The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
West Virginia
No. 2 Volleyball earns 3-0 Big 12 win at West Virginia
08.29.2012 | Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2012
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- Sophomore All-America outside hitter Haley Eckerman had 15 kills while hitting .538 (15-1-26) as the No. 2 Texas Longhorns earned a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-18, 26-16) at the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Big 12 opener for both squads. Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott earned his 200th career collegiate win as the Longhorns improve to 4-0 on the season.
Bailey Webster added 13 kills and a .522 hitting clip (13-1-23) for the Longhorns.
Arielle Allen led West Virginia (2-2, 0-1) with 10 kills. Texas hit .363 as a team while WVU hit .137 on the evening.
West Virginia used the large crowd to gain a 5-5 tie in the first set. Sha'Dare McNeal's kill started a 6-1 run as Eckerman's kill forced a timeout by the Mountaineers with the 11-6 UT lead. Sarah Palmer added a service ace as the lead grew to eight, 18-10. Eckerman registered two kills as Webster later put the first set away as UT hit .400 in the first stanza (12 kills, two errors).
With Texas trailing 8-7 in the second set, Khat Bell started a 6-1 run as two straight blocks gave the 13-9 score to UT. Eckerman rolled up an ace on the jump serve to make it 19-13. She would finish it out and give Texas the 2-0 lead in the match with another kill.
Webster came out with three kills to lead the third set as the Longhorns worked to a 6-3 advantage. Eckerman added two kills with Kat Brooks adding a service ace later as UT led by four, 12-8. UT closed out the match with the 6-1 run to remain perfect on the season.
Texas travels this weekend to the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic to play No. 18 Florida on Friday (Aug. 31) and host No. 4 Penn State on Saturday (Sept. 1).
Notes: Tonight was the first-ever meeting between Texas and West Virginia in women's volleyball...Texas is 14-1 all-time when both Haley Eckerman and Bailey Webster record double-digit kills in a match...Texas has not lost a set this season...with nine blocks in tonight's match, Texas is averaging over four blocks a set this season (4.08 bps).
TEXAS 25-25-25 WVU 15-18-16Records: Texas (4-0, 1-0), West Virginia (2-2, 0-1) Kills: Haley Eckerman 15 (Texas); Arielle Allen 10 (WVU)
Team: TEXAS WVU 1 .400 .103 2 .333 .189 3 .357 .103 Match .363 .137
