HUNTSVILLE, Texas (August 27, 2011) – Junior middle blocker Alex Jones (Chesapeake, Va.) notched a career-high 18 kills to go with nine block assists, but Rutgers volleyball fell in five sets to Louisiana Tech at Johnson Coliseum on Saturday afternoon at the Sam Houston State Invitational.

The Scarlet Knights (0-3) had three players with double-digit kills – including senior Hannah Curtis (Wasilla, Alaska) (10) and freshman Sofi Cucuz (Crown Point, Ind.) (11) – and hit at a .113 clip as a team for the match. Jones hit at a season-best .381 mark to lead RU.

After dropping the opening set, Rutgers bounced back to win the second stanza , 26-24, with eight service aces, including one from Cucuz to seal the set.

RU continued that momentum in the third with 15 kills, hitting at .237 for the set to take a 2-1 advantage in the match.

However, the Lady Techsters (1-1) responded to take the fourth and fifth sets to win the match.

Defensively, Kallie Pence (College Station, Texas) (21) and Brittany Bozzini (Saratoga, Calif.) (20) each recorded their career highs for digs, racing all over the court to keep the ball alive.

Stephanie Zielinski (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) tallied a match-high 50 assists to bring her total to 116 for the weekend.

Louisiana Tech’s Clara Vido led all players with 21 kills.

The Scarlet Knights will be back in action at 5 p.m. ET to face Texas-Pan American (1-2) to close out the tournament. The match will be streamed on GoBearkats.com for a charge of $8.95 and Sam Houston State will also provide Live Stats on the same website for free.

For more information on the Rutgers volleyball team, please log on to ScarletKnights.com to find up-to-date news, stats and information. Also follow the program on Twitter at Twitter.com/RUvball and Facebook at Facebook.com/RutgersVolleyball.