The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Tech
No. 16 Volleyball earns 3-1 road win at Texas Tech
10.19.2005 | Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas -- The Texas middle blockers - Leticia Armstrong and Brandy Magee - led 16th-ranked Texas to a 30-21, 30-24, 25-30, 30-21 victory over Texas Tech at United Spirit Arena on Wednesday evening. Armstrong had a match-high 14 kills and added a match-high seven blocks and Magee had 13 kills and three blocks in the victory.
With the win, Texas (13-3, 8-2 Big 12) closed out the first half of the Big 12 round-robin, home-and-home schedule with an identical record as it did in 2004, a season in which the Horns went 16-4 in conference and finished second in the standings. The victory was also UT's 59th in the all-time series between the two schools.
Texas Tech (10-10, 3-6 Big 12) was led by Brianna Florus who had eight kills and five blocks. Four players - Jayme Pauley, Emily Ziegler, Amy Charlebois and Philister Sang - each had seven kills for the Red Raiders. Three players hit negative in the match for TTU.
Texas hit .210 on the night, but held Tech to a .065 mark. The Longhorns also out-blocked their hosts, 12.5 to 11. Jen Christian matched her career-high with six blocks.
Wednesday's match was also Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott's 200th as a head coach. In six-plus seasons as the bench leader, he has accumulated a 144-56 (.720) career record.
The Longhorns posted a quick 8-0 lead in the first game as the Red Raiders had five errors coming out of the gates. Tech got its first point on a Florus block, but a Lauren Paolini kill brought the lead back to eight points. With the Horns ahead 25-14 - its largest lead of the game - Tech went on a four-point run buoyed by four-straight UT errors. Back-to-back Paolini kills put Texas back up by nine points at 27-18 putting the Horns in a position to win the first game.
Texas hit .280 in the game with both Paolini and Armstrong swinging for four apiece, but those were the only two Texas players who hit above .000 in the first game. The UT defense held Tech to a .069 mark as Florus had a team-best three kills in the frame.
After the Horns opened game two with a serving error to give Texas Tech its only lead of the match to that point, Texas went on a 6-0 run. Back-to-back solo blocks - by Paolini and Armstrong - further extended UT's lead as the Horns put up four blocks in their first 15 points to go ahead by nine at 15-6. A Magee kill gave Texas a 16-6 lead, allowing Elliott to use his whole available roster for the rest of the game.
At 25-14, Tech strung together a 6-1 run to pull within five points at 26-20 but UT came back with a Jennifer Todd kill and Heather Schreiber added two more kills down the stretch to put the game away at 30-24 and take a two-game lead headed into the intermission.
UT swung for a .273 mark in the second game with Christian connecting for four kills, while the Horns' defense bettered its first-game mark and held Tech to a .051 average in the second game.
With the two teams tied at 4-4 in the third game, Texas Tech went on a quick 3-0 run to move ahead 7-4. Texas managed to tie the score at 10-10 and the two teams played through two more ties, but a Kiley Lyons kill gave Tech a 14-13 advantage and the lead for the rest of the game.
The Red Raiders built the lead to three points at 17-14, but the closest the Longhorns could claw was one point - four times. Leading by one point at 20-19 Tech built its lead back to three points and then grew its advantage to six points at 28-22. An Charlebois kill ended the stanza and pulled Tech within one game, 2-1.
Tech hit .186 in the game, and held the Horns to a .050 mark.
Texas came out in the fourth game, jumping out to a 12-5 lead as Armstrong had a pair of kills and a pair of blocks as Magee served UT to six straight points. The Longhorns pushed their lead to 10 points at 18-8, but a Red Raider 4-1 mini-run brought the lead back to seven points. UT brought its lead back to nine with a Magee-Christian block and a pair of TTU errors. However, Tech kept charging and scored three-straight points to climb back within six points at 22-16. Magee and Armstrong took over with three kills down the stretch and Dariam Acevedo ended the game with an ace to close out the match.
Texas swung for a .308 mark in the final game and held Tech to a -.111 average with 10 errors to only seven kills on 27 attacks.
The Longhorns return to action on Saturday, Oct. 22, when they host No. 23 Kansas State in a 7 p.m. match at Gregory Gym, following the Texas-Texas Tech football game. Fans presenting a ticket stub from that football game will receive a free general admission ticket, while other fans can download a $2.00 general admission coupon from "Bevo's Bargins" at TexasSports.com.
