Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
5-1,0-0Big 12
Texas A&M University - Commerce
2-5,0-0Southland
Red Raiders sweep Texas A&M-Commerce, Louisiana
September 02, 2023 | Women's Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas – Behind big performances on Saturday evening at the United Supermarkets Arena, the Texas Tech Red Raiders earned two sweeps on the final day of the Red Raider Classic against the Texas A&M Commerce Lions and the Louisiana Rajin' Cajuns to move to 6-1 on the season.
Texas Tech 3, Texas A&M-Commerce 0 Recap:
The Red Raiders began day two of the Red Raider Classic with their first sweep of the year as they defeated the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions in three sets, 25-19, 25-19, 27-25. Tech switched up the starting lineup against the Lions (2-5) as junior Madison Gilliland and Currie Marusak started in their first match of the season.
Graduate Caitlin Dugan was on fire at the net as she collected 10 kills on 20 attacks and a .450 clip while adding five blocks. Sophomore Brynn Williams was right behind with nine kills of her own, while Katelyn Cochran, Reagan Engler and Gilliland all tallied four kills.
Engler led the team with six blocks on the day and Gilliland followed with four. Cochran posted her second double-double this year after totaling 25 assists and 12 digs, while freshman Abby Dickinson had her fourth match with double-digit digs at 10.
Texas A&M-Commerce started on a 4-0 run to begin the first set, but Tech eventually closed the gap to tie it at 6-all thanks to an error by the Lions. At 13-13, Tech got another point on freshman Emily Contreras' first career ace, then won seven of the next nine points to take a 21-15 lead. Marusak closed out the set with a slam as Tech won it 25-19.
The second set went back-and-forth to start out, with both teams tying four times before getting to their seventh points of the set. All even at seven, Tech would win four-consecutive points highlighted by a kill from Gilliland and an ace from Correa. With the 17-13 advantage, the Red Raiders maintained the momentum all the way through the rest of the set, only allowing the Lions to claim two more points in a 25-19 score.
Texas A&M-Commerce started on a 5-0 run to begin the third set before Tech erased the deficit with a 5-1 run of their own and tied the set at 6-6 thanks to Gilliland's second career ace. The Lions retook the lead and then some as they held a 17-13 advantage. Closing the gap, the Red Raiders earned seven-straight points to take a 20-17 lead. The Lions didn't back down after evening the set at 22-22, then both teams continued to trade blows until the Scarlet & Black pulled out the win and completed the sweep with the 27-25 set.
Texas Tech 3, Louisiana 0 Recap:
For the second-straight game, the Red Raiders (6-1) earned the sweep after defeating the Louisiana Rajin' Cajuns, 25-22, 26-24, 30-28. Williams once again led the team in kills with 16 while hitting .306 with 36 attacks versus Louisiana (4-3). Dugan was right behind after recording 10 kills on 25 attacks for a .320 clip and three blocks.
Graduate Emily Merrick posted seven kills on 19 attacks for a .316 hitting percentage and Engler tallied five kills on 10 attacks (.400) and two blocks on the night. Reese Rhodes collected her third double-double after totaling 32 assists and 14 digs, while also grabbing five blocks and five kills on nine attacks for a team-high .556 hitting clip.
Hansen led the team in her fifth match this season with six blocks and Maddie Correa posted nine digs. As a team, Tech put together its best hitting percentage of the season after hitting .288 (44 kills on 111 attacks), and recorded 44 kills, 42 assists, 48 digs and 12.0 total blocks.
In set one, Tech and Louisiana traded points as Williams slammed down a kill to make it 8-8. The Red Raiders would go up by two, 15-13, but the Ragin' Cajuns, who swept No. 18 Rice last week, kept chipping away as they would even things at 18-all. Tech would go on a 3-0 run thanks to a kill from Dugan, an ace by Dickinson and a Louisiana error, then pull away to win the set, 25-22.
Louisiana began the second set taking a 6-4 lead on a kill from Lauryn Hill. Tech couldn't tie things up as the Ragin' Cajuns kept maintaining their lead, until an attack error on Louisiana sparked a 4-0 run for Tech. With the 19-15 advantage, Tech would lose their lead when Louisiana tied it up at 20-20. Both teams kept trading punches before Tech won the last two points on a kill by Dugan and an error on Louisiana, 26-24.
The third set was wild from start to finish as Tech began on a 3-1 run thanks to a kill from Rhodes and an ace from Williams. Keeping the momentum, the Red Raiders got a kill from Merrick to take a 9-5 lead. Louisiana didn't back down as they rallied back to take a 15-13 lead heading into the media timeout. The Red Raiders did not have an answer for the Rajin' Cajuns as Louisiana held the 24-19 advantage looking to force a fourth set. However, the Red Raiders saved five set points to even things at 24-24. The last few points went back-and-forth before both Hansen and Dugan ended the match with solo blocks for a 30-28 third set score.
Red Raider Classic All-Tournament Team
Caitlin Dugan, TTU
Reagan Engler, TTU
Maddie Correa, TTU
Sarah Holcomb, Wyoming (MVP)
Skylar Erickson, Wyoming
Siena DeCambra, UL
Cami Hicks, UL
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Tony Graystone
Opening statement…
"…Just to see us rebound today was pretty cool. I thought our offense really came together tonight. Passing was terrific and we were really low error. [Louisiana's] a good team so I'm really happy with how we were able to turn things around in one day."
On conversations about being down during timeouts…
"Well, I was a little irritated because we were in control, but we were missing all these serves and just giving rotations away. The whole night I felt like we were in really good shape, but the score was tighter than we would like and we were just making errors at bad times. We were pretty low error overall, but I didn't think our serving was as clean as it needed to be and that was really keeping them in. They hit a couple nice shots and we were down 24-20, and then Abby goes back there and does her thing."
Outside hitter Caitlin Dugan
On her chemistry with Brynn Williams…
"Last year, she was learning a lot, and this year, she finally gets to step into that role. It's really cool seeing her blossom and just become her own player and leader on the court. So, I help her out here and there, but I mean, she touches 10-9. She does a lot of it herself and she's pretty incredible."
On if the last play was meant to go to her…
"No, I was just telling Tony that I looked at Kate on the last play and she trusted me enough. I told her I'd take the right side and she could take the outside. So, when she tipped, I was pretty excited and reached for it and it just happened how it happened."
UP NEXT
The Red Raiders are on the road for the first time this season as they travel to Denton, Texas on Monday for a 6 p.m. match against the North Texas Mean Green, then head to Abilene, Texas to take on Abilene Christian this upcoming Tuesday at 6 p.m.
