Volleyball set for last road tournament of the season

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Red Raiders will make compete in their third and final road tournament of the season starting on Friday as they head to Flagstaff, Arizona for the Lumberjack Classic hosted by NAU. Tech will play Southern Utah and NAU on Friday at 12 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. CT, respectively, before closing out the tournament with a match against UC San Diego at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday.

In what has become a common theme this preseason, Tech has only faced one of these teams before. NAU (4-2) came to Lubbock last season and fell to the Red Raiders, but neither Southern Utah (0-6) or UC San Diego (1-5) has played Tech before.

Quick Georgia Tournament Recap:
The Red Raiders (4-2) are coming off another 2-1 weekend after defeating Duke and Alabama State while dropping their match to Georgia. Reagan Engler continued her dominant start to the season, going for two double-doubles and recording double-digit kills in all three matches including a career high 19 against Georgia.

Addie Kanouff also had a breakout weekend, setting a career high for kills with 14 against Duke, 10 of which came in the fourth set. Kanouff recorded double-digit kills in all three matches and hit over .400 in the Red Raiders two wins. Peyton Dunn was exceptional as well going for 46 assists against Georgia and following that up with 45 against Alabama St.

Sierra Grizzle was an anchor on the backrow, leading the team in digs each match including 20 in the teams win over Duke. The Red Raiders used 15 aces to power past Alabama St. - the most since at least 2008 - as Ashlyn Bellamy put the exclamation point on the match recording three aces in the final four points to win.

Quick Hits:

The Red Raiders are the only team in the country to have at least nine freshmen while also having zero true seniors. Tech has three graduate seniors and are one of just four teams in the country that has zero true seniors joining Princeton, Villanova and Memphis in this unique feat. Tech's nine freshmen are also the second most in the country behind St. Mary's, Pacific, Holy Cross and Wichita St. who all have 10.
Peyton Dunn eclipsed 2,000 career assists last weekend in Tech's match against Georgia as Sierra Grizzle inches closer to posting 1,000 digs for her career.
Reagan Engler has taken a big step up this season, currently leading the team in kills, points and double-doubles. Engler has been playing all six rotations for the first time in her career after making the move to outside hitter this offseason and has flourished. She has set new career highs for digs and kills in a match virtually every match this season and will look to continue to break her own records as the year goes on.
Head coach Tony Graystone enters his 10th season with Texas Tech volleyball. He has the third-most wins in program history (134) and led Tech to an appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. He did that because of the recruiting class he got in 2018 that he was able to develop and build around and after a few seasons of using the portal to fill holes in the roster, Graystone went back to what he does best this season - developing talent. The Red Raiders will have nine freshmen on their roster - the most in Graystone's tenure - who he expects to be the core of the team for years to come to get them back to the postseason.

Volleyball set for last road tournament of the season

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Players Mentioned

Ashlyn Bellamy

Peyton Dunn

Reagan Engler

Sierra Grizzle

Addie Kanouff