Texas Tech Volleyball Prepares to Face Baylor
November 03, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Katy Keenan led the team in kills, hitting percentage and blocks against No. 2 Texas last week for the second time this season.
Nov. 3, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech volleyball (13-11, 2-8) wraps up a two-match home stand with a bout against Baylor (14-9, 2-7) on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena.
The match will be televised on FOX Sports Southwest, with Robert Giovannetti and Andy Penney on the call. Tech is 1-1 this season at home in TV contests.
This will be the 79th meeting between the Red Raiders and the Bears. Tech leads the all-time series with Baylor, 50-28, but dropped the first match this season in Waco, 3-0. Last year, the two teams split the season series.
GEORGE'S
The Bears are 14-9 overall this season, with a 2-7 record in conference play. Baylor recorded a 3-0 victory over the Red Raiders on Sept. 30 in Waco. Three Bears have put up over 200 kills this season: Katie Staiger (249), Shelly Fanning (246) and Andie Malloy (222). Baylor is ranked fourth in the Big 12 in blocks per set, stuffing an average of 2.20. Tola Itiola is the leading blocker with a total of 83, averaging 1.01 per set, which ranks eighth in the conference. In their last match against No. 10 Kansas, she rattled off five blocks. Junior defensive specialist Alex Banister, who has played in 19 sets this season, is the daughter of Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister.
NAME GAME
The Red Raiders and the Bears share one of the rarest qualities you'll see in any sport: two student-athletes with the same name in Morgan Reed. To take it a step further: two student-athletes with the same name, spelled the same way and who play the same position at setter. Texas Tech's Morgan Reed recently returned from injury, playing in only four matches so far this season, but has already led the team in a single match in assists with 26 against Kansas State, a contest she almost recorded a double-double in with nine digs. Baylor's Morgan Reed has played in every match for the Bears this season, putting up 370 assists and 101 digs.
NEXT ON THE AGENDA
Tech hits the road at the end of the week for a date with Kansas State on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. in Manhattan, Kansas. The Red Raiders fell to the Wildcats earlier this season, 3-0, in a match that saw outside hitter Sarah Redding notch a career-high in kills with 11, as well as Morgan Reed's first full match, coming one dig away from a double-double at nine digs and 26 assists. K-State holds the edge in the all-time series, 33-10. The Red Raiders have split the season matchups with the Wildcats in two of the last three years, picking up wins in 2012 and 2013.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
As the lead distributor of the Red Raider offense, junior Marguerite Grubb didn't waste any time picking up where she left off last season. Grubb has put together an average of 10.40 assists per set, as she matched a season-high 52 against Oklahoma on Sept. 23. Her marks place her third in the conference with a total of 811 assists. She has tallied 40+ assists in seven matches this season. If she averages 31.5 assists per match during the rest of the season, she will eclipse the 1,000 assist mark. So far this season, she has averaged 33.7 per match. The last Red Raider to reach 1,000 assists in a season was Emily Ruetter in 2013.
After playing for a few plays at Texas, freshman Morgan Reed checked in at setter for the Red Raiders against Kansas State after an injury held her out of action. She racked up a team-high 26 assists and also came one dig away from notching a double-double in that contest. She recorded 12 assists at Oklahoma last Wednesday.
RECORDS WATCH
Three Red Raiders are moving closer to putting their names into the Texas Tech record books. With six matches left, Lauren Douglass has a hitting percentage of .394. If she stays above .358, she will have the school record for best hitting percentage in a single-season. Carlie Foust sits 31 digs away from the 10th-best single-season mark in digs of 409, set by Tory Vaughan in 2011. On the career side of the record book, Marguerite Grubb is 217 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-12 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
THE WONDER YEARS
The freshman have played a significant role in this year's club. Katy Keenan led the team in kills with nine in the victory over Navy at the Kristen Dickmann Invitational. Starting in 16 matches, she's notched 115 kills for an attack percentage of .292, 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 129 digs and 13 service aces during her time on the court. Sarah Redding has led the team in kills in three of the last five matches, tying a career-high 11 against K-State. She has recorded 120 kills, 25 digs and 24 blocks, and Katelyn Bryant has racked up 34 digs in their first year donning the Scarlet and Black. Morgan Reed racked up a team-high 26 assists, as well as nine digs, against Kansas State, her first full match of the season. She has 42 assists and 16 digs this season. At Oklahoma, three freshman were in the starting lineup for the Red Raiders: Keenan, Redding and Reed.
