On the Pitch
Texas Tech soccer took down LSU, 2-1 last night to advance in the NCAA Tournament with goals from Taylor Zdrojewski and Skylar Haase (both assisted by Macy Blackburn) and an attack that saw Texas Tech control 55% of the possession and out-shot LSU 17-9, clearly intending on being the more aggressive team.
Head coach Tom Stone: “First I would like to congratulate LSU. When the draw came up, we knew we were going to get a team that we were going to be higher ranked than, but we didn’t think we’d get a team from the SEC that was so athletic. That was going to be competitive, and was going to be that difficult of an opening round game. They had our full attention. Sian [Hudson] is a great coach and her team is very tricky. When they were on they were beating Auburn and winning big games. When they weren’t on, they looked less than that. Their range of play was pretty broad. We didn’t know which LSU team we were going to get. We just assumed we’d get their best which I think we did in many ways. They came out of the locker room and scored to make it interesting. We were rattled for about 15 minutes after that, then once we settled down and started to pass and move the ball, the game settled into our rhythm again. Their rhythm is very direct and very chaotic. They look to create chaos and look to benefit off it. They created some chaos once they scored, but once we calmed the game down again, we salted it away nicely and obviously [Kaitlyn] Giametta, Z[Zdrojewski] and Peyton and a few others could have put the game away, but we didn’t do that. And then Faith had an unbelievable fingertip save. An ‘are you kidding me’ type save. That ball was hit about as hard as you can hit a soccer ball. And it was going to hit the crossbar and maybe the bottom of the crossbar. She tipped it over and saved the day as well.”
Texas Tech will face top-seeded Duke on Friday, November 22nd, first touch will be at 5:30 p.m.
On the Course
Solomon Kipchoge finished 1st in the NCAA Mountain Region 10k race with a time of 28:55.9 to advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championship, Kipchoge is the first male to win the Mountain Region for Texas Tech since Kennedy Kithuka. Ernest Cheruiyot finished third with a time of 29:17.6 to advance, while on the women’s side Juliet Cherubet finished second in the 6k with a time of 19:44.6. The NCAA Championships are next week in Madison, Wisconsin.
On the Court (Volleyball)
Texas Tech volleyball will host Iowa State today at 1:00 p.m. for senior day:
Senior day has arrived for the Texas Tech volleyball program who will host Iowa State on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the United Supermarkets Arena. Six seniors will be recognized after the match including Elena Leontaridou, Maddie Correa, Mia Wesley, Reagan Leinen, Simone Overbeck and Emily Merrick.
The Red Raiders (13-12, 5-8) come into Saturdays match with a 4-2 record over their last six matches with the two losses coming against ranked opponents. Iowa State (9-14, 3-9) defeated Tech 3-0 in Ames on Oct. 18 but since have gone on a six-game losing streak.
On the Court (Basketball)
Lady Raider basketball hosts Washington State today at 6:00 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+:
The Texas Tech Lady Raiders host their fourth-consecutive home game as they welcome the Washington State Cougars for a contest on Saturday, November 16 at 6 p.m. in the United Supermarkets Arena. Texas Tech leads the all-time series against Washington State with a 3-0 record. The two teams last played on November 16, 2008 with the Lady Raiders coming out on top by an 82-69 score.
Texas Tech (3-0) is coming off a 75-68 win against the New Mexico Lobos on Tuesday. In that game, four Lady Raiders posted double-figure scoring – Jasmine Shavers (18), Sarengbe Sanogo (10), Bailey Maupin (10) and Loghan Johnson (10). All of Shavers’ points came in the second half, with 13 being scored in the final quarter.