Texas Tech Athletics
Utah State
Red Raiders Corral Aggies in Season Opener
August 28, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Tech volleyball opened the 2015 campaign with a victory over the Utah State Aggies, 3-0, in the first match of the Texas Tech Fall Invitational on Friday at the United Supermarkets Arena.
The Red Raiders claimed the first set 25-21, the second frame 25-20 and closed out the match with a 25-17 win in set three.
"I really liked our ability to stay methodical and stay sound point-to-point," head coach Don Flora said. "We showed a lot of maturity. It was 20-all in the first set and we pushed, it was 19-all in the second set, and we pushed, and I liked how we finished in the third set."
A key component that led to the program's first win over Utah State was the ability to pass and defend. Three Red Raiders recorded double-digit digs on Friday, led by junior Marguerite Grubb with 15. Senior Carlie Foust and sophomore Audrey Fragniere followed closely behind with 14 and 11, respectively.
As a collective unit, the Red Raiders tallied 53 digs, to Utah State's 36.
"They're a good defensive team," Flora said. "They're very well-coached. Grayson [DuBose] is a fantastic coach and he's done a fantastic job at Utah State. Overall, we had 53 digs and they had 36. That's something we did really well and were able to outplay them in that phase of the game today."
"I thought we passed it well, which has been a trademark for us, so that's a good sign. I thought we defended it well. That's who we are. The other piece is in transition, which is one of the things we worked on really hard. For our hitting percentage to be over .200 is good, but in transition, we hit a real-high number, we were at .279. That's fantastic in transition."
Junior Lauren Douglass led the way for the Red Raiders in kills with 13, with senior Jenna Allen tallying nine. Overall, Tech stayed above .222 in hitting percentage in each set and finished at .229, compared to Utah State's .029.
The Red Raiders improved to 3-2 in season openers under coach Flora.
"Your goal is to always be 1-0," Flora said. "A `W' is a `W'. The point was we got it done in three, we took care of business in crunch time and I'm very happy with the way they played together. Jenna and Audrey playing some good defense and late in the set, we brought in a couple DS's and you could really see those little guys getting done. Reyn Akiu and Katelyn Bryant came in and played well along with Carlie and Ashley [Morgan]. It's nice to see our defense be really stellar."
The Red Raiders take on Louisiana-Lafayette in part two of Friday's doubleheader at 7 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena.
