Oct. 14, 2008

LUBBOCK, Texas -

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Week Ahead

The Texas Tech volleyball squad hits the road for two Big 12 matches against Iowa State on Wednesday at 7 p.m., in Hilton Coliseum and then face No. 15 Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan. at the Ahearn Field House at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Fans can follow the action on the internet by going to www.cyclones.com and www.k-statesports.com.

Last Week

The Red Raiders travelled to Boulder, Colo., to face the Colorado Buffaloes and ran into a team that hit a .372 percentage. Tech struggled only hitting .061 as a team. Caroline Courtney led the team with eight kills and libero Jenn Harrell finished with 12 digs. Tech's struggles continued against the Texas A&M Aggies. The same hitting woes continued from Wednesday night as Tech only managed a .029 hitting percentage as the Aggies hit .387. The Red Raiders were led by middle blocker Amanda Dowdy with nine kills and setter Karlyn Meyers had 22 assists and six kills for the match.

Scouting Iowa State

The Cyclones are coached by Christy Johnson and have an 11-7 overall record this season and 3-4 in Big 12 play. Victoria Henson leads the Cyclones with 253 kills on the season and Jen Malcom has 190 kills and 84 blocks on the year. Iowa State has beaten Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas A&M in conference play.

Scouting Kansas State

Kansas State is coached by Susie Fritz and has a 16-3 overall record on the season and are 6-2 in the Big 12. The Wildcats are led by Ria Liliom with 281 kills and Natalya Korobkova with 210 kills and 62 blocks. Kansas State has only lost to Nebraska and Texas in Big 12 play.

Life on the Road

The Red Raiders hit a stretch in the schedule where it will play five of the next eight matches on the road.

Valuable Experience

The young class of freshmen have received valuable playing time during the 2008 season. Middle blocker Amanda Dowdy has started all 19 of the teams matches and setter Karlyn Meyers has started 14 matches. Brooke Smith and Tyler Elley have both played in all 19 matches during the season.

Match Highs

The highest percentage a Tech player has hit in a match is by middle blocker Amanda Dowdy when she hit .571 against Louisiana-Lafayette and has the team high for kills when she finished with 20 against Oklahoma. Setter Caroline Witte recorded 45 assists in a match versus TCU and Jenn Harrel has the match high for digs with 23 against Kansas. Witte also has the match highs in aces with four against Louisiana-Lafayette and total blocks with 10 versus TCU.

Season Highs

Middle blocker Amanda Dowdy leads the team with 191 kills and is seventh in the Big 12 with a .328 hitting percentage. Setter Caroline Witte leads the team with 22 aces and is currently eighth in the Big 12 hitting .33 a set. Libero Jenn Harrell is the team leader with 182 digs. Middle Blocker Brandi Hood is 10th in the Big 12 hitting. 097 blocks per set.

Defensive Highlight

Libero Jenn Harrell has a season high 23 digs against Kansas. It is her fifth-career match with 20 or more digs. It is Harrell's 12th match that she has had 10 or more digs.

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.

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 900 digs for her three year career so far and is 156 from being 15th on the all-time career list.

Tourney Win

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

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.