounced back prior to intermission despite hitting far less than the Tigers. A kill, ace and ball-handling errors by LSU helped the Roadrunners even the match. Runjic recorded one-third of the Roadrunners’ kills while also picking up half of the team’s errors in the frame. UTSA held its lead throughout the frame and led by as many as six at the 17-11 mark on an ace. A kill by Megan Slan gave the Roadrunners set point while a ball handling error sent the teams into the locker room knotted at a set apiece.
The Roadrunners battled it out again in the third set but ended up dropping a five-point decision. UTSA came within one at the 14-13 mark on a kill by Boskovic, but LSU managed to pull away with a 4-0 run and never looked back. Boskovic tallied five of her kills on the night in the set.
The Tigers outhit the Roadrunners .536-.290 and committed only one defensive miscue in the deciding frame. LSU scored four of five points after the Roadrunners tied the score at 13 and went on to score the fnal five to clinch the match.
UTSA will host Baylor (9-3) at 5 p.m. on Saturday in the final contest of the event.