Red Raiders Host No. 3 Texas Wednesday

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech volleyball gets its toughest test of the season this Wednesday, Oct. 18, when it hosts No. 3 Texas for a 6 p.m. showdown at United Supermarkets Arena.

Wednesday's match is Greek Night at the arena, with the Texas Tech Greek community encouraged to represent their respective organizations while attending. The match will be streamed on TexasTech.TV with Geoff Haxton on the call. As always, live stats are available at TexasTech.Statbroadcast.com.

The Red Raiders (13-6, 2-4) enter the contest on the heels of a four-set win over TCU Saturday in Lubbock, where sophomore Emily Hill posted a double-double with a match-high 18 kills to go with a season-best 17 assists. As a team, the Red Raiders hit .284, marking their highest hitting percentage in a Big 12 match since 2015.

Texas (14-2, 6-0), meanwhile, climbed two spots to No. 3 in this week's AVCA Poll after earning a five-set win at No. 9 Kansas and a sweep of No. 23 Iowa State. The defending national champions had two players collect Big 12 honors this week as middle Chiaka Ogbogu was named Defensive Player of the Week and Lexi Sun received freshman of the week honors.

The Red Raiders have been tough at home this season with a 6-1 overall mark, including a 2-1 record in Big 12 matches. Tech's lone home loss was in five sets against No. 18 Iowa State.

"We do feel good at home, and our play has been so much better here at the arena," head coach Tony Graystone said. "I think that's all part of a rebuild of a program. You have to start by taking care of your house and then go from there. The team has done a good job of that regardless of who we have been playing."

The Longhorns have had the upper hand in the series with an 82-9-2 all-time advantage. Tech, however, pushed Texas to five sets in Lubbock last season, before UT came away with a 21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 26-28, 15-7 victory.

The match against third-ranked Texas starts a stretch of three-straight contests against ranked opponents for Tech. Following Wednesday, the Red Raiders will head to No. 11 Kansas Saturday before turning around to host No. 24 Baylor next Wednesday.

NOTABLES

Tech has already eclipsed last season's win total by three and won more sets than it did in 2016 or 2015.
Tech hits .272 at home compared to .216 away from home.
Tech is 11-2 when hitting .200 or better and 13-1 when holding foes under .250.
The Red Raiders' last win over a Top 10 team was in 1996 against No. 5 Nebraska and last win over the Longhorns was in 2000.
With 10 matches remaining, six are against teams ranked in the Top 25. The Red Raiders have lost 17 straight against ranked teams with their last win coming in 2012 against No. 20 Kansas State.
Preseason All-Big 12 libero Tita Akiu returned to the lineup at K-State after missing five matches with a knee injury. She has started at defensive specialist the last two matches while senior Kate Klepetka maintained the role of libero as she has during Akiu's absence.
Klepetka reached 2,000 career digs at K-State, becoming one of three active NCAA Division I players in the 2,000 career dig club.
Sophomore Emily Hill and Chandler Atwood both have 21+ kill matches this season after no Red Raiders posted a 20-kill match in 2016. It's the first time since 2014 Tech has had multiple 21+ kill individual performances. Hill and Atwood are both over 200 kills for the year, marking the first time since 2014 multiple Red Raiders have had 200+ kills in a season.

Big match this Wednesday vs. No. 3 Texas. It's also 'Greek Night', and Haley and Taylor want to invite all of @TTU_FSL to attend! #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/Sk8bifX7TK
— TexasTech Volleyball (@TexasTechVB) October 16, 2017

Red Raiders Host No. 3 Texas Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Chandler Atwood

Emily Hill

Kate Klepetka

Texas Tech University Athletics