Texas Tech battles, unable to slow down No. 1 Texas

Kenna Sauer recorded the first kill of the match.

And that was one of the few leads the Texas Tech volleyball team could muster against the No. 1 ranked team in the country Sunday afternoon.

The Red Raiders, who are in the midst of the program's best start in several years, found out they still have a ways to go to reach the next tier of success following a 25-17, 25-19, 26-24 loss to top-ranked Texas in a Big 12 Conference match inside United Supermarkets Arena.

"For me, it's the stage, it's just this environment," Texas Tech coach Tony Graystone said, alluding to a record crowd of 6,037. "We always talk about next level, well this is next level. And we've got be comfortable in that time and space and we've got to be able to perform our best in the biggest environment.

"And if we consider ourselves that next-level team, then, yeah, we've gotta play that way when it counts."

With the loss, Texas Tech (13-2, 2-1) dropped its first conference contest and is still searching for its first victory over the Longhorns (11-0, 3-0) since a Nov. 1, 2000 home sweep.

The Red Raiders were looking to take a set from UT in the third set. After both teams were tied at 20-20, 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24 before the Longhorns engineered a 2-0 run fueled by back-to-back kills from Madisen Skinner, who finished with a match-best 19.

"We really did put some things together (in the third set)," Graystone said. "We hit almost .400 and we were making up our block much, much better, we were digging balls and giving ourselves transition opportunities.

"The third set was much, much more like what I was hoping we'd play the whole match. ... We were starting to get more comfortable as it went on."

Despite being down 2-0, Graystone felt his team had experienced the adversity and was in a position to turn things around if the opportunity arose. In two of the last three matches, the Red Raiders were down 2-0 before earning the reverse sweep — including a conference-opening win over West Virginia.

We understand that it's not over, till it's over," Graystone said. "So, we have some confidence in ourselves and it's really just finding one thing to flip and you turn a close set into a win. And they you start rolling from there."

Kenna Sauer ended the contest with 12 kills to lead the Texas Tech attack, while finishing with a double-double thanks to 13 digs. Reagan Cooper netted 10 to round out players in double-figure kills. O'Brien had four kills and one dig.

The Red Raiders showed their fight in the second set, which included nine ties — the final being at 10-10 before the Longhorns took control with a 2-0 run that was enough to stifle a gritty Texas Tech squad.

Things were the same in the initial set, as far as taking a quick lead.

Things started off well with Sauer notching the first kill of the game, riling up the home crowd, before a Brooke Kanas service error provided the Longhorns a sliver of momentum toward a 4-0 run that turned out to be enough to fend off a late Red Raiders comeback attempt.

"The service errors are pretty hard when we've gone on a run," Maddie O'Brien said. "But, I think more than anything, we just have to come together in those instances and lean on each other instead of allowing the game to get to us."

Texas Tech, which trailed by as many as nine points (18-9), closed the deficit to within four (18-14) following a following a Reagan Cooper kill that capped off a 5-0 offensive spurt.

But, a service error allowed the Texas to regain its footing as it outscored Texas Tech 7-3 to notch the first-set triumph.

"Slow start in the first set, I take the hit on that one," Graystone said. "I put us in some tough matchups, and I feel like we got the lineup right in the second and third set. And we started progressively playing better every set.

"The difference, obviously, was serving and their attacker just came right at us and we didn't always have a dig for them. They're a physical team, they can do a lot of different things. ... But I did feel that as the match went on, we played closer and closer. And I would have loved to see us finish that one off."

It's been awhile: Texas Tech last defeated Texas in a home sweep back on Nov. 1, 2000. ... Since then, the Red Raiders have tallied 12 total set victories over the Longhorns.

What's next: Texas Tech is slated to take on TCU at 6 p.m. Saturday in a road contest. Top-ranked Texas is scheduled to host TCU at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech battles, unable to slow down No. 1 Texas in college volleyball action