The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri<br>(presented by AT&T)
Faucette powers No. 7 Volleyball past Missouri, 3-0
09.15.2007 | Volleyball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Freshman outside hitter Juliann Faucette hammered out 21 kills on .529 hitting to lift the No. 7 Texas Volleyball team to a 3-0 (30-22, 30-24, 30-24) sweep of Missouri, Saturday night at Gregory Gymnasium. Faucette highlighted a group of four Longhorns that tallied double-digits on the night, including sophomore Destinee Hooker's 17-kill effort, and junior Lauren Paolini and senior Brandy Magee's 10-kill performances.
Texas (5-3, 1-1 Big 12) dominated Missouri (7-3, 0-1 Big 12) in the Longhorns' Big 12 Conference home opener, out-hitting the Tigers on the night, .384-to-.212. Faucette led the Horns with her second career kill/dig double-double and a career-best attack mark, while Hooker registered the second kill/dig double-double of her UT career.
The Longhorns leapt out to an early lead in game one, using a 6-0 run, headlined by four Faucette kills to claim an 11-6 advantage. Texas added to its lead at the 16-12 mark, when sophomore defensive specialist Heather Kisner served four straight points, including two service aces to push the UT edge to 20-12. The Horns would not look back from that point on, taking advantage of seven game-one kills from Faucette and Hooker to down the Tigers, 30-22.
In the second frame, UT fell behind briefly, but reclaimed the lead on a kill by senior setter Michelle Moriarty at the 6-5 mark. Faucette helped the Horns stretch their lead to five, connecting for one of her nine game-two kills as part of a 5-0 run that gave UT a 12-7 edge. Hooker came on strong in the end of the second stanza, connecting for a pair of kills, but it was Faucette that added the exclamation point, capping the game, 30-24.
Paolini caught fire in the third game, registering six kills on .400 hitting, including three straight kills that gave UT an early 6-2 lead. A pair of Mizzou miscues and kills by Hooker and Faucette paced a 4-0 Texas run that helped the Horns push their lead to 16-10. Magee, Moriarty and Faucette added three straight kills at the 20-14 mark to push the advantage to 23-14, while Paolini and Hooker turned on the heat down the stretch, tallying two kills apiece to help UT to a 30-24 win.
Faucette added 11 digs to her career hitting performance against Missouri, and Hooker added a double-double with 17 kills on .324 hitting and chipped in 11 digs. Magee hit .421 on the night with 10 kills, while Paolini totaled 10 kills on .368 hitting. Moriarty registered 52 assists in the victory and added six assists and four kills.
Texas returns to action Wednesday, Sept. 19 when it welcomes Big 12 Conference foe Iowa State to Gregory Gymnasium. First serve is slated for 6:30 p.m.
TEXAS HEAD COACH JERRITT ELLIOT
Opening statement: I think this has been our best match in regard to balance. We were able to give Brandy (Magee) some chances and we were also able to put the ball in the middle in some situations to get more balance from our middles. Overall, our hitting percentage was excellent and we did some really nice things. This is something really good to build on, and it feels good to get our first conference win.
On getting the first stretch of games played: We talked yesterday in practice about putting together a good stretch. We need to continue improving, get on the court more, get healthy and learn how to work with each other. Our back court is becoming a lot more prominent, and our offense has developed a system that we're getting to see a little more each time out. I think our defensive speed is getting better. We're trying to get more defensive minded in regards to discipline and picking the right spots. We've got a lot of promise. The offensive side is my least concern at this point, so it's more about being able to slow certain players down and getting our transition game to compliment the offense.
On Kiley Hall and Heather Kisner's performance: We're going with a two man serve/receive with Alyson (Jennings) and Heather and we're just trying to smooth that out a little bit. It allows us to get more back row swings and take certain players out of the serve/receive. Kiley has been training really hard and coming in early to practice. She was a big spark in game one. She put a nice string together for us and was really good defensively. Of all of our players, she was probably the most disciplined on the defensive side and that's what we need. It's not a huge role for her, but it's a very important one. We're really beginning to see what she can do with her offensive serve and her defensive speed.
FRESHMAN OUTSIDE HITTER Juliann Faucette
On her defensive game: In terms of defense I feel like I've stayed disciplined. Coach told us before the match what he wanted to see and I really tried to work hard. I think that staying disciplined in the back row is really important for me and I think that was the best defense I've played.
SENIOR MIDDLE BLOCKER Brandy Magee
On Michelle Moriarty's performance: I think with this match we had a lot of people that were able to step up and Michelle had a lot of setting options. There were a lot of people calling for the ball and it helps her out because she knows we're all there and we all want to hit.
