MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University's volleyball team was unable to get its offense on track and fell in three sets (16-25, 22-25, 20-25) to Florida International, Friday afternoon, in the opening match of the MT Blue Raider Classic.

Austin Peay (1-3) kept each of the three sets close early on, but could not maintain an offensive rhythm through the middle part of each set. The Lady Govs tied the first set, 9-9, only to watch FIU piece together a 5-1 run to take a 14-11 lead which it carried to a 25-16 victory.

Florida International nearly ran away with the second set, using a 7-2 run to build a 14-9 lead. But Austin Peay rallied back behind the effort of junior outside hitter Nikki Doyle who had three kills in the set's final seven points and moved within two points, 24-20, before committing a service error to end the set.

After the break, Austin Peay showed a little more offensive effort and stuck close throughout the set, never trailing by more than the five point margin at match's end. Neither team put together a long rally of points, FIU using a pair of 3-0 runs to build its advantage.

"We didn't attack offensively today," said Lady Govs head coach Bill Egbert. "We were content to sit back and allow FIU to bring the fight to us the entire match. This tournament isn't going to get easier the rest of the way, we will have to get stronger on our side of the net and make teams uncomfortable."

Doyle led Austin Peay with 10 kills and only committed an error on her final swing to spoil an errorless outing, finishing the match with a .360 attack percentage. Austin Peay recorded just 31 kills in the contest and was held to a .196 attack percentage.

Jovana Bjelica led FIU with a match-high 21 kills and posted a .424 attack percentage. The Golden Panthers scored 54 kills in the three-set affair and finished with a .452 attack percentage.

Austin Peay returns to action with a 5 p.m. contest against Missouri at the Murphy Center.

-AP-