Texas Tech Falls in Four to Baylor

Wednesday, November 2

Lubbock, Texas

6:00 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

Baylor

November 02, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Sophomore libero Reyn Akiu tallied a career-high 33 digs for the Red Raiders.

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech sophomore Reyn Akiu recorded a career-high 33 digs to spearhead a strong defensive effort, but it wasn't enough as Baylor found its way to a 3-1 win over Texas Tech Wednesday night at United Supermarkets Arena.

Junior Katie Staiger led the Bears (18-7, 6-3) with a career-high 31 kills, her 14^th match of at least 20 kills this season, as Baylor posted 64 kills to Tech's 53 en route to the 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-22 victory.

"Tonight we were slow to get started," head coach Tony Graystone said. "We've got to show fight from point one. Our serve wasn't good tonight, and it that made it too easy for Baylor to get in their systems. We started playing cleaner towards the end of the second set, and the third set was more like we have been playing the last couple of weeks. If we would've started the first two sets as strong as we played the third and fourth, we would still be playing right now."

Along with Akiu's career night, Texas Tech (10-16, 0-11) posted its second highest team block total of the season with 13.0, led by senior Lauren Douglas's six block assists and one solo block. Senior Marguerite Grubb and sophomore Katy Keenan supplemented the block party with five block assists of their own, while sophomore Sarah Redding chipped in four.

Douglass had it going offensively as well as she tallied her 16^th double-digit kill performance of the season with a team-high 15 on the night at a .364 clip. Freshman Chandler Atwood matched her output Saturday at West Virginia with a career-high with 12 kills, while Redding added 11, respectively.

Texas Tech got off to a slow start, allowing Baylor to hit .417 and .300 in the first two sets to claim a 2-0 lead.

The Red Raiders turned things around in the third set thanks to their defense. Tech trailed by as many as six in the early stages of the third set, but a 6-1 Red Raider run polished off with a Sarah Redding block pulled Tech even. A strong defensive effort keyed the rest of the frame as Tech held Baylor to .019 hitting to earn a 25-21 win.

A 7-2 run in the fourth set pulled Tech to as close as 21-19. After a Baylor timeout, freshman Kylie Rittimann committed one of the team's eight service errors, allowing the Bears to regain momentum and close out the match.

UP NEXT
A short turnaround awaits the Red Raiders as they get set to host Iowa State Friday, Nov. 4, at 5 p.m. CT at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders and Cyclones squared off Oct. 15 in Ames with Iowa State taking a 3-0 win.