Sept. 8, 2006

Box Score

DENVER, Colo. - Karry Griffin had ten kills and Lawrencia Brown added 19 with 11 digs for her second double-double of the year, as Texas State had its comeback effort fall short in a 3-1 loss to No. 3 UCLA in the Pioneer Classic in Denver, Colo.

Texas State (3-5) opened an early game one lead and won in game three, but UCLA (7-0) stayed unbeaten on the year despite surrendering its second game to opposition in the 2006 season. The Bruins have provided sweeps over all of their opponents except for Cincinnati and Texas State this season.

The Bobcats had an early 5-3 lead over the Bruins in game one, but UCLA fired back with two points to tie the game at 5-5. The teams played to a 10-10 tie before the Bruins went on a 12-7 clip to go up 22-17, and the Bruins scored eight of the final 15 points in the game to take a 1-0 match lead.

Game two again began on a close note, with Texas State taking a 6-4 advantage. Later in the game, Brown broke a 9-9 tie with a kill to put Texas State up 10-9, and the Bobcats continued to rally by taking a 17-14 lead late in the game.

UCLA went on the offensive, tying the game at 17-17 before a pair of Bobcat scores re-established Texas State's lead at 19-17. Texas State led by as many as three, going up 27-24 and the Bobcats' latest lead came at 29-28, but UCLA notched the final three points to win 31-29 for a 2-0 match lead.

The Bobcats opened game three on another hot streak, taking a 10-7 lead that parlayed into a 14-11 advantage on a kill by Griffin. UCLA came back, tying the game at 17-17 and taking an 18-17 lead, but Texas State scored six of the next ten to go up 24-21 with six points from a game-three win.

UCLA tied the game at 27-27 on a 6-3 scoring run, but Texas State scored on three of the final four serves to win the game 30-28 and pull within one in the match at 2-1.

The Bobcat comeback effort would fall short, however, as UCLA downed the Bobcats 30-17 in the final game, taking a double-digit lead at 23-13 and getting half of the final 14 points in the match on the way to the 3-1 match victory.

Brown led Texas State with 19 kills and Griffin followed with ten, and Brown also led the Bobcat defensive charge, posting 11 digs for her second double-double of the season. Emily Jones finished the match with four blocks, one of which was a solo stop.

Texas State continues the tournament Saturday, taking on hosting Denver at 2 p.m. and SEC foe Georgia at 6 p.m. in Denver.