Texas Tech Athletics
Missouri
Red Raiders Battle, Fall in Four to Missouri
November 10, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 10, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Despite one of Texas Tech's best offensive performances of the season, Missouri overcame an early first-set deficit to top the Red Raiders, 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19), Wednesday night in the Hearnes Center.
The Red Raiders (3-22; 1-15) got off to one of their best starts to the season with a .333 hitting percentage through two sets, but Missouri (18-8; 10-6) broke ties midway through both the third and fourth sets to prevent Tech from its first road win of the season.
"I thought this was definitely one of our best efforts of the season," Tech interim head coach Beth Falls said. "We got off to the kind of start I wanted, but we got a little timid in key points. We came back from deficits well, but the biggest thing we have to do is learn to finish."
Backed by Justine Young's presence in the middle, Tech used a 5-0 team block advantage to force Missouri into nine attacking errors in the first frame. The Red Raiders, on the other hand, were fairly accurate, committing only one error en route to a .370 hitting percentage, Tech's third-highest total in a set this season.
Tech's defense struggled in the second frame as the Tigers raced out to an early six-point lead it never surrendered. Missouri hit .475 in the frame with only two attacking errors. The Red Raiders did not fair too badly on the offensive end, though, posting a .303 hitting percentage.
After Missouri built a five-point lead early into the third, Tech went on an 8-3 run that tied the match at 13 points each. With Tech making six attacking errors in the frame, one more than the first two sets combined, Missouri was able to hit just enough spots to take a 2-1 lead.
The Red Raiders appeared poised to send the match into a fifth and deciding set early into the fourth frame, leading 14-12 in a back-and-forth start. The Tigers hit their stride from there, however, ending the match with a 13-5 run.
On a night where she moved into the top 10 in the school record book for career kills, Amanda Dowdy led the Tech offense with a match-high 21 kills to go along with 11 digs for her 10th career double-double and eighth one of the year. Dowdy finished the match with a .306 hitting percentage, a few percentage points away from matching her season high.
Barbara Conceicao and Miara Cave each added seven kills for Tech, while the duo and Young both finished with three blocks as Tech recorded a 10-3 block advantage. Setter Karlyn Meyers averaged right at 10 assists per set, finishing with 40 in the match.
Jackie Vincent led the Tech back row, matching her career high with 19 digs, while Aleah Hayes, who was playing in her home state, added 10 digs. Tech wrapped the match hitting .222 over the four sets.
Missouri had three players with double-digit kills in Julianna Klein (17), Lisa Henning (15) and Paola Ampudia (12). Klein finished with a double-double with 12 digs, while Caitlyn Vann added a match-high 20 digs.
The Red Raiders return to the United Spirit Arena this Saturday to face in-state rival Texas. First serve against the 7th-ranked Longhorns is slated for 1 p.m.
