Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Missouri
Tech Downs No. 21 Missouri, 3-1
October 05, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2002
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech volleyball team downed its first ranked opponent since Sept. 22 of last year Saturday night as it defeated the 21st-ranked Missouri Tigers at the United Spirit Arena, 3-1 (25-30, 30-25, 30-24, 30-18).
Tech (7-7, 2-3) got a pair of 20+ kill performances as senior Melissa McGehee pounded out 27 and sophomore Kelly Johnson added 22 in a winning effort. Junior Angela Mooney recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 kills and 12 digs in the match while Ann Romjue added 17 digs from the libero position and Jessy Herrera dug 14.
Looking to extinguish any hopes the Tigers had of making a run at the Red Raiders and forcing a fifth game was put to rest in game four as Tech hit .378 committing just three errors while recording 17 kills. The Red Raiders got off to a slow start in the game and trailed by as many as four, 10-6, before making a move. From that point, Tech was able to take the lead in the game, 11-10, and never look back as the Tigers would only manage to tie the match at 11 before falling 30-23.
Missouri (14-2, 4-2) took the first game, 30-25, as it opened the game scoring the first two points before building a 9-4 lead early. The Red Raiders would make a run at the Tigers and knot the score at 11, but could never gain a lead.
The Red Raiders then found their stride. Tech opened game two by scoring the first three points before allowing Missouri to take a 4-3 lead. After a pair of kills by Stacey Poole and a McGehee ace, the scarlet and black held a 14-8 advantage and never looked back. With the score 28-20, Tech, the Tigers went on a run closing the gap to 29-25, but an outside the antenna call by the line judge in favor of Tech evened the match at 1-1.
Coming out of the locker room, Tech jumped out on Missouri recording five kills and an ace to take a 6-2 lead. The Tigers would hang with Tech until with the score 19-16, Tech, the Red Raiders got three kills from Johnson and a pair from freshman Jessica Watson on consecutive points to take a commanding 24-16 lead. Tech would take a 2-1 lead in the match, 30-24.
Texas Tech will travel to Waco, Texas, on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match with the Baylor Bears before retuning home to face the Texas Longhorns on Saturday.
