As the Texas Tech volleyball team is trying to fight its way through a tough season, it still is searching for answers in Big 12 Conference play.
The Red Raiders will look to halt a 10-match losing streak in conference play against Iowa State (12-8, 6-4 in Big 12) at 7 p.m. today in Ames, Iowa.
"Iowa State is one of the most straight-forward teams, they just do what they do extremely well," Tech assistant coach Mike Moffitt said. "They're coming off a five-game win with Colorado, and they had three losses before that. Really good team, and obviously they did a good job against us here."
Getting back on the winning track is not the Red Raiders' only problem as setter Emily Ziegler continues to nurse a foot injury and will miss her third straight match.
Tech coach Nancy Todd said Ziegler is recovering from foot surgery and is not sure when the senior will make a return.
"(Ziegler) had surgery, and she's just re-cooping and doing rehab and doing everything she can do," Todd said. "You don't know how somebody reacts to something like that, so you're not sure what's going to come out of it."
Replacing Ziegler is Kourtney Dunnam, with more than 20 assists in each of the last three matches, who is adjusting to the role after the sudden change.
"She's doing OK; we kind of put (Dunnam) through her end of the fire, so to speak," Todd said. "(Dunnam was put in a position of) 'Here you go, let's run an offense,' and that's hard to do. I think she's trying to do the best she can when somebody's thrown into something like that."
The Big 12 has not been kind to the Red Raiders (7-13, 1-10) in 2007, as they are carrying six game-wins in 10 conference matches. Tech is slated to go on the road against No. 5 Texas, No. 21 Oklahoma and No. 1 Nebraska.
Tech senior outside hitter Lindsey Louis said the team's troubles could be blamed in part on the Red Raiders participation in the strongest conference in the nation.
"Yeah, the Big 12 is the best conference," Louis said, "but in one sense, it is tough (because) yes, everyone is really good, but on the other hand we all kind of feel like we should be able to play against the top players in the nation. There's positives and negatives, but I'd rather come out and be challenged than not (be challenged)."
A challenge this week may come in the form of Cyclones' middle blocker Erin Boeve. When Tech played Iowa State Sept. 29, she missed earning a triple-double with 17 kills, nine digs and eight assisted blocks en route to the Cyclones' 3-1 win over Tech (30-15, 30-25, 28-30, 30-17).
"She's one of those players when she came in the league as a freshman," Moffitt said, "we all kind of looked around (and thought) 'Wow, that's somebody that's really going to make a difference for that team,' and she has."
Iowa State started the season 1-4 but recently has bounced back to win 11 of its last 15 matches. Iowa State has wins over then-No. 21 LSU, then-No. 25 Texas A&M and No. 15 Kansas State.
Similar to the Red Raiders, Iowa State still has ranked opponents Nebraska, Texas and Oklahoma ahead of them.
The Red Raiders have an all-time record with Iowa State of 20-6, with the Cyclones claiming four of the pair's last five matches. Tech is 10-2 with a two-match winning streak against Iowa State in Ames.
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