Texas Tech University Athletics
Tech Volleyball Is Austin-Bound
November 10, 2009 | Women's Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech travels to Austin for its mid-week Big 12 match, at No. 2 Texas, and then will return home to host Oklahoma for a Saturday afternoon contest at 11:45 a.m. at the United Spirit Arena.
Please Note: Saturday's match features a time shift to help accommodate several basketball games which are part of the "Duel in the Desert" men's basketball schedule and the Lady Raiders home regular-season opener with Sam Houston State.
No. 2 Texas also Sits in First in the Big 12 (19-1, 14-1 Big 12)
Texas suffered its first loss of the season (at the hands of No. 8 Iowa State last week in Ames) despite a career-best 27 kills from Destinee Hooker in the match. The squad enters the match solidly in first place in the Big 12 with a two-game lead over the Cyclones and is in the midst of a 17-match home winning streak at Gregory Gym, which dates back to Nov. 1, 2008. Texas has not dropped a set in Austin all season and has been ranked in the national top-10 for 54 consecutive weeks.
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott is in his 9th season at the helm of the Longhorns with a 254-75 career record overall, (11th season). The Longhorns are currently on a 17-match winning streak with the Red Raiders, with Tech's last win coming on Nov. 1, 2000, in Lubbock. Texas is 67-9-2 in the series history with Texas Tech.
The match is Web streamed at no charge at: Texas Web stream
Okahoma (17-7, 10-5 Big 12)
Oklahoma, which is receiving votes in the AVCA's top-25 poll, will come to Tech after also traveling to Missouri for its mid-week contest on Wednesday. The Sooners are currently in fourth place in the Big 12, a game behind Nebraska.
Head Coach Santiago Restrepo is in his sixth season at Oklahoma. Tech is 34-21 all-time with the Sooners, but lost in Norman earlier this season and hasn't beaten Oklahoma since Sept. 21, 2005.
Texas Tech (2-21, 0-14 Big 12)
Shaking things up in the match with K-State on Sunday, head coach Trish Knight went with a youth movement, allowing Candice Neill her first start in a defensive specialist role. The freshman responded with eight digs. Other changes during that match, which saw Tech win set three behind a solid overall team effort, emphasized the offensive role of Miara Cave, Amanda Dowdy and juniors Alexxa Roberts and Barbara Conceicao. Senior Hayley Ball had one of her best nights of the season with eight kills and no errors in 16 attempts.
Tech is led by Dowdy's 3.31 kills per set, which ranks 8th in the Big 12, and Karlyn Meyers' .263 hitting efficiency. Conceicao, Cave and Caroline Courtney each adds 2.00, 1.58 and 1.22 kps, respectively to an offense which is directed by setter Meyers (8.14 assists per set). Miscues in the attack have plagued the Red Raiders who as a team still hit .129.
Defensively, Tech gets 2.44 digs per set from Jenn Goehry, Dowdy adds 1.84 dps to the defensive effort and Aleah Hayes adds 1.54.The blocking game, led by Conceicao's 1.28 bps--which is good enough for second in the Big 12--and Meyers' 0.77 bps has been the statist ical highlight of the 2009 squad.
