The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 4 Volleyball sweeps past Baylor, 3-0
11.05.2008 | Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2008
Box ScoreWACO, Texas -- The fourth-ranked Texas Volleyball team received a 15-kill effort from junior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker as it swept Baylor, 3-0 on Wednesday night. The 25-18, 30-28, 25-21 victory improved the Longhorns to 18-3 on the year and 11-2 in the Big 12, while the Bears fell to 14-10 overall and 6-8 in league play.
Texas opened up the first set on a 4-1 run and stretched its lead to 10-5 on a kill by senior All-America middle blocker Lauren Paolini. The Horns widened their edge to 21-13 behind a pair of kills from junior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker. Sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Doris came on strong down the stretch for the Longhorns, connecting for two kills to help lift UT to a 25-18 set victory.
After trailing early in the second frame, Texas fought back to take its first lead at the 9-8 mark. The Bears evened the tally and traded points with the Horns until a 3-0 run capped by a block assist from freshman setter Michelle Kocher and senior All-America middle blocker Lauren Paolini put UT ahead, 17-14. Texas maintained the lead until the Bears took a 24-23 advantage that they held until a service error gave UT a 27-26 edge. Junior All-America outside hitter Ashley Engle came up big late in the frame with two kills and a game-sealing solo block that handed Texas a 30-28 win.
Texas trailed to start the third set, but battled back to take a 9-8 lead behind a 3-0 run capped by a Hooker/Doris block. Baylor evened the margin at 13 and took a short-lived lead before the Texas block caught fire and helped the Horns forge ahead, 21-18. After trading seven points the Longhorns put together two straight points and closed out the stanza, 25-21 on a block by Doris and freshman middle blocker Rachael Adams.
The Longhorns return to action on Saturday, Nov. 8 when they travel to Iowa State. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- Texas' victory improved its record to 63-2 all-time against Baylor and extended its win streak over the Bears to 14 matches.
- The Longhorns are now 15-1 all-time against Baylor in the Jerritt Elliott era and 61-7, during that span against in-state opponents.
- Texas out-blocked Baylor on the night 8.0-to-5.0.
TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Jerritt Elliott
General statement: It is always tough to win on the road. I thought Baylor passed extremely well tonight and they stayed in system a lot. We had to play some good defense. I thought we made some of our best ball contacts of the year, defensively tonight. We were able to stay in rhythm offensively and we were able to get some really good transition swings. I saw some really good things, but we had way too many missed serves to be at this point in the season. Overall this was a good win on the road. We showed some great composure fighting off a couple of set points.
On his team's blocking: We tried to make some adjustments, particularly between games two and three and we really did a nice job. Our left side did a great job of getting some good touches and blocks and Ashley (Engle) came up with some key blocks on the right side.
On what his team needs to work on: We have to work on our consistency. We have been making too many errors at critical points and that keeps us from going on runs. We play really good volleyball at times and that is what I was telling the team at timeouts. However, we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Our service errors, untimely net violations and hitting errors on successive points make it tough to get into a flow.
On Michelle Kocher going to Destinee Hooker in clutch situations: I thought (Michelle) Kocher was very good for us between 20 and 25 points. She made some good sets to Destinee and she had some incredible sets when they were stepping out. She made some good decisions on two balls to Ashley (Engle) and I thought her location was the best that it has been in a long while. From 20 to 25 in all three games she was excellent.
