Texas Tech Athletics
College of Charleston
Tech heads to Georgia for Bulldog Classic
September 01, 2022 | Women's Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas. – The Texas Tech Red Raiders (3-0) travel to Athens, Ga. For the Bulldog Classic to take on College of Charleston, Charlotte and the University of Georgia on Sept. 2-3 at the Stegeman Coliseum.
Tech will face College of Charleston on Friday, Sept. 2 at 2:30 p.m. Then, the Red Raiders play two matches on Saturday, Sept. 3 against Charlotte and Georgia at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively, all times Central Standard Time.
Last weekend, the Red Raiders opened their season at the Irish Invitational in South Bend, Ind., where they defeated both the host team, Notre Dame, and Milwaukee while only dropping one set.
On Tuesday, Tech returned to Lubbock for its home opener against Tarleton State and completed a sweep of the Texans to move to 3-0 on the season. In the match, the Red Raiders collected 47 kills on 107 attacks (.252 hitting), 43 assists, 42 digs and 10.0 blocks. They held the Texans to just .071 hitting after Tarleton tallied 29 kills on 99 attacks.
As a team, Tech has 146 kills (14.6 k/s), 136 assists (13.6 a/s), 153 digs (15.3 d/s) and 27.0 blocks (2.7 b/s). In the nation, the Red Raiders rank 20th in kills per set, 22nd in assists per set and 28th in hitting percentage.
Senior Kenna Sauer leads the team with 36 kills and 41.5 points, junior Reese Rhodes leads with 111 assists, fifth-year senior Brooke Kanas ranks first on the team with a .452 hitting clip, sophomore Maddie Correa has a team-best 49 digs and fifth-year senior Karrington Jones leads with 14.0 blocks.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Friday is just the second time in school history that the Red Raiders will face College of Charleston in a match, with their last game coming on Sept. 5, 2003 ending in a 3-1 Tech victory. The Cougars are 2-1 on the year with wins over Fresno State and The Citadel as well as a loss to Rutgers. The College of Charleston totals 159 kills, 148 assists, 24 aces, 162 digs and 19.0 blocks. They are led offensively by Gabi Bailey, who has 43 kills and 48 points. Defensively, Emma Falk has the most blocks with 10.0 and Tynley Smeltzer totals the most digs with 47.
It will be the second week in a row that the Red Raiders play an opponent for the first time in program history as Tech has a match up with the Charlotte 49ers on Saturday morning. The 49ers are off to an undefeated, 4-0 start after picking up victories against Morgan State, Wofford, Campbell and Syracuse at the Charlotte Invitational. Charlotte is led offensively by junior outside hitter Emani' Foster, who ranks first in the country with 72 kills, 180 attacks and 81.5 points. The 49ers also rank third in the nation with 179 assists and fourth with 187 kills.
Both Texas Tech and Georgia are looking for bragging rights as the two teams have a 3-3, all-time record versus one another. The last time they faced was on Aug. 31, 2018 with the Bulldogs coming out on top, 3-0. Georgia has also won the last two meetings against the Red Raiders. The Bulldogs are 3-0 with wins over Troy, Chattanooga and Santa Clara. As a team, UGA tallies 118 kills, 113 assists, 23 aces, 100 digs and 27 blocks. Last week, junior middle Sophie Fischer was named the SEC Player of the Week after averaging 2.14 blocks per set and collecting 15 blocks, helping the Bulldogs hold opponents to just .058 hitting.
FOLLOW ALONG
Follow TexasTechVB on Twitter for all the latest updates, including how to watch the game and follow the live stats. All games this weekend will have live stats available here, while the Georgia match will be streamed on SEC Network+.
