The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
LIU
No. 8 Volleyball deals Long Island 3-0 defeat
09.02.2006 | Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. -- No. 8 Texas (4-1) rebounded from an early-afternoon defeat to Cal Poly by putting away Long Island (2-4) by a 3-0 count (30-22, 30-27, 30-18) Saturday evening in the Asics Classic at Pepperdine University. The Longhorns hit .294 for the match and took advantage of a .100 hitting effort and 11 service errors from the Blackbirds. UT senior Dariam Acevedo (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) led Texas with 10 kills, while junior Michelle Moriarty (Houston, Texas) led all players with 36 assists and added 10 digs and five service aces. Junior Alyson Jennings totaled 13 digs for the Longhorns. Martina Wagner led Long Island with 15 kills.
After Moriarty opened the match with a service ace, Texas and Long Island traded the next six points before the Longhorns ran off four straight points capped by a Moriarty kill to take an 8-3 lead. Leading 10-6, Texas took four of five points behind kills from Acevedo and Todd and a pair of Long Island errors. The teams split the next eight points before a Svetlana Simic attack error gave Texas a 19-11 lead. Leading 20-13, Texas collected consecutive points on blocks from Acevedo, Jennifer Todd (Henderson, Nev.) and Ashley Engle (Yorba Linda, Calif.) for a 23-13 lead. The Longhorns allowed the Blackbirds to draw within 25-19, but UT garnered four straight points on a Lauren Paolini (Ann Arbor, Mich.) kill, two Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) service aces and a Blackbird attack error for a 29-19 lead. Long Island saved three game points before registering an attack error to give Texas the game, 30-22.
A Hooker kill and a LIU attack error gave Texas an early 2-0 lead in game two. With the game tied at four, the Longhorns collected two kills from Acevedo and a Blackbird attack error for a 7-4 lead. Long Island evened the game at 10 and took the lead at 11-10 on a Leticia Armstrong (Elkhart, Ind.) attack error. Hooker added a kill and a service ace to even the game at 13. Long Island responded with four straight points on a Texas service error, an ace, a Longhorn attack error and a kill before UT went on the offensive with three more points to cut the deficit to 17-16. After LIU took a 19-16 lead, Texas went on a 10-2 run highlighted by two kills from Acevedo and two Moriarty service aces to take a 26-21 lead. Long Island would get as close as 29-27, but a Blackbird attack error gave Texas game two, 30-27.
As in game one, Moriarty opened game three with a service ace. At 2-2, Texas took four straight points on a Blackbird service error, kills from Engle and Hooker and a LIU attack error for a 6-2 lead. After Long Island trimmed the lead to 8-7, UT went on a 5-0 run behind kills from Armstrong, Engle, Acevedo, and Todd plus a Todd block for a 13-7 lead. Another Moriarty ace gave Texas a 15-9 lead, and Hooker later added three consecutive kills to put the Longhorns on top, 22-12. Freshman RuthAnn Feist (Wallisville, Texas) gave UT a 26-14 lead with her first kill of the match, and the Longhorns capitalized on a net violation and three Blackbird service errors to close out the match, 30-18.
Texas returns to the court on Thursday, Sept. 7 when it hosts the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational in the home opener at UT's Gregory Gym. No. 13 Missouri and No. 2 Penn State will square off in the tournament opener at 4 p.m. CDT, and Texas will meet No. 6 Santa Clara in the nightcap beginning at 6:30 p.m. On Friday, Sept. 8, Missouri will take on Santa Clara before Texas meets Penn State at 6:30 p.m. CDT in a match set for a live national telecast on College Sports Television (CSTV).
