The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Volleyball wins 2012 national championship
12.15.2012 | Volleyball
With the win, the University of Texas now has 47 NCAA all-time championships and 50 overall titles.
Texas (29-4) earned the championship after rallying from a 2-1 deficit on Thursday against Michigan to advance to tonight's title match in front of 16,448 fans, the second-largest crowd for a championship match in tournament history.
The Longhorns hit .438 as a team with only four errors against 43 kills. Texas out-blocked Oregon by a 15-1 margin, holding the Ducks to a negative .083 in the first set. Haley Eckerman had 12 kills, five digs and one block while hitting .400 for Texas while senior Sha'Dare McNeal had eight kills with no errors, hitting .471. Molly McCage tied a season-high with eight blocks while Khat Bell chipped in six blocks. Junior setter Hannah Allison guided the offense with 35 assists and five blocks.
Liz Brenner and Katherine Fischer had 13 kills each for Oregon (30-5). Alaina Bergsma, who was named 2012 AVCA National Player of the Year yesterday, was held to a .000 hitting night with nine kills and nine errors. Lauren Plum had 41 assists and six digs for the Ducks, who finished with a .202 hitting percentage.
Texas raced out to a quick start in set one against Oregon with a 9-3 run. The Longhorns would hit .400 in the set and push the lead to a 20-7 score. Eckerman had two of the last kills as the Longhorns out-blocked the Ducks by a 7-0 margin to set the tempo.
Oregon made the adjustments in set two as both teams worked to a 10-10 tie. Plum and Ariana Williams helped Oregon get to a 14-11 lead. After trailing 17-13 and taking a timeout, Texas scored four straight points to tie it. Oregon returned the favor with three straight points, but the Longhorns would answer after trailing by a 23-21 score. Eckerman and Webster went back-to-back to tie it as UO took its second timeout. Eckerman, who had not recorded a service ace for the entire postseason, used the break as good timing as her first service ace gave set point to Texas. Brenner tied it, but it was Webster who would score two straight kills to send Texas into the intermission with the 2-0 lead.
With a 4-4 tie in the third set, Texas broke away with four straight points and would not relinquish the lead. Oregon got within two at 17-15, but three blocks by the Longhorns would finish off the Ducks. The championship clincher came when Bell and Allison blocked Brenner to set off the celebration for the Longhorns.
Notes: Along with the .438 tonight, the Longhorns' .360 hitting percentage for both matches of the Finals set a new record (108 kills with 19 attack errors and 247 attempts)...this was the first national championship for Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott, who was named 2012 AVCA Division I Coach of the Year...Texas is now 3-1 all-time against Oregon...Bailey Webster's .370 hitting percentage for the Finals was the fourth-best in Finals history since 2008...Haley Eckerman finished the season with 504 kills, becoming just the ninth player in Texas history to register 500 or more kills in a season (finishes eighth on the single-season list)...Eckerman's 1,257 attempts for the season were the fifth-most in school history...Khat Bell finished the season with a 1.38 blocks-per-set average, the fifth-best in school history...the Longhorns' 3.04 blocks-per-set average is the eighth-best in school history...the Longhorns finished the season with a .325 hitting percentage, fourth-best in school history...looking towards next season, the Longhorns lose only Sha'Dare McNeal (senior-graduating).
UO 11-24-19 Texas 25-26-25Records: Texas (29-4), Oregon (30-5) Kills: Bailey Webster 14 (Texas); Liz Brenner/Katherine Fischer 13 (Oregon)
UO Texas 1 -.083 .400 2 .462 .515 3 .205 .387 Match .202 .438
2012 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball All-Tournament Team
Hannah Allison, Texas
Haley Eckerman, Texas
Sha'Dare McNeal, Texas
Bailey Webster, Texas
Alaina Bergsma, Oregon
Liz Brenner, Oregon
Lexi Erwin, Michigan
Most Outstanding Player: Bailey Webster, Texas
