Volleyball Halts Texas Tech’s Win Streak
September 27, 2014 07:11 PM | General
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LUBBOCK, Texas – With Jordan Anderson’s career-best 24 kills leading the way, the West Virginia University volleyball team downed the previously undefeated Texas Tech Red Raiders, 3-1, in its first Big 12 road match of the season on Saturday afternoon at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock. The Mountaineers took the match in set scores of 25-22, 25-13, 20-25 and 25-22.
WVU (11-4, 1-1 Big 12) became the first team to beat the Red Raiders (13-1, 1-1 Big 12), earning its first league win of the season in the process. The Mountaineers have now won three straight against TTU.
"It's always good to get a win in the Big 12," said coach Kill Kramer. "If you look back a couple years ago to when we first joined the Big 12, how much further both of these teams have come in that time period is just outstanding. The first, second and fourth sets were some really good volleyball. We like to get wins but it's so much better when it's good volleyball."
Anderson had 24 kills on 53 wins, hitting for a .264 clip while tying her career high. She also had 24 kills last season vs. Marshall. She also had a trio of block assists and a solo block as well as 12 digs for her fifth double double of the season.
Coming off a career night herself, Nikki Attea posted 10 kills and 16 digs for the Mountaineers, as well as an ace and three block assists. Hannah Sackett also finished in double figure kills for the second straight match, putting up 12 on the day. She hit .242 with a pair of block assists, while Caleah Wells added four kills for WVU.
Evyn McCoy continued to be West Virginia’s blocking leader, pacing the squad with seven block assists. Wells and Konstantinidou each had a block solo, with Wells also adding in a block assist. Konstantinidou had 51 assists, crossing the 50-assist plateau for the second consecutive match.
Including Anderson, four different players finished in double figure digs for WVU, led by Gianna Gotterba’s 17. Gotterba also recorded a pair of aces for the Mountaineers. Attea finished just shy of her career high with 16 digs, while Melvina Brown had a career-best 11 in the match.
Rachel Brummitt had 12 digs to lead the Red Raiders, while Mikia Mills had 10 kills. Mills also had four block assists for Texas Tech.
West Virginia finished the match hitting .193 as a team with 53 kills and 12 team blocks. Texas Tech hit .067 with 44 kills and seven team blocks.
The Mountaineers hit .243 in the first set, led by Anderson’s .500 clip. She also paced the squad with seven kills, while McCoy was good for a trio of block assists. The Red Raiders scored three in a row to take a 6-2 advantage, but West Virginia used kills from Attea and Anderson to tie the set 7-7. A pair of Anderson kills helped the Mountaineers take a 22-19 lead, while McCoy had a kill and a block assist to make it 24-22. A Tech attacking error closed things out for the Mountaineers with the 25-22 win.
West Virginia was even better offensively in set two, hitting .320 as a team. Sackett’s six kills led the way, while McCoy added a pair of block assists. Using a balanced attack, the Mountaineers jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start things off. Tech scored five straight to cut the WVU lead to one at 9-8, but the Mountaineers answered with a 7-0 run that gave them a 17-9 advantage. An Attea kill, followed by a block from Sackett and McCoy pushed Texas Tech to the brink before Anderson and Sackett each found the court to close out the set with a 25-13 win.
The third set was an offensive struggle for the Mountaineers, who hit .048 in the stanza. WVU again took a 6-2 lead to start, then padded that advantage to 13-8 on an ace by Attea. Four straight points from Texas Tech cut the deficit to just one point at 15-14, and the Red Raiders would later use back-to-back blocks to tie the score at 19-19. A kill by Sackett made it 20-19, but TTU scored six unanswered points to take the third set 25-20.
The Mountaineers got off to a rocky start in the fourth set, falling into a 6-1 hole. The Red Raiders increased their lead to 13-7 before WVU used a 7-0 run that included kills from Wells and Anderson and an ace from Gotterba to take a 15-14 lead. Attea put down a pair of kills as the Mountaineers traded points with Texas Tech, battling to a 20-20 tie. A block by Wells and Anderson, as well as a kill from Anderson helped to set up set-point for the Mountaineers before Anderson finished things off with a kill for the 25-22 win as WVU took the match 3-1.
West Virginia will travel to Huntington, W.Va., on Wednesday for 6:30 p.m. match with in-state foe Marshall. The match will be the final nonconference game on the slate for the Mountaineers.
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