Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
9-16,2-11Big 12
West Virginia
9-18,2-12Big 12
Red Raiders dominate Mountaineers Thursday evening
November 09, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas – Holding the West Virginia Mountaineers to a negative hitting clip, the Texas Tech Red Raiders posted a sweep, 25-12, 25-15, 25-10, against WVU on Thursday evening at United Supermarkets Arena.
The Mountaineers (9-18, 2-12 Big 12) recorded a -.091 hitting clip after tallying 18 kills and 24 errors on 66 attacks against the Red Raiders (9-16, 2-11 Big 12). This is the first time since Sept. 4, 2021 that Tech held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage when they did so at Rhode Island (-.018). In addition, the -.091 hitting clip is the fifth lowest percentage allowed by Tech in program history.
In the Red Raiders' third sweep of the season and first since Sept. 2, graduate Emily Merrick led offensively after putting up 11 kills on 17 attacks with no errors for a career-best .647 clip. She also added a career-high in blocks with five. Following Merrick was both Brynn Williams and Caitlin Dugan as they posted seven kills apiece and a .200 or better hitting percentage in the match.
Madison Gilliland helped Tech to a season-best 10 aces after totaling a career-high three, while Abby Dickinson, Courtney O'Brien and Reese Rhodes all followed with two aces each. In addition, Gilliland added four blocks, Rhodes recorded 25 assists and Maddie Correa led with nine digs in the match.
Tech started the first set off strong, holding the Mountaineers to -.200 hitting in the set while Merrick also collected seven kills in it. The Red Raiders went on a 4-0 run to begin thanks to kills from Dugan, Merrick and blocks by Dugan and Gilliland. WVU answered with back-to-back points, but then Tech went on to win seven consecutive points, highlighted by two aces from O'Brien for the 11-2 lead. The Mountaineers tried to come back, cutting into Tech's lead to make it 19-11. But Tech responded with a 6-1 run to close the set thanks to a kill by Reagan Engler, 25-12.
West Virginia scored the first point of set two, but then the Red Raiders won six straight points to take the 6-1 lead. During that run, Dugan posted a couple kills and Correa got an ace. The Mountaineers won the next two points to make it 6-3, but then Tech would answer with seven consecutive points for the 13-3 advantage. At 15-8, the Red Raiders claimed six of the next seven points on two aces from Dickinson and a couple kills from Engler for the 21-9 score. The Red Raiders closed out the set with a kill from Williams, 25-15, to go up 2-0.
Tech once again took an early, 4-1 lead to start the third set. A kill from WVU's Hailey Green stopped the run but the Red Raiders went on a 5-0 thanks to kills from Merrick and Williams and a block by Engler and Merrick for the 9-2 advantage. With the 13-7 lead, Tech would win the next seven points, highlighted by back-to-back aces from Rhodes. The Red Raiders maintained their momentum the entire way through, winning it by a 25-10 score and picking up the sweep.
QUOTES
Head Coach Tony Graystone
Opening statement…
"To say we needed that might be the understatement of the year. It's been such a long time since we put a full match together, get off to the start we wanted and just feel relaxed and in control. Really good to see maybe our best serve-and-pass match of the season, block was really strong and we just followed the game plan. Really, really happy with how we approached the whole night and how we took care of it."
On Emily Merrick's performance...
"For Emily, we see this all the time in our gym, she has all the ability in the world. She's got this big heavy arm, so the matchups were really good for her. It was nice to see her attacking and going to get it instead of waiting for the ball to come to her where she might be on the way down. So, she was able to be physical tonight, which was really good, but her block was probably as good as it's been all season — she definitely had the best block of her season with us in that second set, that was a really nice move. Great performance from her."
Graduate Rightside #23 Emily Merrick
On the team's energy throughout the match...
"The energy was so much fun. It was so much fun to play freely and happy, and that was the first thing Tony [Graystone] said to us in the locker room today, 'I just want y'all to be free and play downhill.' So that was kind of our philosophy the whole game, just to have fun, and every point, we were right on top of it."
UP NEXT
The Red Raiders host the West Virginia Mountaineers for another match tomorrow at 3 p.m. at United Supermarkets Arena.
