The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
San Diego
No. 2 Volleyball sweeps past No. 15 San Diego
08.30.2009 | Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2009
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Senior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker pounded out 20 kills to lead the No. 2 Texas Volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over No. 15 San Diego, Sunday afternoon at the Long Beach State Baden Classic. The 25-20, 25-16, 25-19 win moved the Longhorns to 2-0 on the season and dropped the Toreros to 1-1.
In the first set, Texas broke an 8-8 tie with a left-handed kill from Hooker and forged ahead 12-9 after two more Hooker kills. San Diego narrowed the lead to one at 16-15, but Texas widened the margin down the stretch, closing out the frame, 25-20 on a kill by junior All-America outside hitter Juliann Faucette.
Texas opened the second frame on a 9-2 run, taking advantage of two Hooker kills and a pair of blocks by freshman utility Sha'Dare McNeal. San Diego rallied behind two kills from Ashton Basch to narrow the lead to 11-8, but Texas answered with a pair of 4-0 runs that pushed the UT edge to 20-12. Sophomore middle blocker Rachael Adams combined with sophomore outside hitter Amber Roberson to force set point before Adams closed the set, 25-16 with a kill.
The Longhorns used four early kills by McNeal to grab a 6-3 edge to start game three before allowing USD to claim a 9-8 advantage. Texas answered with a 7-0 run headlined by two solo blocks and two kills from Hooker that pushed the lead to 15-9. Hooker committed her first error of the match at the 15-11 mark, but added three more kills later in the game, including the game-sealing tally.
Texas returns to action when it competes in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic in Honolulu. In its first match, UT meets No. 6 California on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 10 p.m. Central.
Post-Match Notes
- Texas' victory over San Diego improved the Longhorns' all-time mark against the Toreros to 1-1.
- Destinee Hooker posted her third straight 20+ kill match against San Diego. The streak dates back to Dec. 18, 2008 vs. Stanford.
- Texas out-hit San Diego .386-to-.220 on the night and out-blocked the Toreros 12.5-to-2.0.
- Sha'Dare McNeal concluded the match with seven kills on 11 swings, while committing no errors and hitting .636.
Post-Match Quotes
Head coach Jerritt Elliott
On the victory: We were more steady tonight. We were able to do things with our serving and blocking that we were very pleased with. The way that our preseason is set up we know we will have a test every night and that is something we want to do with this team early in the season. These are great opportunities for us to learn. We still have a long way to go, but I'm pleased with this weekend.
On the team's offensive execution: Last night we really struggled in the first two sets with our serve-receive and tonight we steadied out our passing. A lot of people did a nice job and we were able to keep our offensive flow and keep some of the blocking matchups that we were looking for.
On Destinee Hooker's play: We had some good matchups early with Destinee. She was on the setter for awhile and Ashley (Engle) had a good rhythm with her and the middles were doing a good job. She has the capability at any time to take over a match.
On Sha'Dare McNeal's performance: Sha'Dare is very steady and she plays with a lot of poise. She has a great volleyball IQ, she is low error and she moves the ball around nicely. It is nice to see her confidence continue to grow on the court as she continues to develop as a player.
