Sept. 23, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

LUBBOCK, Texas -

The Week Ahead

Tech will be starting the bulk of Big 12 play this week. The Red Raiders will host Missouri on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then travel to Oklahoma to try and even the score after losing in five sets during its first conference matchup. All fans who attend the match with Missouri will receive a free t-shirt for attending. Red Raider Rewards will also be raffling off two tickets to the Texas A&M football game. The Oklahoma match will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Norman, Okla..

Last Week

The Red Raiders played four games last week and finished with a 2-2 schedule. The first match of the week was the second Big 12 conference match for the Red Raiders of the season. Baylor proved to be too much as Tech lost in four set at Waco. Then Tech travelled to Denton, Texas to play in the Spike Ike Tournament against Louisiana-Lafayette, Stephen F. Austin and UT-Pan American. The Red Raiders finished the tournament with a 2-1 record beating Louisiana-Lafayette in four sets, and UT Pan Am in three sets. The only loss of the weekend came at the hand of Stephen F. Austin in three sets.

Scouting Missouri

Missouri comes into the contest with a 5-6 record and 0-2 in conference. The Tigers are coached by Wayne Kreklow and return seven letterwinners from a year ago. Missouri's has played both Baylor and Oklahoma in Big 12 play so far and has lost in four sets to each opponent. Julianna Klein leads the Tigers with 146 kills on the season. Missouri leads the Big 12 in digs with 15.92 per set.

Scouting Oklahoma

Oklahoma comes in with an overall record of 6-5 and a 2-1 record in Big 12 play. In the last matchup between these two squads, OU won a five set thriller over Tech during the Red Raider Round Up. The Sooners were led by Francie Ekwerekwu who had 16 kills and nine blocks during the match. The match will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. in Norman, Okla.

Big 12 Rookie of the Week

Freshman Amanda Dowdy earned Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors for the first time in her career for the week of September 15th. She had 51 kills and a .420 attack percentage during the Red Raider Round Up. In Tech's Big 12 opener against Oklahoma she had a team-high 20 kills and a .421 attack percentage.

All-Time Wins

A look at volleyball teams that have the most wins all-time will give Red Raider fans reason to boast. Texas Tech is the 26th winningest program with 743 wins in NCAA history. The most wins in a season was in 1976 when the team won 56 matches. Four other Big 12 schools made the list as Nebraska is second, Texas is eighth and Texas A&M is 18th. UCLA leads all programs in wins.

Season Highs

Middle blocker Amanda Dowdy leads the team with 133 kills on the season with a .354 attack percentage. Middle blocker Brandi Hood has 45 blocks on the season and is only 10 kills behind Dowdy. Jenn Harrell is leading the team with 127 digs and Caroline Witte leads the team in assists with 379 and aces with 19.

Hot Start

The 3-0 start is the first time Tech has started the season 3-0 since the 2003 season when the team started 8-0.

Tourney Win

The Mean Green Classic title is the first tournament title since the 2006 USF Smoothie King Invitational.

Superlatives

Several Red Raiders were able to reach new career numbers during the Mean Green Classic. Michelle Flores reached 400 kills for her career. Jenn Harrell has recorded 729 digs for her three year career so far and is 156 from being 15th on the all-time career list.

Connections

Freshman Amanda Dowdy is a cousin of senior Texas Tech golfer Megan Dowdy.

Seasoned Returners

Three of the returners for this year's squad played in over 100 sets last season. Brandi Hood played in 102, Michelle Flores played in 104 and Jenn Harrell was apart of 101 sets.

Newcomers

Tech has seven new faces for the 2008 season. Two JUCO transfers and four freshmen are looking to contribute. Blinn JC transfers Hayley Ball and Caroline Witte come in with experience playing on two consecutive fifth place NJCAA tournament teams. Amanda Dowdy and Karlyn Meyers were both top 100 recruits coming out of high school. Tyler Elley, Michelle Ogbeide and Brooke Smith will get valuable playing time throughout the season as well.

Rule Changes

A few changes have been made from last season when it comes to the rules of volleyball. On of the biggest changes will be the name. Instead of being called games, they should be referred to as sets. Another rule variation will be the number of points to win a set. In prior seasons a team had to score 30 points to win a set that has now been changed to 25 points .