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Texas Tech Volleyball Claims Fall Invitational Crown
August 29, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas -- The Red Raiders picked up their third win of the season and clinched the Texas Tech Fall Invitational title with a 3-1 victory over Houston on Saturday at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Tech dropped the first set, the only one they would lose over the weekend, 31-29, but responded by winning the next three: 25-15, 25-20 and 25-23.
Tournament MVP Lauren Douglass and Victoria Hinneburg each posted 14 kills, with nearly identical attack percentages of .375 and .370, respectively. Hinneburg had more kills in today's match than she has had in the rest of her Red Raider career combined.
"Lauren Douglass has been absolutely tremendous," head coach Don Flora said. "She's playing with a fire right now and when she's this good on multiple swing patterns, she's special to watch. Victoria got some big crushes, it was nice to see Big Germany take care of some stuff. She's going to be special."
Two Red Raiders notched double-doubles on Saturday. Junior Marguerite Grubb tallied her second of the season behind 47 assists and 10 digs, while senior Jenna Allen got her first of the season, thanks to 10 digs and 13 kills, including the final point of the match.
Texas Tech fell in a hard-fought first set, but was able to bounce back in set two behind an attack percentage of .375 and knocking down 11-15 sideout attempts.
"We came out of set one and didn't really stuff a lot of balls in that set," Flora said. "They had 23 kills in set one. That could be enough to win two sets and we went overtime so those numbers are going to grow, but we didn't stop anybody.
"We challenged them after the first set and after the break, and we continued to get better blocking. As soon as we started blocking, you started to see it chip and roll and we got them where we wanted them. The change in that is the hard part and that's what I love about this team and this program. We just want to play the chess match. Get a little better at this, get them to do something they don't want to do and then we react to what they do. Those little things, if they can change and grow within a match, then that's the sign of a mature team."
Sophomore Audrey Fragniere also turned in a career day with 22 digs to go along with her eight kills. Senior Carlie Foust registered a team-high 29 digs and was one of five to record double-digit digs. The Red Raiders also had a total of 10 team blocks.
With the win, the Red Raiders improved to 18-2 in non-conference tournament competition at the United Supermarkets Arena under coach Flora.
"We've raised the bar on our schedule," Flora said. "Those three teams are a little bit higher ranked teams from who we had last year in our tournament. These are teams that have history, success and have been really good. All three teams are very well coached and have some firepower that maybe we didn't see last year."
Up next for the Red Raiders is a four-game tournament hosted by Stephen F. Austin from Sept. 4-5 in Nacogdoches, Texas.
