Volleyball To Open Season At Portland State Tournament

Volleyball To Open Season At Portland State Tournament

August 25, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

The Red Raiders travel to Portland, Oregon, for their first tournament of the season on Aug. 26-27.

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech volleyball team travels north to Portland, Oregon, as they start the 2016 season with three matches at the Portland State Tournament on Aug. 26-27 at Stott Center.

The Red Raiders will take on former Big 12 foe Colorado on Friday, Aug. 26, at 8:30 p.m. CDT, followed by a pair of Saturday matches against Long Beach State and Portland State at 1:30 p.m. CDT & 9:30 p.m. CDT, respectively.

Live stats for the tournament can be found at ViksLive.com, while a live stream for only the match against PSU can be watched at GoViks.com.

Friday's opener will be the first for new head coach Tony Graystone at Texas Tech, who took over the program in January. Joining Graystone are 10 student-athletes from the 2015 squad, including seniors Lauren Douglass and Marguerite Grubb. Douglass is coming off a spectacular season in 2015, when she led the team in kills (280), kills per set (2.95), hitting percentage (.377), solo blocks (19), assisted blocks (70) and total blocks (89). Her totals earned her All-Big 12 honors for the second-straight year, as well as All-Southwest Region accolades by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Grubb also put together a strong junior season, tallying 1,007 assists to become the first Red Raider since 2013 to record 1,000 assists in a single season. She comes into 2016 needing only 21 assists to crack the school's all-time top 10 list in the category.

It'll mark the 31^st meeting between the Red Raiders and Colorado, which will be the first time the two have met on a neutral court. The last time the two programs squared off, Tech picked up the victory in a 3-2 classic on Nov. 20, 2010. For the first time in almost 27 years, the Red Raiders will face Long Beach State, who leads the all-time series, 6-0. Saturday will also be the second-straight season Tech and Portland State have competed in tournament action, with the Red Raiders scoring a 3-1 victory over the Vikings last season at the Texas Tech Tournament.

FORCE IN THE MIDDLE
Texas Tech's middle blockers were a problem for opposing defenses in 2015, and there are no signs of that changing as the new season begins. Leading the pack for the Red Raiders is two-time All-Big 12 honoree and All-Southwest Region award winner Lauren Douglass, who returns for her final year in the scarlet & black. Douglass racked up a team-high 280 kills in 2015, averaging 2.95 per set. Not only did she have the most kills, but she was extremely efficient with her swings, rattling off a school-record hitting percentage of .377. She also led the team in blocks with 89. Sophomore Katy Keenan also put together a strong 2015, putting down 128 kills, while also adding 46 blocks. Freshman Taylor Martinez joins a strong core of Red Raider middles poised for a big 2016.

BALANCED DISH
In 2015, Marguerite Grubb put up 1,007 assists, becoming the first Red Raider to record 1,000+ assists in a single season since Emily Ruetter in 2013. Entering her senior season, she needs only 21 assists to crack into the career assists records at Texas Tech, a feat she will more than likely accomplish during the tournament this weekend. Two new setters join the Red Raiders this season: Kyndal Cowan, a sophomore transfer from Oklahoma, and Sophia Canales, a freshman from San Antonio.

YOUNG PASSERS
At the libero/defensive specialist position, the Red Raiders are young, with three freshmen and two sophomores set to compete at the position this season. However, the two sophomores, Reyn Akiu and Katelyn Bryant, saw action in 30 and 20 matches in 2015, respectively. Akiu tallied 166 digs and 30 assists last season, while Bryant put up 47 digs and six assists. New to Texas Tech this year includes freshmen Eighmy Dobbins, Kylie Rittimann and Maggie Sagers, who are sure to see action during the non-conference slate.

OUTSIDES & RIGHT SIDES
A strong mix of veterans and newcomers complete the outside hitter/right side position for the Red Raiders. Juniors Victoria Hinneburg, Audrey Fragniere and Alyssa Ybanez make up the oldest group of returnees and have been known to pack quite a punch on the attack. The trio combined for 265 kills and 84 blocks in 2015. Ybanez was the star of the Red & Black scrimmage on Aug. 20, tallying 17 kills. Last season, they were flanked by Sarah Redding, who posted a strong freshman season with 173 kills, averaging 2.22 per set. She also added 13 kills in the intrasquad match last weekend. Joining them are freshmen Chandler Atwood, Hannah Henriksen and Toni McDougald, while junior Courtney Ensch returns to the program after not playing last season.

RETURNING FIREPOWER
The Red Raiders racked up 1,308 kills during the 2015 season, with 931 of those kills back and ready to go for 2016. Tech returns four of their top five attackers from last year in Lauren Douglass (280), Sarah Redding (173), Katy Keenan (128) and Victoria Hinneburg (122). The Red Raiders tallied 15 more kills than their opponents last season, averaging 13.3 per set for an overall hitting percentage of .209.

CONTINUING THE TREND
In each of the last six years, a Red Raiders has cracked the top 10 in single-season digs at Texas Tech. In 2010, Tori Vaughn put up 409 digs, but was knocked out by Erica Ruegg in 2011 with 419 digs. The next three years were dominated by Rachel Brummitt, who set the school record in 2012 (510) and 2013 (604), then posted 510 digs in her 2014 senior season. Those three years also catapulted her to the Texas Tech career digs record with 1,624. Last year, Carlie Foust notched 491 digs, which ranked fourth on the list. Who continues that trend in 2016?