Red Raiders go undefeated at Irish Invitational

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Hitting an impressive .408 on the day, the Texas Tech Red Raiders swept the Milwaukee Panthers, 25-15, 25-19, 25-17, on Saturday afternoon at the Purcell Pavilion to conclude the Irish Invitational undefeated

Tech (2-0) collected 47 kills on 98 total attacks and added 47 digs and six blocks on the day against Milwaukee (0-2).

Fifth-year senior Brooke Kanas was on fire after she put up a career-high hitting clip of .818 with nine kills on 11 attacks. She also led the team with four blocks.

Senior Kenna Sauer posted her second-straight match with double-digit kills after tallying 11. Maddie O’Brien and Karrington Jones added eight kills apiece, while Reagan Cooper had seven.

Defensively, sophomore Maddie Correa led the Red Raiders with a career-high 16 digs against the Panthers. KJ Adams was right behind with nine and Reese Rhodes followed with eight digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Set One

Tech started the set on a 4-1 run thanks to kills from Cooper and Kanas. Milwaukee got a couple points back, but the Red Raiders would increase their lead to 8-3 on more slams from Kanas and O’Brien. After going up 20-8 on a Cooper kill, Milwaukee would score seven more points before the Red Raiders closed out the set with an O’Brien kill and win it, 25-15.

Set Two

The second set began with back-and-forth play as both teams were tied 3-3 early. A service error and a kill from Sauer sparked an 8-3 run for Tech to take an 11-6 advantage. With an 18-11 lead, the Panthers kept chipping away at the Red Raiders to eventually close the deficit to five, but a kill from Kanas would seal the set for Tech, who claimed it by a score of 25-19.

Set Three

Milwaukee took an early 4-1 lead to start the third set, but the Red Raiders went on a run of their own to tie it up at 5-5 thanks to a Sauer kill. All even at 8-8, Tech began to break away when O’Brien posted a kill and ace. Leading 14-11, Kanas went on a streak of her own, collecting two block assists and a solo block, then adding two more kills to give Tech the 21-16 advantage. Back-to-back errors by Milwaukee would give the Red Raiders a 25-17 third set victory.

Notables

• Tech moves to 2-0 all-time versus the Panthers… Prior to today, the two teams last played in 1981 resulting in a 3-0 Tech victory.
• Multiple Red Raiders made their debut in the Red & Black as Brynn Williams, Lexie Collins, Paige Mooney and Currie Marrusak came into the game.
• Maddie Correa and Brooke Kanas picked up career-highs in the match as Correa collected 16 digs and Kanas posted an .818 hitting clip.
• Texas Tech leaves Indiana with an undefeated record at the Irish Invitational and only dropped one set between the two matches.

Up Next

The Red Raiders host Tarleton State in their home opener on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. in the United Supermarkets Arena.