Box Score

HOUSTON – Houston Baptist senior outside hitter Heather Leaverton had career high of 20 kills and 25 to become the eighth player in school history with 1,000 career kills, but Texas Tech fought back to claim a thrilling five-set victory over the Huskies, 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-21, 25-23), in their opening match of the Rice Mizuno Invitational Friday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse.
 
HBU sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Casey had 22 kills and 23 digs for her third career 20-20 match for the Huskies (7-5). Senior setter Victoria Weatherly dished out a career-high 68 assists and had a career-high 20 digs, while sophomore defensive specialist Haley Hoffman added a career-high 20 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Madeline Gaffney posted a career-high 19 kills, and junior middle blocker Caiti Wenger had 10 kills and six blocks. Sophomore libero Esther Longoria had 15 digs.
 
Aubree Piper led Texas Tech (11-1) with 19 kills to go with four blocks, while Meghan Stacy had 16 kills and 12 digs. Miara Cave and Emily Ehrle each had 14 kills, and Lydia McKay had 11 kills and six blocks. Emily Ruetter had 71 assists and 17 digs, while Rachel Brummitt had 34 digs. Emily Wright added 11 digs, and Tory Vaughan had 10 digs.
 
Texas Tech hit .269 for the match, while HBU hit .237. The Huskies had 109 digs, while the Red Raiders had 101. Texas Tech outblocked HBU, 11-9, but the Huskies held the advantage in service aces, 6-2.
 
HBU scored the first three points of the match, but Texas Tech came back to tie the set, 6-6. The Huskies continued to lead at 13-11, but the Red Raiders scored three-straight points to take their first and only lead of the set at 14-13.  Two kills by Casey and one by Leaverton put HBU back on top 16-14. Texas Tech would get to within one four times, but could never draw even, as HBU held on for a 25-23 decision. Casey had six kills, while Leaverton added five and Keith had four for the Huskies. Stacy had seven for the Red Raiders.
 
Texas Tech went ahead 3-1 early in the second, but HBU came back to take a 5-4 lead behind three kills from Casey. The Red Raiders took a 7-6 lead, but the Huskies scored four in a row kills by Casey, Leaverton and Wenger and a block by Wenger and Leaverton, to lead 10-7. Texas Tech tied the set at 12, then the teams traded points until the Red Raiders scored two-straight to lead 17-16. Back-to-back kills by Gaffney regained the advantage for the Huskies at 20-19, then they took a two-point lead at 22-20. Texas Tech scored the next three points to go back on top by one, and after HBU tied it at 23, the Red Raiders even the match by scoring the final two points for a 25-23 win. Casey had six more kills and six digs for the Huskies in the set, while Gaffney had four kills on four attempts. Ehrle led the Red Raiders with four kills, and three other players had three each.
 
The Huskies jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the third behind three early kills by Casey, but the Red Raiders rebounded to tie the set at 14-14. With the score tied at 15, HBU ripped off seven-straight points, behind the serving of freshman outside hitter Haley Mueller, who had two aces, and four kills by Leaverton to take a 22-15 lead. Leaverton had two more kills and six of the Huskies' last seven to lead them to a 25-16 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match. Leaverton finished with seven kills in the set, while McKay had four to lead the Red Raiders.
 
The Red Raiders led 3-1 early in the fourth, but the Huskies scored four in a row to take the lead. HBU was ahead 7-5, but Texas Tech went on a five-point run to go up, 10-7. The Huskies got to within one seven times before scoring four-straight points to take a 20-18 lead. Texas Tech answered by scoring the next five to move ahead, 23-20, and sent the match to a decisive fifth set by closing out the fourth, 25-21. Casey and Gaffney had five kills each for HBU, while Piper and Cave had five each for Texas Tech.
 
HBU scored the first four points of the fifth, but Texas Tech came back to tie the set, 8-8. The Huskies led at 11-10, but the Red Raiders scored two in a row to reclaim the advantage and got to match point at 14-12. The Huskies fought back and tied the match and fought off three match points before taking a 17-16 lead, but the Red Raiders responded with a sideout to tie it at 17. HBU had its chances with four match points, its final one at 23-22, but Texas Tech scored the last three points to escape with a 25-23 victory.
 
The Huskies face host Rice tonight at 7.