Texas Tech Falls To Zhejiang In Five-Set Battle
October 21, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 21, 2014
The Red Raiders started strong, jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the first, and cruised to a 25-19 win. However, Zhejiang flexed its muscles in the second set, storming out to a huge lead and never looking back, taking it 25-10.
Texas Tech struck back after the intermission with a 25-22 win in the third, but Zhejiang roared back once again, taking the fourth, 25-11. The fifth set was a back-and-forth affair, but Zhejiang picked up a couple key points to pull out the win, 15-13.
This match does not affect the Red Raiders' (15-4, 3-4) official win-loss record.
Zhejiang plays in Group A (The highest level) of the Chinese Volleyball league, and is the defending national champion. They also took third place in the 2012-13 season. Zhejiang was missing three key starters, but Texas tech held out multiple key players for the match as well.
This was the first match of Zhejiang's tour through the United States. They will play Wayland Baptist (Oct. 22), TCU (Oct. 24), Texas (Oct. 27 & 28) and Long Beach State (Oct. 30).
"I think the main thing was we had an opportunity to play against an international team that goes about it a little differently than what we are used to," Texas Tech head coach Don Flora said. "It's still volleyball at its core, but we got to see a lot of different looks tonight, which was a great opportunity for us. Not only that, but how many people can say they sat down and ate fajitas for lunch with a professional volleyball team from China? Those are great opportunities for our athletes."
Leading the way on the offensive end for the Red Raiders were Meghan Stacy and Mikia Mills, who each registered 13 kills. Stacy turned in 10 digs along with her 13 kills, notching a double-double. Audrey Fragniere also hit double-digits, finishing with 10 kills.
As a team, Texas Tech hit .060, compared to .226 for Zhejiang.
"I think we did some good things and some things we can learn from," Flora said. "We wanted to see how some of our athletes would respond under fire tonight. We learned some things about some of our players tonight. The game is always a little different when the bright lights are on you. We would have liked to find a way to get the win, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I liked how we responded in set three after getting popped in set two. That's the biggest silver lining out of what we did tonight."
On the defensive end, Texas Tech recorded 53 digs and 10 blocks, led by 17 digs from Rachel Brummitt and four blocks form Whitney Ford.
Before the game, there was a performance of both the Chinese and U.S.'s national anthems and a gift exchange between the teams and coaches.
Texas Tech's next Big 12 match will be on Saturday, as the Red Raiders will travel to Lawrence, Kan., to take on the Kansas Jayhawks. That match is set to begin at 1 p.m., and can be seen on both ESPN3.com and the Time Warner Cable Sports Channel.
