In their first home matches of the season the 2024 Texas Tech Volleyball team debuted a faster paced offense, experienced finishers and a gritty defensive backline to go 3-0 over Northern Arizona (3-0), Florida Atlantic (3-1) and Green Bay (3-1.)
A team that the staff lauds for its depth, also looked to be trying to find chemistry at times while experimenting with the right lineups to take advantage of said depth. For that reason, it forced them to fight back from some early set deficits multiple times, particularly in their Saturday rollercoaster win over Green Bay. BUT you saw the grit and refusal to lose which are traits a group looking to propel this program forward in 2024 will need to have.
"I thought each team showed us something a little bit different but we were consistent and it was nice to see us be true to ourselves and be there when we needed to be there," head coach Tony Graystone said following Saturday's match. "Early in the season these kind of games are good for us but they are only good for us if we get a win so I was glad that we got it done."
Reagan Leinen - Sr., Middle Blocker
Listen the roster keeps trying to convince us she is a middle blocker but the film keeps saying she is a unicorn. Glue player, winner, leader.....call her whatever you want but she just gets it done and has been a steady force early as a transfer from Southern Miss.
"For me I'm trying to hype up all the veterans and tell them we've got this we've done this before. Everyone stay calm and focus on what we can control." - Reagan Leinen
Across three Red Raider Classic matches Leinen accumulated 29 kills, 11 digs, 9 blocks, 8 service aces and only one error.
Mia Wesley - Sr., Outside Hitter
Like Leinen, Wesley transferred into Texas Tech from Southern Miss and has walked the walk as the teams kill leader thus far. In system, out of system, backline or frontline it just felt like whenever Texas Tech needed to start or stop a run Wesley was there to get the point or dig one out if needed as well. Also....SHE'S LIKE THAT!
Hanna Borer - Jr., Setter
To keep the transfer theme going....the team's new setter came over from Virginia Tech and in total this tournament Hanna Borer notched 107 assists, 31 digs and 10 kills.
It's not easy to control an offense with this many new faces, especially when you are a new face yourself, but she has done it well thus far while also showing a sneaky bit of offensive punch herself.
Maddie Correa - Sr., Libero
We could really go through much of the roster as everyone stood out in moments but we would be remiss if we didn't close this out with Maddie "Red Raider for Life" Correa. The senior defensive maestro led the team with 51 digs across three matches and got her 1,000th career dig in true Correa fashion.
NEXT UP
The team hits the road for the UTRGV Tournament where they will face UTRGV, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Houston Christian.
"We've got to be much more consistent with our first touch. I think we are a good service team, a really good defensive team...our block is getting there...and offensively we are a lot more balanced. We run faster tempo this year. I like that we are scoring points, we are doing a much better job of that than a year ago and we just have to get our first touch cleaned up." - Head Coach Tony Graystone on the team's performance this season so far.
Season Leaders:
Kills - Mia Wesley (88)
Assists - Hanna Borer (177)
Digs - Maddie Correa (88)
Service Aces - Reagan Leinen (8)
Blocks - Aliyah McDonald (24)
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