Amanda Dowdy and Miara Cave tallied five kills apiece for the Red Raiders (2-25, 0-19 Big 12), while Hayley Ball added four kills. Karlyn Meyers had 15 assists to go along with three kills and three digs.

Tech concludes its season with a home match against Kansas State at 11:45 a.m. Saturday at United Spirit Arena.

Hannah Werth, a sister of Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth, led Nebraska (16-5, 9-3) with 15 kills and 12 digs. Tara Mueller added 11 kills and 10 digs, and she and Werth hit .360 and .333.

Amanda Dowdy led Tech (2-18, 0-11) with 14 kills.

The loss drops Tech to 2-14 on the year and 0-7 in Big 12 play, while Colorado improves to 6-11 and 1-7.

In the match, Jenn Goehry had a season-high 17 digs to move into first place on the Texas Tech career digs list with 1,157.

Amanda Dowdy led Tech in kills with 16. Karlyn Meyers had eight kills and 38 assists, while Barbara Conceicao had 10 kills and eight blocks. Caroline Courtney added eight kills and five blocks, while Aleah Hays had nine digs.

Middle blocker Amanda Dowdy was moved to outside hitter earlier this season but is now back in the middle.

Game time is 6:30 p.m. at United Spirit Arena.

Alexxa Roberts had six kills to lead the Red Raiders (2-10, 0-3 Big 12), while Tory Vaughan made a team-high nine digs. Karlyn Meyersa and Caroline Witte each dished out nine assists for Tech.

The Red Raiders are 2-9 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 play after being swept by Texas A&M and Nebraska and having a match with Kansas State postponed due to several players having the flu.

Iowa State is 10-3 on the year and 2-2 in Big 12 play.

After Iowa State, the Red Raiders will be back on the road at Oklahoma (10-3, 3-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m

Knight

The Lady Raiders were scheduled to fly to Manhattan, Kan., for a Tuesday night game against Kansas State. But with a growing number of Tech team members suffering from flu-like symptoms, the schools agreed to reschedule the match.

“We had just enough players in practice (Monday) night we thought we might make it if no one else got sick,” Knight said. “But I got a call (Tuesday) morning from my last available attacker that she was sick. Then we were down to eight.”

By Tuesday evening only four players were healthy enough to practice.
Knight said team members are suffering from flu symptoms ranging from nausea to congestion. She thinks there is more than one strain of the virus being passed from player to player, exposing more team members to illness and making it difficult for them to recover.

“It seems like it just keeps coming back on them,” she said. “They’ll feel better one day and they get sick again.”

She did not know whether any members of the team had been tested for the H1N1 strain. Bob Burda, the Big 12 assistant commissioner for communications, said concern about the spread of H1N1 made postponing the match a simple decision.

“My understanding is it’s a flu virus, but with the heightened state of caution surrounding public health and safety right now, it was better safe than sorry,” Burda said.

The first Lady Raider exhibited symptoms last week, and still has not recovered. Knight said team trainers Imelda Garcia and Robert Lopez have been making sure the athletes receive plenty of vitamin C and D, and have been liberally issuing hand sanitizer.

Athletes who live with sick teammates were also issued facemasks to wear at home as an extra precaution.
“When I talked to the K-State coach I told her you just can’t imagine how fast it goes through your team,” Knight said.

Tech and Kansas State are already working on rescheduling. The Red Raiders travel to Columbia, Mo. on Oct. 10 and may build a stop in Manhattan into the schedule. Burda said the Wildcats are checking for gym availability on a few different days.

Burda said Big 12 bylaws sate that a game can be postponed “by consent of the administrators of the member institutions and approval of the conference office,” but it’s only happened a handful of times in conference history.

“We’ve had some weather related postponements in basketball over the years and even in volleyball late in the season, but to my knowledge this is the first influenza virus,” he said.

As for Tech, Knight is hoping the remaining healthy players do not fall ill as well. The team (2-9, 0-2 Big 12) has a bye this weekend; its next scheduled game will be in Lubbock against Iowa State on Sept. 30.

Until then the players have been instructed to stay home, rest, and drink lots of fluids. As for the coaches, Knight said, “so far we’re OK.”

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The Red Raiders are 2-7 going into league action while the Cornhuskers are 8-2. Tech is led by junior middle blocker Barbara Conceicao, who leads the Big 12 in blocks per set (1.57) and is ranked fourth nationally. Sophomore Amanda Dowdy leads the conference in service aces and is sixth in points.

The Red Raiders (1-5), who picked up their first win of the season at a tournament in New Orleans last weekend, will face Gonzaga (2-4) at 4:30 p.m. today. Tech will play twice Saturday, against Stephen F. Austin (5-4) at 10 a.m. and against host Tulsa (6-1) at 7 p.m.

The Sooners swept the season series – Oklahoma won earlier this season in Lubbock in a match that was moved up due to Hurricane Ike – with a 22-25, 25-12, 21-25, 25-10, 15-12 win.

Amanda Dowdy led the Red Raiders with 16 kills, while outside hitters Becca Baldwin finished with 12 kills and Hayley Ball added 11 kills.

• Texas Tech men’s tennis

WACO – Texas Tech’s Michael Breler and James Wilson moved into the semifinals of the consolation bracket at the Baylor HEB Invitational.

Breler won a pair of matches in the A Draw consolation bracket, including one over teammate Christian Rojmar, while Wilson won a pair of matches in the B Draw consolation bracket.

Both players will play this morning, with the winners playing in the consolation final later in the day.