The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Colorado
No. 2 Volleyball downs Colorado, 3-0
09.23.2009 | Volleyball
Sept. 23, 2009
BOULDER, Colo. -- The No. 2 Texas Volleyball team kept its unbeaten streak alive with its 3-0 win over Colorado, Wednesday night at the Coors Event Center. The 25-14, 25-18, 25-8 victory moves the Longhorns to 8-0 on the year and 3-0 in Big 12 play, while the Buffaloes fell to 5-7 overall and 0-3 in league action.
Colorado kept the tally tight in the early going before freshman middle blocker Sha'Dare McNeal served a 7-0 run that included two service aces and gave UT a 19-11 edge. A triple block by Rachael Adams, Juliann Faucette and Bailey Webster widened the margin to 22-12 and a solo block by senior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker closed out the set, 25-14.
Adams paced the Horns attack to start the second set, giving UT a 6-4 advantage with her second kill of the frame. A solo block by Adams pushed the lead to 13-9 and forced a CU timeout. Colorado stormed back after the timeout to knot the score at 17, but it was all Texas down the stretch, capping the set with an 8-1 run fueled by three Faucette kills that lifted the Horns to a 25-18 win.
Hooker took over out of the gate in the third stanza, connecting for four kills and a solo block to give the Longhorns a quick 9-2 lead. The Longhorns pushed their lead to 15-3 behind a 6-0 run and eventually closed out the set 25-8 behind a late kill and block by junior middle blocker Jennifer Doris.
Hooker paced the Horns attack with a kill/dig double-double that included 10 kills and 10 digs and a .381 attack mark. Faucette added nine kills on .444 hitting, while Adams and Engle each posted five kills.
Texas returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 26 when it travels to No. 6 Nebraska. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Central.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- Texas' win moved its all-time record against Colorado to 23-8 and 11-4 in Boulder.
- The Longhorns have now defeated the Buffaloes in their last 11 meetings.
- Texas out-hit Colorado .424-to-.049 on the night.
- The Horns out-blocked the Buffs 13.0-to-1.0.
- Destinee Hooker's kill/dig double-double was her third of the year and the 16th of her career.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
Head coach Jerritt Elliott
On the match: I think early on we struggled with some of our touches, but we really made some nice adjustments as we went through the match. We found our hitting rhythm and we did a good job of setting up our offense and getting good quality swings. Overall it was a very good performance and in game three our defense really picked up.
On the team finding its rhythm in the third set: We talked about playing our style of volleyball after the second set, and playing at the level that we know that we can play. In game two it was tight for awhile and we separated ourselves at the end. In the third I wanted them to find the rhythm that we need to have and to achieve the standards that we set on a daily basis. I thought our team did a good job of making the adjustments that we asked them to make and we really did a nice job on the serve-receive end.
On the play of Juliann Faucette: She was great. She was very aggressive, created some really good angles and took some healthy swings for us. It is nice to see that. Our passing and our setting contributed to her success, but she is really gaining confidence. She also had a really good week of practice which helps a lot as well.
On what the team needs to do to prepare for Nebraska: We are going to have to get in the gym and prepare for them like we do for any other opponent. It is going to be the challenge of dealing with their crowd and being on the road. That is where the adversity hits, but I feel like with our tough preseason schedule that we will be prepared for the challenge on Saturday afternoon.
