Texas Tech Volleyball Welcomes In Kansas State on Saturday
October 23, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech volleyball returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 24, as they host Kansas State at 3 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Saturday will be Daddy/Daughter Day, where all father/daughter groups will receive two for the price of one admission.
It will be the 43rd meeting between the Red Raiders (13-8, 2-5) and the Wildcats (11-8, 3-4). Texas Tech has earned victories in two of the past five contests; however, K-State leads the all-time series, 32-10.
THE LITTLE APPLE
The Wildcats are 11-8 this season, with a 3-4 record in Big 12 play. K-State leads the conference in team attacks per set and team total attacks, which has translated into the second-best kills per set average at 14.24. Leading the charge for the Wildcats is Brooke Sassin, with 248 kills. Three other Wildcats have totaled over 175 kills this season: Katie Reininger (189), Alyssa Schultejans (176) and Bryna Vogel (176). At the center of the attack is setter Katie Brand, who leads the league in total assists with 779. On the other side of the ball, the Wildcats have four players with over 200 digs, with Kersten Kober at the top of the pack with 301. K-State leads the Big 12 in total digs with 1174 and shares the lead for digs per set at 16.54.
NEXT ON THE AGENDA
The Red Raiders begin the second half of the Big 12 slate with a trip to Norman to battle Oklahoma on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. Texas Tech recorded its first win over OU since 2005 in the first Big 12 match of the season in a five-set thriller on Sept. 23. The Red Raiders lead the all-time series, 35-32.
SETTING THE TONE
The Red Raiders are 10-0 this season when winning the first set of a match. In those sets, Texas Tech has averaged an attack percentage of .336, with a season-high of .800 against Northeastern. The Red Raiders put up 13 kills on 15 attacks and only one error in that set on Sept. 5. Tech is 50-13 under head coach Don Flora when claiming the first frame.
FIREBALL
Junior Lauren Douglass is in the midst of a special season donning the Scarlet and Black, ranked inside the top 20 in the country in hitting percentage at .412. For five-straight weeks, she led the Big 12 and was ranked in the top 15 in the country in the category, climbing all the way to No. 2 earlier in the season. In eight matches this year, Douglass has posted at least 10 kills, including 17 (Oklahoma) and 11 (Iowa State) in two of the five conference contests. She also set a career-high with 20 kills against Portland State on Sept. 18. Douglass owns the top three single-match hitting percentages in the conference this season, her top is a .688 clip against Columbia on Sept. 4. Last week on the road, she posted marks of .412 (West Virginia) and .429 (Texas).
NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND
2015 is the first season the Big 12 utilized the video replay system and coaching challenges. Against OU, head coach Don Flora went two-for-three in challenges, including a pivotal overturned call in the fifth set, which gave Tech a 9-5 lead late in the match. At Iowa State, Flora was one-for-two, overturning the original call of a no-touch by a Cyclone defender. This season, Flora is four-for-10 overall on challenges this season.
The Big 12 and the Big Ten are the only two conferences in the NCAA that utilize the instant replay and coaching challenges. Coaches will be permitted three challenges per match, and those challenges will have no effect on the number of allowed timeouts a team has remaining. The challenge must be lodged immediately following the rally and before the first referee's arm is extended to start the service for the next point. Only one challenge per rally will be allowed. Coaches will be allowed to request instant replay challenges only to review these instances:
-If the ball landed in or out
-If the ball made contact with a player
-If a net violation occurred
-Foot faults on a serve
THE WONDER YEARS
The freshman have played a significant role in this year's Red Raider team. Katy Keenan led the team in kills with nine in the victory over Navy at the Kristen Dickmann Invitational. Starting in 13 matches, she's notched 95 kills for an attack percentage of .287, which ranks second on the team. Reyn Akiu put together a season-high 15 dig performance against Oklahoma in the Big 12 opener. She has tallied 113 digs and 11 service aces during her time on the court. Sarah Redding has led the team in kills in each of the last two matches with a career-high 11 at West Virginia and 10 at Texas. She has recorded 96 kills, 23 digs and 20 blocks, and Katelyn Bryant has racked up 34 digs in their first year donning the Scarlet and Black. Morgan Reed saw her first action of the season at Texas, after missing the first portion of the schedule due to an injury.