Sept. 3, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

LUBBOCK, Texas -

On Tap

Texas Tech will be headed to the desert to compete in the Arizona Invitational in Tucson, Ariz. The Red Raiders will start the tournament on Fri., Sept., 5th, against Santa Clara at 2 p.m., and then play Texas State at 7 p.m. They will finish the tournament versus Arizona on Sat., Sept., 6th at 2:30 p.m. All times are central.

Last Week

The Red Raiders started its season with three straight victories to take the Mean Green Classic. Senior Brandi Hood was named tournament MVP and Caroline Witte earned all-tournament honors. Hood finished the tournament with 26 kills and eight blocks. Witte took over the setter's role for the season and had 80 assists and a .533 attack percentage.

Scouting Santa Clara

Santa Clara comes into the Arizona Invitational with a 1-1 record. They are coached by Jon Wallace. Last year they had a record of 19-12 and an 11-3 record in the West Coast Conference. Santa Clara returns 10 letterwinners from a year ago. They received 15 points in the AVCA poll this week. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

Scouting Texas State

Texas State takes a 7-4 record into the Arizona Invitational. They are coached by Karen Chisum. Last season the Bobcats had a record of 21-12 and 10-6 in the Southland Conference. They are returning 10 letterwinners and d have eight newcomers. Tech holds a 16-2 advantage in the overall series with Texas State.

Scouting Arizona

Arizona brings a record of 3-0 as the host school of the Arizona Invitational. They are coached by David Rubio and have nine letterwinners returning and four newcomers. They were 14-17 and 4-14 in the Pacific-10 Conference one year ago. The Wildcats received 32points in this weeks AVCA poll. Tech will be looking for its first win versus Arizona as the Wildcats hold a 5-0-2 advantage in the overall series.

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.

Fabulous Freshman

Freshman Amanda Dowdy started her career at Texas Tech by leading the team in kills and blocks at the Mean Green Classic. She had 28 kills and 10 blocks over three matches and is currently ninth in the Big 12 with a .377 attack percentage.

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 games last season. Brandi Hood played in 102, Michelle Flores played in 104 and Jenn Harrell was apart of 101 games.

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 for the first four sets.