Red Raiders Earn Dramatic Five-Set Win at UTEP

Wednesday, August 30

El Paso, Texas

7 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

2-0

UTEP

0-3

Texas Tech

UTEP

Red Raiders Earn Dramatic Five-Set Win at UTEP

August 30, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Tech improves to 2-0 on the season as four Red Raiders register double-digit kills.

EL PASO, Texas – Texas Tech volleyball dug itself out of an early hole to defeat UTEP, 3-2, Wednesday night at Memorial Gym in El Paso, Texas.

After dropping a tight first set, the Red Raiders battled back to win sets two and three, then held on in a dramatic fifth set to claim the victory, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 18-16.

With its second road win of the season, Tech moves to 2-0 overall in 2017 and has now beaten UTEP 12 straight times. This was Tech's first five-set road win since a victory at Rice on Sept. 14, 2016.

"When push came to shove, we learned we had a little left to give and that was good to see," head coach Tony Graystone said. "The sets we lost we were right there. We have to learn how to close a little bit better. Every time UTEP made a run, they really made us work. I really saw a lot of good things about us, how hard we were able to fight back and scrap in another team's gym."

Junior setter Missy Owens led a versatile Red Raider attack, dishing out a season-high 49 assists while spraying a career-high 13 kills of her own with a .750 attack percentage, which is the ninth best single-game clip in school history. Joining her in double-figures was sophomore Chandler Atwood, who had a career-high 15 kills to lead all players in the match, sophomore Emily Hill with 14 and junior Katy Keenan, who tied a career-high with 12.

Defensively, junior libero Reyn Akiu posted a season-high 30 digs. The Red Raider block came on strong as the match progressed as the team finished with 10 total blocks on the night. Among those were five block assists from Keenan, which matched her career-high, and four each from Owens and freshman Allison White.

Several Red Raiders received their first action as a Red Raider Wednesday. Freshman Emerson Solano made her debut and was inserted into the starting lineup. Fellow freshman Haley Harman also received significant time and junior college transfer Madison Lopez saw action in the fourth and fifth sets.

UP NEXT
Texas Tech will now continue west, heading to Berkeley, Calif., for three matches at the Cal Classic. Tech takes on Eastern Washington Friday, Sept. 1, at 6:30 p.m. CT, before a Saturday doubleheader in which it faces Dartmouth at 2:30 p.m. CT and Cal at 9:30 p.m. CT.

MORE FROM GRAYSTONE
On Missy Owen's offense
"I know she's got it in her to be that offensive. We don't usually game plan for it to be that way, but I love it when she decides she's going to take over and work points that way. Hopefully we took her out of her box tonight and she can start being more aggressive all the time."

On the starting lineup
"With Sarah (Redding) being out tonight, we wanted to put Chandler's block on the right side. I think ultimately it was good to see it play out the way it did. We got Haley Harman in there, and I thought she was a real difference maker tonight."