The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Kansas State
Volleyball snaps No. 16 Kansas State's 21-match home win streak
10.09.2004 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- No. 11 Texas survived a second-game scare and pulled out a 3-0 (30-24, 32-30, 30-23) victory on the road over No. 16 Kansas State, snapping the Wildcats' 21-match home winning streak at Ahern Field House on Saturday evening. The Longhorns (15-0, 7-0 Big 12) continued to push their undefeated streak into the season, while KSU (11-5, 5-2) suffered its first loss in the last six matches.
Texas was the last team to defeat Kansas State at Ahern Field House on Sept. 28, 2002, when UT defeated the Wildcats, 3-0, in Manhattan.
Three Texas players collected double-figure kills, led by senior All-American Mira Topic (Kastela Kambelovac, Croatia) who had a match-high 25 and had a .538 attack percentage for the match from the outside as she recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 10 digs. Senior Bethany Howden (Austin, Texas) and sophomore Dariam Acevedo (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) each added 10 kills, as Texas out-hit the Wildcats, .364 to .184, for the match.
UT also out-blocked KSU, 10.0 to 5.5, led by Howden's seven blocks. Freshman libero Alyson Jennings (Costa Mesa, Calif.) added a match-high 11 digs for the Horns.
"I thought this was a great match for our team to play," Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott said. "For our young team to come into such a lively and energetic environment like Kansas State has here and come out with a win, well, it says something about our team. We found a way to win, and any victory on the road in the Big 12 is well-fought.
"Mira (Topic) had another All-America performance tonight. She was just excellent and rose to the occasion against a great team. We've been doing some great things offensively lately. We executed very well and our hitting and our attack numbers prove that again tonight," Elliott continued.
For Kansas State, Vali Hejjas paced the Wildcat attack with 10 kills as KSU mustered only a .184 attack percentage for the match. Agata ARezande and Sandy Wener each added nine kills, while a trio of Wildcats had eight digs.
In the first game, the two team played evenly until 16-16 when Acevedo stepped up to serve and reeled off five-straight points on her serve, aided by kills each from Topic, Howden and Jen Christian (Gilbert, Ariz.) and two Wildcat errors. The Horns rode their then four-point cushion through the rest of the game, building it by two more points as Acevedo served out the game with back-to-back points.
In the second game, UT had a lead as big as four points until KSU rallied back to tie the score at 15-15. From there, the Wildcats held a slight advantage and went ahead by as many as two points several times as the teams kept fighting back to a tied score until 30-30. With Alyson Jennings (Costa Mesa, Calif.) up to serve, setter Michelle Moriarty (Houston, Texas) had a front-row attack, and then Magee closed out the game with a kill to hand the Horns a 2-0 lead heading into the intermission.
In the final game, Texas came out of a 10-10 tie with Moriarty setting and extended a 17-11 lead fueled by four-straight points on Moriarty's serve. The Horns continued to build its lead, growing it as wide as nine points - at 24-15 - before KSU tried to mount a comeback. A final kill by Howden off an overpass ended the match, and put the finishing touches on the second long-time home match winning streak that UT has snapped this season.
Texas returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 13, when the team hosts Missouri in a 6:30 p.m. match at Gregory Gym.
