Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
8-14,1-9Big 12
Houston
11-7,4-5Big 12
No. 22 Houston beats Tech in three
October 21, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas – Senior Madison Gilliland collected a team-leading six blocks and two aces in the match, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders fell to the No. 22 Houston Cougars, 21-25, 18-25, 20-25, on Saturday afternoon at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Both Brynn Williams and Reagan Engler added three more blocks apiece, while Williams posted seven kills to lead the Red Raiders in the category for the 11th time this season. Engler recorded five kills and a team-high .267 hitting clip. Defensively, graduate Simone Overbeck led with eight digs followed by junior Maddie Correa with seven.
In set one, both teams traded points to begin, tying at 4-4 on a slam from Overbeck which sparked a 3-0 Tech run. Leading 15-11 heading into the media timeout, the Red Raiders continued to pick up points and keep the advantage, going ahead by four at 18-14. However, Houston would chip away and eventually tie things at 20-all, before winning five of the next six points to take the first set by a 25-21 score.
The Cougars kept the momentum going into the next set when they took an early 7-2 lead. Tech answered with a 5-2 run thanks to an ace from Reese Rhodes and errors on Houston to make it 9-7. Williams put down another kill to get within a point, 12-11, but the Cougars would maintain their lead for the remainder of the set to win it, 25-18.
Houston once against held the early advantage, going up by a 7-3 score in the beginning of the third set before a kill by Caitlin Dugan stopped their run. The Red Raiders rallied with a 4-1 run, highlighted by Overbeck's second ace of the match, to make it 8-7. The Cougars responded as they regained a five-point lead, 14-9, before a 5-0 Tech run ensued thanks to great serving from Emily Contreras to tie things at 14-14. Houston answered back with a 3-0 run of its own, before holding the lead and winning the set, 25-20.
QUOTES
Head Coach Tony Graystone
Opening statement…
"A little bit better than last night. I thought our intent was better, we showed up a little better prepared. We just had a hard time keeping things together — just the unforced errors and the timeliness of the mistakes. We see this time and time again where we get ourselves in a situation where we're in a good matchup or we have the point seemingly in our favor, and then we just don't execute. So today was more about skill and situational awareness and last night was more about just being in the fight… I don't think we fought very hard last night. Today was better but we've just got to play better volleyball."
On the play of Madison Gilliland and Simone Overbeck…
"Madison's been here four years, so we feel pretty comfortable with what her game is and where her strengths are. She had moments where she was pretty solid, especially with her block. She served a couple of good points as well. And Simone, we've been watching her grow and get better throughout the season. We like her first touch and her defense, it's just a terminal swing that we're trying to get more out of her offensively. But it was good to see her play a full match, give her 20-plus swings and see what things look like instead of just here and there. More good than bad from her, but her game was reflective of the whole team – just not terminal enough."
UP NEXT
The Red Raiders compete against another new conference opponent as they travel to Ohio for a match against Cincinnati on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 5 p.m.
