Red Raiders Set for Saturday Tilt at West Virginia

LUBBOCK, Texas – After a two-match home stand, Texas Tech volleyball is back on the road as it travels to Morgantown, W.Va., for a matchup with West Virginia Saturday, Oct. 29, at 2:30 p.m. CT at WVU Coliseum.

The Red Raiders (10-14, 0-9) lost their 12^th straight match Wednesday against No. 6 Kansas. West Virginia (11-12, 2-7) has lost six consecutive Big 12 matches and is just 3-5 at home this season.

Mountaineer TV will provide a live stream of the match, and live stats are available at WestVirginia.Statbroadcast.com.

COUNTRY ROADS
West Virginia opened conference play 2-1 with wins over Texas Tech and TCU, but has currently lost three straight matches and six of its last seven with the lone win coming in a nonconference bout against Robert Morris. The Mountaineers, who were swept at No. 6 Kansas last Thursday and fell 2-3 at Kansas State Saturday, have had a full week to prepare for Saturday's contest with the Red Raiders. Junior Mia Swanegan leads the Big 12 in blocks per set and was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week for the second time after leading the conference in blocks last weekend. Freshman Payton Caffrey, who recorded a match-high 14 kills against Tech in the last meeting, ranks second in the conference this season with 4.78 kills per set.

INSIDE THE SERIES
The Red Raiders lead the all-time series with West Virginia, 6-5. The Mountaineers scored a straight-set win at United Supermarkets Arena earlier this season after Tech recorded a pair of sweeps over the Mountaineers in 2015. The Red Raiders' 3-0 win in Morgantown last year snapped a four-match skid against West Virginia and gave the Red Raiders a 3-2 edge against the Mountaineers in Morgantown. Overall, Tech and West Virginia are knotted at four wins each since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12.

LAST TIME OUT
After a dramatic 3-2 home loss to No. 2 Texas, the Red Raiders hosted another top 10 team in No. 6 Kansas, suffering a tough 0-3 sweep. Tech's defense kept them around through the early portions of each set, even helping it jump out to a 4-1 lead in the third set. The Jayhawk attack, however, proved too much as Kansas outhit the Red Raiders .343 to .064 en route to the 25-15, 25-16, 25-20 win. Jayhawks Kelsie Payne and Madison Rigdon combined for 33 kills on 58 attacks. Meanwhile, Tech senior Lauren Douglass compiled her 15th double-digit kill performance of the season with 10 and sophomore Sarah Redding added nine at a .375 clip, respectively. Sophomore libero Reyn Akiu tallied 25 digs in the loss.

RECORD BOOK TRACKER
Senior Lauren Douglass has been one of the most dominant attackers in program history. A year after setting the school mark for hitting percentage in a single season (.376), Douglass is just off last year's pace at .365, but will likely finish near the top of the school's career hitting percentage list. Sophomore Reyn Akiu has 364 digs this season and needs just 16 more to breach the top 10 of the school's single-season digs list. Senior Marguerite Grubb currently has 2,412 assists and is just 29 assists away from the eighth spot on Tech's all-time career assists list.

Red Raiders Set for Saturday Tilt at West Virginia

Players Mentioned

Reyn Akiu

Lauren Douglass

Marguerite Grubb

Sarah Redding

Related Videos