Nov. 4, 2008

LUBBOCK, Texas -

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Week Ahead

The Texas Tech volleyball squad returns to the United Spirit Arena for its first home match in 10 days to host the Iowa State Cyclones and then travels to Lawrence, Kan., for a match against the Kansas Jayhawks. Wednesday night fans that bring canned food get into the match for $1.

Last Week

The Texas Tech volleyball team received 10 kills from both middle blocker Amanda Dowdy and outside hitter Hayley Ball, but suffered a 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-14, 25-17) defeat to Missouri.

Scouting Iowa State

Iowa State has a 15-9 overall record and 7-6 in the Big 12 conference. The Cyclones are fourth in the conference with a .250 hitting percentage and third in kills at 14.13 per set. They are led by Victoria Henson with 364 kills. Tech lost the first meeting with Iowa State in straight sets behind a .441 hitting percentage

Scouting Kansas

Kansas has a 10-12 overall record and 4-9 in conference play. The Jayhawks are seventh in the league in kills per set with 12.54 and seventh in assists per set with 11.69. Karina Garlington leads the team with 321 kills. Kansas won the first match between these two schools 3-1. Garlington led the Jayhawks to the victory with 18 kills.

Local Television

Red Raider fans can tune into Wednesday night's match on the Fox Accuweather Channel for live action of Texas Tech volleyball.

Ace in the Hole

Tech sits fourth in the Big 12 hitting 1.30 service aces per set. The 1.30 is above last season's average of 1.10. Caroline Witte leads the team with 29 aces and is fourth in the Big 12 at .35 per set.

Talented Frosh

Middle blocker Amanda Dowdy is in elite company in the Big 12 ranks. She is the only freshman ranked in the top 10 in hitting percentage. She currently sits 10th on the list with a .301 percentage.

Starting

Three Red Raiders have started every match that Tech has played. Freshman Amanda Dowdy junior Hayley Ball and junior Jenn Harrell have started all 23 matches during the season.

Valuable Experience

The young class of freshman 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 47 assists in a match versus Colorado and Jenn Harrell 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 239 kills. Setter Caroline Witte leads the team with 29 aces. 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 14th 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 .