Red Raiders Open Big 12 Slate Wednesday at TCU

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LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech Volleyball begins Big 12 play with a road date at TCU set for Wed., Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. at the University Recreation Center. The match will air live on FSSW+.

The Red Raiders (10-5) went 1-3 last week, posting a thrilling five-set win at Rice before dropping three matches at the Roadrunners Roundup at UTSA. Texas Tech's loss to Texas State Thursday ended a 10 match win streak for the Red Raiders, which dated back to Aug. 27^th at Portland State.

TCU (7-3) knocked off No. 8 North Carolina, 3-2, in its last outing, coming back from down 1-2 to steal the upset. TCU finished 2-1 at the Horned Frog Challenge standings after also topping Sam Houston State, 3-0, but falling to SMU, 3-1.

INSIDE THE SERIES
The Red Raiders trail in the all-time series, 6-7, with TCU taking both meetings last season and each of the last three overall. Texas Tech's last win in the series was at home in its 2014 Big 12 opener as it earned a 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-15 victory. TCU holds a 4-2 advantage at home with Texas Tech's last win in Fort Worth coming in 2013.

TEXAS TECH IN BIG 12 OPENERS
Texas Tech has started 1-0 in league play in each of the last two seasons, is 8-12 in Big 12 openers and 15-19 overall in conference openers. The Red Raiders defeated Oklahoma, 3-2, last season in its opener after topping TCU, 3-1 in 2014. This marks the first time the Red Raiders will start conference action on the road since 2013, when Texas Tech took Oklahoma to four sets in a loss.

ROAD WARRIORS
Despite its loss at UTSA Friday, Texas Tech managed a 4-1 road record during nonconference play. The Red Raiders earned a 3-1 victory at Portland State for its first win of the season, won a pair at North Dakota State and at North Dakota in early September and won a five-set battle at Rice during its most recent road trip. The Red Raiders' four road wins is already its most since 2011.

DEFENSIVE DUO
After surrendering hitting percentages of .326 and .404 in their first two losses on the season, the Red Raiders showed tremendous improvement defensively during its 10-match win streak, holding opponents to under .200 hitting in eight of the ten wins. The combination of senior Lauren Douglass at the net and sophomore Reyn Akiu in the back has proven a tough code to crack. Akiu (4.91 digs/set) ranks second in the conference and 13^th in the nation in digs/set, while Douglass (1.22 blocks/set) ranks third in the conference and 15^th nationally in blocks/set.

DURING THE STREAK
Over the course of its 10- match win streak, Texas Tech earned five sweeps along the way, including three in the course of a week against North Dakota, UTEP and Abilene Christian. The Red Raiders held its opponents to a hitting percentage of below .200 in all but one match during the run, twice holding foes to under .100.

ON POINT
Texas Tech hit .507 (42-6-71) in a sweep of Abilene Christian, marking the first time since the 1998 season the Red Raiders have hit over .500 in a single match. The .507 hitting percentage matched the fourth-highest hitting percentage in school history and is the highest offensive output in the Big 12 this season.

IN THE RECORD BOOK
Seniors Marguerite Grubb and Lauren Douglas didn't waste any time planting themselves in the Texas Tech record book this season. In the Red Raider's first match of 2016, Grubb compiled 52 assists to crack the school's all-time top 10 list in assists. Douglas made a mark of her own in a win against Portland State, powering her way to 17 kills with a .773 hitting percentage, a clip that ranks as her career-best and sixth all-time in a single match in the Texas Tech record books.

FORCE IN THE MIDDLE
Leading the pack in the middle 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 after rattling off a school-record hitting percentage of .377 last season. Douglass is currently the Big 12's leading attacker in total kills with 175 and is hitting at a .399 clip, which ranks second in the conference.

SET UP ARTIST
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. She cracked the school's all-time top 10 list in assists in the Red Raider's first match of 2016, compiling 52 assists against Colorado. Overall, Grubb has dished out 533 assists in the first 15 matches and ranks fifth in the conference with 10.25 assists/set.

YOUNG PASSERS
Sophomores Reyn Akiu and Katelyn Bryant and freshman Maggie Sagers have stepped in at the libero/defensive specialist position, providing solid play in the back line. Akiu has consistently been one of the Big 12's top performers with a conference-leading 265 digs and ranks second in the Big 12 with 4.91 digs/set. She has led the Big 12 in digs each of the last two weeks with 80 and 68, respectively. Bryant has also been terrific defensively with 131 digs, while Sagers has chipped in 79 of her own.

Red Raiders Open Big 12 Slate Wednesday at TCU

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Players Mentioned

Reyn Akiu

Katelyn Bryant

Lauren Douglass

Marguerite Grubb

Maggie Sagers

Texas Tech University Athletics