Texas Tech Athletics
Grambling St.
Red Raiders Roll Past Grambling State in Tournament Finale
August 27, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Texas Tech is off to its best start to a season since 2008.
Aug. 27, 2011
FORT WORTH, Texas - Texas Tech jumped out to a 9-0 first-set lead and never looked back Saturday, sweeping Grambling State, 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-13), to wrap the TCU Invitational at University Recreation Center.
The win was Tech's second of the day as the Red Raiders defeated UConn earlier Saturday morning. Tech's 2-1 tournament showing marked its best start to a season since 2008 when the Red Raiders went a perfect 3-0 at the North Texas tournament.
After the Red Raiders jumped out to such an early lead in the first set, Flora decided to go to his bench early as every Red Raider saw action in the match.
Even with such a young rotation on the court, the Red Raiders remained in control throughout the match as there were only two lead changes over three sets.
"It was really important to see everyone contribute," Tech head coach Don Flora said. "These athletes have earned the opportunity to get some playing time, and I was really pleased to see the development of our middles."
Flora started a lineup that consisted of all freshmen to start the second set and stayed with the youth movement for the rest of the match as Tory Vaughan was the only upperclassmen to appear in either of the final two sets.
The lead also gave Tech an opportunity to set other attackers besides the trio that led the squad the previous two matches as Amanda Dowdy, Miara Cave, and Breeann David combined for only 11 of the squad's 39 kills. The three players had previously been accounting for just over 80 percent of Tech's kills.
Sam Podraza and Mikia Mills led the Red Raiders with eight kills each while David added seven kills of her own, breaking a two-match streak with double-digit kills to start her career. Podraza finished the match hitting .429 as the freshman was 8-for-14 on kill attempts.
Tech used the 6-2 rotation over the final two sets in order to get both Nicole Hragyil and Brandy Huskey into the match. Hragyil finished with a team-high 15 assists, while Huskey added 11 of her own. Starting setter Karlyn Meyers recorded seven assists after playing in only the first set.
The only flaw in Tech's performance was its serving ability as the Red Raiders recorded 13 service errors, two more than their previous high this weekend.
The Red Raiders open their home schedule next weekend with the start of the Texas Tech Invitational. Tech will face Central Arkansas and Northwestern State in a doubleheader on Friday before wrapping the tournament against Morehead State on Saturday.
