Texas Tech Takes Down Tarleton State in Four Sets

Thursday, March 11

Stephenville, TX

4:00 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

7-12,5-11Big 12

Tarleton State

10-9,6-6WAC

Texas Tech

Tarleton

Photo by: Tarleton State Athletics

Texas Tech Takes Down Tarleton State in Four Sets

March 11, 2021 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Red Raiders defeated the Texans 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-16.

By: Katie Moseley

STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Texas Tech (7-12) hit a season-best .364 with 63 kills and 61 assists en route to a four-set victory over Tarleton State (10-9) Thursday evening in Stephenville, Texas.

Senior Samantha Sanders tallied her seventh double-double of the season with a team-leading 15 kills and 12 digs to pace the Red Raiders offensively.

Freshman Maddie O'Brien had a breakout match with a career-best 13 kills on 21 attempts and just one error for a .619 hitting clip. O'Brien also added a team-high four blocks.

Junior setter Alex Kirby did a little bit of everything with eight kills, six digs, one block, one ace and 52 assists. Her 52 assists tied her season-high set back in October against Iowa State and was just short of her career mark of 58.

Libero Lindsey Dodson finished the match with a career-best 22 digs and added one ace to bring her season total to 15.

After trailing by as much as six early in the first set, the Red Raiders used a six-point run to take their first lead of the match at 16-15. Tied at 20 in the first frame, Tech rallied for five of the next seven points to take the first set 25-22.

The second set mirrored the first with the Texans setting the tempo jumping out to a 13-8 lead. The Red Raiders would not go away, chipping away before taking the first lead of the set at 19-18. However, the Texans would be the ones to pull away late with the next three points to force a Tech timeout down 21-19. The Red Raiders fought off one set point, but a service error closed out the second set 25-22 in favor of Tarleton State.

The Red Raiders got off to a stronger start in the third frame, leading 15-11 before Tarleton State called its first timeout of the set. The Texans fought back and rallied to tie the match at 19, but Tech took five of the next six points to take the 2-1 lead with a 25-20 third set win.

After falling behind 7-3, Tech used a 10-1 scoring run to flip a four-point deficit into a five-point lead in the fourth set. The Red Raiders dominated the rest of the way with five kills, three service aces and two blocks to take the fourth set and the match in commanding fashion, 25-16.

Texas Tech will play three more matches next week, starting Wednesday March 17 at North Texas followed by a pair of matches at SMU on March 19 and 20.