Texas Tech Athletics
Xavier
Women's Volleyball Victorious In Season Opener
September 01, 2000 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 1, 2000
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Texas Tech Volleyball team opened the 2000 campaign with a morning win over Liberty (15-6,15-0, 11-15,15-7) and then came back to defeat Xavier (15-11, 15-7, 15-5) in the nightcap to move their record to 2-0 in the Carolina Classic.
Texas Tech (2-0) racked up 73 kills in the win over Liberty (0-1) while limiting the Flames to 37. The Red Raiders were led by team captains Ann Romjue and Colleen Smith who had 13 kills each and a combined 49 attempts. Romjue led Tech's defensive effort with 16 digs while sophomore Melissa McGehee got 10 off the floor.
"I thought we hit really well and that our defense was good," said head coach Jeff Nelson. "We really controlled the first, second and fourth games and we were pretty impressive for the first time out. We tried to make some adjustments in the third game and give some of the freshmen playing time and they didn't respond well but we just let them work through it."
In the second game, Tech faced a Xavier team that came into the match after dropping their season opener in the first round of the Carolina Classic to Duke. The Red Raiders jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and was able to extend the lead to 14-6 before a Xavier rally. The Musketeers (0-2) rattled off five straight points after the Tech defense collapsed for the first time all day. Skydra Orzen was able to seal the game after she guided a service ace to the Musketeer mid-court.
The Red Raiders took game-two by a final score of 15-7 and finished the match with a 15-4 win in game three. Outside hitter Colleen Smith and middle blocker Kate Jury led Tech's defensive efforts with five block attempts while Smith also finished the game with 12 kills. Sophomore Melissa McGehee had an impressive performance as the sophomore outside hitter tallied 12 kills and a team-high 10 digs.
"Melissa McGehee had an outstanding game for us tonight," said Nelson. "She led the team in digs and kills and was just a spark plug for us all night long. I am much happier with this overall performance." Texas Tech will enter tomorrow's match against host South Carolina with a perfect 2-0 season record. The Red Raiders will face the Gamecocks at 3 p.m (ET) and wrap up the Carolina Classic against the Duke Blue Devils at 7 p.m. (ET).
