Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Takes On TCU In Home Opener
September 03, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2001
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TEXAS TECH FACES TCU IN HOME OPENER
Texas Tech will return to the friendly confines of the United Spirit Arena on Tuesday night when it hosts TCU in the home opener. Texas Tech will be looking for a little home cooking as the Red Raiders did not fare as well as they wanted this past weekend in Utah as the Red Raiders dropped two matches to 25th ranked Georgia Tech and 21st ranked Utah.
Texas Tech and TCU will be meeting for just the third time in school history with Texas Tech leading the all-time series 2-0.
Texas Tech is 16-2 all-time at the United Spirit Arena having lost matches to Colorado and Nebraska last season. Texas Tech is 22-3 all-time in home openers and is 5-0 since 1994 with the last home-opening loss coming at the hands of Iowa State on Sept. 9, 1994.
SCOUTING THE FROGS
The TCU Horned Frogs, coming off a 15-18 campaign in 2000, will come to Lubbock on Tuesday with an 0-3 record. The Frogs dropped all three matches this past weekend in the UConn Classic in Storrs, Conn. TCU fell to New Hampshire 3-1, UConn 3-0 and UMASS 3-0.
TCU is led by freshman outside hitter Dominika Szabo. Szabo has 33 kills on the season and has a hitting percentage of .267 and averages 3.67 kills-per-game. Pacing the TCU offense is setter Tori Barlow who averages 11.30 assists-per-game. The defensive leader for TCU is senior outside hitter Marci King who averages 3.30 digs-per-game.
TCU is coached by Sandy Trout who is 50-111 in her sixth season at the helm of the Horned Frogs.
With the return of five starters from last year's NCAA Tournament team, Texas Tech head coach Jeff Nelson can't help but be excited.
Texas Tech returns two First-Team All-Big 12 selections in outside hitters Melissa McGehee and Heather Hughes-Justice. Both players were instrumental to Tech's success in 2000 and will be called upon to play greater roles this season.
McGehee, a junior from Kerrville, Texas, set numerous sophomore records last season that included school record numbers for kills and digs. McGehee pounded out 473 kills last season which was good enough for second place on the team and led the squad defensively with 448 digs. Along with her First-Team All-Big 12 nod, McGehee was named the MVP of the Carolina Classic held at the University of South Carolina.
The 2000 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Heather Hughes-Justice, returns to the court this season and will be seeing a lot more playing time in a more expanded role. Hughes-Justice played solely on the back row last season after sitting out in 1999 and will move into the outside hitter position in 2001. Last year, Hughes-Justice broke the school record for service aces in a single season with 75 which surpassed the mark of 55 set by Cristine Martin back in 1996. Defensively, the Scottsdale native, dug up 318 balls last year which was the fourth best total on the squad.
"Having the experience of Melissa (McGehee) and Heather (Hughes-Justice) back will be instrumental to our success this season," said Tech head coach Jeff Nelson. "I am really looking forward to seeing what this team can put out on the court. They are all great athletes that have the work ethic and desire to be champions. You always have to be a little nervous when you have such a young group but I think with the leadership that our older players bring to the court, we will be in good shape."
Tech will turn to a talented group of incoming freshman this year to help ease the pains of losing Colleen Smith and middle blocker Janelle Jones. Samantha Harvey, an all-state selection from Loop County High School in Taylor Neb., is expected to do great things for the Red Raiders in her career at Texas Tech. Harvey joins Jessy Herrera, Daneen Grisham and local product Ashley Dickerson who makes up the 2001 freshmen class.
The rugged Big 12 Conference is expected to be as competitive as ever as the league boasts six teams that went to the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Not only does the league have six NCAA Tournament teams but also boast the defending national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The Red Raiders will face another grueling schedule this season as Tech will match-up with seven NCAA Tournament teams from last year. Perhaps the biggest non-conference match-up of the season will be against Utah in the season-opener as Tech will be looking to avenge a first-round loss to the Utes in the NCAA Tournament last year in Hawaii.
Tech will be anxiously awaiting the new scoring format that was adopted this past spring by the NCAA. The scoring change will consist of 30-point rally scoring in each game instead of the traditional 15-point (point/sideout) game. All matches will remain five games with the winner of three games taking the match.
Although the 2001 squad has some big shoes to fill, this young squad is excited about the potential that awaits them as they make a run at the Big 12 title and the school's eighth post-season appearance.
CUMBESS NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT
Senior middle blocker Yolanda Cumbess made quite a splash in her first collegiate start for the Red Raiders this past weekend in Salt Lake City. Cumbess, was named to the Utah Classic All-Tournament team for her dominating performance in the front row for Texas Tech.
Cumbess tallied a hitting percentage over the weekend of .369 (43-12-84) and averaged 3.58 kills-per-game. Cumbess played in all 12 games and pounded out 43 kills over the span of three matches. She totaled four assist blocks and one solo block.
RAIDERS FALL IN FIVE-STRAIGHT GAMES
Texas Tech started off the 2001 campaign losing five-straight games before rallying in the third game of the match with Rhode Island. The last time that Texas Tech dropped five consecutive games was in 1999 when Tech had a 10-game losing streak that started in the second game against Nebraska on Sept. 24th and ended with the second game against Kansas on Oct. 2.
With a 1-2 overall record, Texas Tech is off to its worst season start since 1995 when Tech also started 1-2 with a win over Missouri and losses to UC-Santa Barbara and Arizona.
ERRORS PROVE DEADLY FOR TECH
Although Georgia Tech and Utah earned the wins over Texas Tech, the Red Raiders only helped their cause with a total of 96 errors over the weekend. Texas Tech committed 96 errors in three matches while opponents committed just 69.
Texas Tech's margin of defeat in the eight games that were lost was five points meaning a reduction of at least 20 errors could have spelled a completely different outcome for Tech over the weekend.
The Red Raiders committed 39 errors against 21st ranked Utah and lost by a total of just 23 points.
TECH HIRES NEW ASSISTANT COACH
Texas Tech Head Coach Jeff Nelson announced this spring the hiring of Terri Cox to serve as an assistant coach.
Cox, a native of Long Beach, Calif., will serve as the team's scouting coordinator and will assist in recruiting efforts and on-court coaching. She comes to Texas Tech from Xavier College Prep in Phoenix Arizona where she served as the head volleyball coach. Last season, Cox led her varsity squad to the Class 5A Arizona State High School Championship.
LAST TIME AGAINST TCU
The Texas Tech volleyball team dropped TCU in three-straight games (15-13, 15-3, and 15-8) last season in Fort Worth.
TECH TO HOST WEEKEND TOURNEY
Texas Tech will host the annual Four Points Sheraton/Red Raider Classic this weekend at the United Spirit Arena. The first match of the tournament begins at 11 a.m. on Friday when Lamar takes on Ohio. Tournament play ends at 7 p.m. on Friday when Texas Tech takes on UTEP. Saturday action begins at 10 a.m. with Ohio and UTEP while Texas Tech and Ohio will conclude tournament play at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
ORZEN IS MOVIN' ON UP
Senior setter Skydra Orzen tallied 108 assists over the weekend and now needs just 29 more assists to move up to third place on the all-time career assist list at Texas Tech. Orzen will surpass Sheila Soloman who totaled 3,307 assists during her career which spanned from 1987 to 1990.
