Texas Tech Volleyball Set to Face West Virginia Friday
November 12, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
The Red Raiders are looking for their first season sweep over a conference foe since 2013 (TCU).
Nov. 12, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech volleyball (13-13, 2-10) looks to earn its first season sweep over a conference foe since 2013 on Friday, Nov. 13, when the Red Raiders host West Virginia (5-19, 0-11) at 5 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena.
COUNTRY ROADS
The Mountaineers are 5-19 this season, with a 0-11 record in Big 12 play. West Virginia is 1-8 this season away from home, defeating Winthrop 3-1 on Sept. 18. Their leading attacker, Morgan Montgomery, has registered 313 kills this season, behind a 3.68 kills per set average, which ranks third in the conference. Her 31 kills against Marshall on Sept. 15 continues to lead the Big 12 in kills in a single-match this season. The Mountaineers are in the midst of a 13-match losing streak, winning only three sets during that stretch.
NEXT ON THE AGENDA
Tech hits the road for Fort Worth to square off with TCU on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest Plus. The winner of the bout will break the tie in the all-time series and take a 7-6 lead. The Red Raiders fell to the Horned Frogs, 3-0, in Lubbock on Oct.10. Tech then returns home for senior day on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 3 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena.
CARLIE CLIMBIN'
With 21 digs at Kansas State, senior libero Carlie Foust cracked into the Texas Tech single-season digs top 10 records with 416, passing Tory Vaughan (409) in 2011. She now sits four digs away from eighth and six from seventh in the standings. With four matches left this season, Foust has an opportunity to climb to fourth, needed 39 digs to accomplish the feat. It marks the fifth-straight season a Red Raider has broken into the top 10 in the category.
NOT ONE. NOT TWO. NOT THREE. NOT FOUR. NOT FIVE. NOT SIX.
Setter Marguerite Grubb notched her team-high seventh double-double of the season and 10th of her career at Kansas State on Nov. 7. She tallied 28 assists and 10 digs against the Wildcats to accomplish the feat. In each one this season, she's totaled at least 25 assists, with the most coming against George Washington with 52. She is ranked fourth in the conference in total assists with 853.
CLEAN SWINGS
Junior Lauren Douglass is in the midst of a special season donning the Scarlet and Black, ranked inside the top 40 in the country in hitting percentage at .384. 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 in the NCAA earlier in the season. Douglass owns the top three single-match hitting percentages in the conference this season, her best is a .688 clip against Columbia on Sept. 4. At Kansas State, she led the team in kills for the 12th time this season behind eight. She has hit .400 or better in 12 matches in 2015. If she stays above .358 over the next four matches, she'll set the Texas Tech hitting percentage single-season record.
KILLS AND HITTING PERCENTAGE AND BLOCKS, OH MY!
In six separate matches this season, including two of the last three contests, Texas Tech's starting middle blockers have posted the team-high in kills, hitting percentage and blocks. Lauren Douglass has accomplished the feat four times this season, doing so against Baylor on Nov. 4 behind 10 kills, a .400 clip and three blocks. Freshman Katy Keenan has notched two matches this season leading in the three categories, last doing so against Texas at eight kills, a hitting percentage of .368 and three blocks.
RECORDS WATCH
Two Red Raiders are moving closer to putting their names into the Texas Tech record books. With four matches left, Lauren Douglass has a hitting percentage of .384. If she stays above .358, she will have the school record for best hitting percentage in a single-season. On the career side of the record book, Marguerite Grubb is 175 assists from the 10th-best assist total, a figure she will almost certainly achieve next season if she doesn't hit it in 2015.
NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND
2015 is the first season the Big 12 utilized the video replay system and coaching challenges. The Big 12 and the Big Ten are the only two conferences in the NCAA that utilize the instant replay and coaching challenges. This season, head coach Don Flora is four-for-15 overall on 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