Texas Tech Volleyball Loses for First Time This Season
After a perfect 8-0 start to the season, the Texas Tech women's volleyball team was finally stopped by Rice at last weekend's Adidas Invitational in Houston, Tx. It was the final round of the tournament, which was held at Rice's own Tudor Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon, and the Red Raiders were defeated in five sets.
Tech started hot, taking the first three points of Set One, and was lifted to a 25-17 victory by kills from senior outside hitter Regan Cooper. They carried that momentum into Set Two, going up by a score of 8-3 early, but Rice refused to be silenced at home. The Owls brought it even and began trading leads with Tech until they finally outlasted the Raiders 25-21.
Rice jumped on the disappointed Raiders squad in the third set and claimed a convincing 25-15 win. Texas Tech would need to respond in the fourth set to force a final tiebreaker, and respond they did.
Cooper again would do a lot of the heavy lifting, with help from fifth-year senior Brooke Kanas and junior Maddie O'Brien, and the Red Raiders won 25-18 to force the fifth and final set.
Unfortunately, Tech just seemed to run out of gas in Set Five. Rice was able to claim the set, match, and tournament in that final frame, 15-12. The loss was a heartbreaker for the previously undefeated Raiders squad, but they'll have to bounce back quickly as they'll host the Red Raider Classic this week from Sept. 15-17.
The loss will surely sting, but it wasn't all bad news for Tech. They tied their season high in kills with 58, both Kenna Sauer (21 kills/11 digs) and Reese Rhodes (45 ast/15 digs) had double-doubles, and Sophomore Maddie Correa set a career-high with 25 digs. They'll have to focus on the positives heading into their own home tournament and not let this single loss creep into their psyche.
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