Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Start Season at North Texas Tourney
August 27, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2008
LUBBOCK, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
New Season
The Red Raiders start the 2008 season at the North Texas Tournament playing North Texas, UT-Arlington and Jackson State over two days starting Fri., Aug 29th.
Tech has a mixture of upper classmen and newcomers that is looking for a fast start to the season. Senior Michelle Flores was the Red Raider's leader kills last season and should challenge for the same title this season. Senior Brandi Hood returns as the team leader in blocks as she tallied 94 last year. Junior Jenn Harrell will solidify the defense as she led the team last season with 393 digs. Becca Baldwin, Caroline Courtney, Jackie Vincent, Kelli Minardo and Amanda Sbragia will bring added experience to this year's squad.
All seven newcomers Hayley Ball, Amanda Dowdy, Tyler Elley, Karlyn Meyers, Michelle Ogbeide, Brooke Smith and Caroline Witte are going to have significant roles in the upcoming season. Ball and Witte played at Blinn Junior College playing on two fifth place finishes at the NJCAA national tournament. Dowdy and Meyers were both ranked as top 100 recruits coming out of high school.
The first match for the Tech will be against North Texas at 7 p.m. on Fri. and the two matches on Sat. will be at 11 a.m. versus UT-Arlington and Tech will finish the tournament against Jackson State at 4 p.m.
Quick Start
The Red Raiders will be looking for a similar start to this season as they had in 2007. Last season's squad won seven of its first 10 games to open the season.
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.
North Texas Scouting Report
Last season North Texas had a record of 12-21. They return four letterwinners and have 11 newcomers. They are coached by Cassie Headrick. The series record between the schools has Tech leading it convincingly 17-1. Tech won the last meeting 3-0, played Sept. 11, 2004
UT-Arlington Scouting Report
UT-Arlington finished last season with a 19-11record and a second place finish in the Southland Conference West division. They return six letterwinners and have six newcomers to the squad. They are coached by Diane Seymour. UT-Arlington holds a 18-14 advantage in the overall series. The last time these two teams played Tech won 3-0 back in 2000.
Jackson State Scouting Report
Jackson State finished last season with a record of 18-18 and they play in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They are coached by Rosemarie Washington. Jackson State has nine returning letterwinners and has three newcomers. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.
On The Verge
Three Red Raiders are on the verge of career milestones. Michelle Flores is 15 kills away from having 400 kills in her career. Jenn Harrell had the 12th best season in program history with 386 digs for her career and is 14 away from 400 digs for her career. Brandi Hood has the potential for 400 kills in only two years of competition as she has a total of 199 through one season and 92 blocks.
