Nov. 25, 2008

LUBBOCK, Texas -

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Week Ahead

The Texas Tech volleyball team starts the final week of the season with a road trip to Texas A&M on Wednesday and finishes the season on Saturday with No. 13 Kansas State. Saturday will be Senior night and all fans get into the match for free.

Last Week

The Texas Tech volleyball team fell on the road to No. 3 Nebraska in straight sets (25-18, 25-13, 25-12). Wednesday the Red Raiders lost in five sets (19-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-14, 15-13) to Baylor despite receiving 20 kills from middle blocker Amanda Dowdy.

Scouting Texas A&M

Texas A&M has a record of 14-14 and 9-9 in conference play. Mary Batis leads the Aggies with 353 kills. Texas A&M is on a four match winning streak including a sweep of Baylor and Colorado. Texas A&M leads the overall series 47-29.

Scouting Kansas State

No. 13 Kansas State comes into the match with a 23-6 overall record and 13-5 in Big 12 play. Rita Liliom leads the team with 467 kills on the season. The Wildcats are coming off a win over Missouri and lead the overall series with Tech 21-8.

Live Stats

Red Raider fans can follow the action live on Saturday by going to ww.aggieathletics.com.

Seniors

Texas Tech volleyball has three seniors completing their careers this week. Michelle Flores has played four years for the Red Raiders and has 487 kills for her career. She led the team last year with 300 kills. Brandi Hood transferred from Hutchinson JC and has a key part of the Red Raider teams. She has 410 kills in her career and 178 total blocks. She leads the team currently with 84 total blocks. Amanda Sbragia transferred from Feather River College and has 95 kills in her career at Tech.

Career Highs

Amanda Dowdy and Caroline Witte recorded season and career highs during the Baylor match. Dowdy recorded 20 kills for the second time this seaosn and Witte finished with a season and career high of 51 assists. It is Dowdy's second time in her career to reach 20 kills in a match.

Tough Stretch

Tech faces a tough road ahead as three of the next six matches are ranked in the AVCA top 25. No. 4 Texas is first on the list with a trip to Austin. No. 3 Nebraska is another road trip before facing No. 15 Kansas State at the United Spirit Arena. Tech also has the second-ranked strength of schedule in the Big 12. The Red Raiders next five opponents have a combined winning percentage of .671.

1000 Digs

Libero Jen Harrell entered elite company during Saturday's match. She became the 14th player in school history to record 1,000 digs for her career.

Ace in the Hole

Tech sits fifth in the Big 12 hitting 1.31 service aces per set. The 1.31 is above last season's average of 1.10. Caroline Witte leads the team with 30 aces and is fourth in the Big 12 at .34 per set.

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 27 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 27 of the teams matches and setter Karlyn Meyers has started 16 matches. Brooke Smith has seen action in 27 matches and Tyler Elley has played in 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.