Volleyball Falls in Four at Georgia

Thursday, September 14

Athens, GA.

6 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

8-2

Georgia

9-3

Texas Tech

Georgia

September 14, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Red Raiders look to bounce back Friday evening at Clemson

ATHENS, Ga. – Texas Tech volleyball's four-match win streak came to an end Thursday evening as Georgia claimed a 3-1 victory over the Red Raiders at the Ramsey Center in Athens, Ga.

The Red Raiders (8-2) came out firing and won the opening set behind a .325 attack percentage, but hit just .155 the rest of the way as Georgia (9-3) came back to win 26-28, 25-12, 25-21, 25-22.

"It was the overall effect of their serve and they had a couple of outside hitters that were really hot tonight," head coach Tony Graystone said. "Give them a lot of credit, they played really good volleyball on the Georgia side and we didn't look like ourselves on our first touch. We've got to dig in, recover and decide how we're going to process this to turn it into a better result tomorrow."

Georgia's T'ara Ceasar and Rachel Ritchie combined for 44 kills with Ceasar hitting at a .513 clip to lead the Bulldog offense.

The sophomore tandem of Emily Hill and Chandler Atwood paced the Red Raider attack as Hill finished with 15 kills and nine digs while Atwood connected on 11 kills of her own. Junior Missy Owens had another strong all-around match with 40 assists, seven kills and eight digs, while libero Reyn Akiu compiled a match-high 21 digs.

Tech jumped on the Bulldogs in the first set, taking a quick 6-1 lead. The Bulldogs would battle back to even the set at 9-9, and it went back and forth the rest of the way. Both sides had a pair of set points before Tech was finally able to capitalize with a block by junior Katy Keenan and a pair of Hill kills to take the set.

After Georgia raced to a second-set win, Tech again put it on the Bulldogs early in the third frame before Georgia found its groove. A 3-0 run by the Red Raiders cut Georgia's lead to 20-19, but the Bulldogs called timeout and closed the set with a 5-2 run.

In the fourth set, Georgia utilized an 8-3 run midway through the frame to take a 17-13 lead. Tech wouldn't go down without a fight, however, as Atwood and Keenan ignited a Red Raider rally that cut the deficit to one at 23-22. With match point, Georgia's Ritchie received the final point of the match as an attack error was ruled touched by Tech.

NEXT UP
Tech moves up the road to the Palmetto State for the Clemson Challenge. The Red Raiders take on Clemson Friday at 6 p.m. CT on ACC Network Extra prior to a Saturday doubleheader against South Carolina and Georgia Southern.

POST-GAME NOTES

Tech and Georgia were originally scheduled to tee off Wednesday, but weather conditions from Hurricane Irma forced the match to be rescheduled for Thursday
Tech falls to 3-2 all-time against Georgia
The Red Raiders are now 2-2 on the road this season with losses at Cal and Georgia
Texas Tech had won 13 straight sets before dropping the second set Thursday
Sophomore Emily Hill has tied or led the team in kills three of the last four matches
Tech was out-dug for the first time this season
Thursday marked the second time this season Tech has been held below .200 hitting
It also marked just the second time Tech's opponent has hit over .300
Georgia's tandem of Ceasar and Ritchie were the first individuals to go over 20 kills against the Red Raiders this season

For complete coverage of Texas Tech volleyball, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @TexasTechVB and find the Red Raiders on Facebook and YouTube. As always, stay tuned to www.TexasTech.com for all updates on Texas Tech.