The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
10-2
LSU
10-3
No. 4 Volleyball downs LSU, 3-0
10.05.2013 | Volleyball
Junior All-American Haley Eckerman records her fourth double-double with match-high 15 kills and 16 digs.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The No. 4 Texas Longhorns downed the LSU Tigers 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-17) Saturday afternoon at the Maravich Center behind a match-high 15 kills by junior All-American Haley Eckerman, 38 assists from freshman setter Chloe Collins and 21 digs by senior libero Sarah Palmer. Eckerman picked up her team-best fourth double-double of the season as she also collected 16 digs in the sweep.
The win marks the Longhorns' third sweep in the last four matches, including 3-0 victories over Big 12 Conference opponents TCU (Sept. 25) and Oklahoma (Sept. 28).
Despite allowing the Tigers (10-3, 0-1 SEC) a three-point lead to open game one, the Longhorns (10-2, 3-0 Big 12) bounced back with four-straight points to take a 5-4 lead. From there, Texas only allowed its opponent one more lead in the set and used a 10-3 run to force LSU to call a timeout at the 15-9 mark. The Longhorns increased their lead to 18-10 before the Tigers used their second and final timeout, and the Longhorns cruised to a 25-12 game one victory by scoring the final six points of the set.
Down 9-13 in game two, Texas went ahead 15-14 after a 6-1 run that included kills by Eckerman, senior outside hitter Bailey Webster and sophomore middle blocker Molly McCage, an ace from Kat Brooks and an LSU hitting error. Up 16-14 off a Collins kill, Texas tacked on two more points to force the Tigers to call their last timeout. Out of the timeout, Texas put itself on cruise control and closed the match with a 7-3 run that was aided by four LSU hitting errors.
Texas never trailed in game three, as it jumped out to a 5-0 lead with four straight kills that were capped off by an Amy Neal ace. Eckerman and freshman Chiaka Ogbogu led the Longhorns with five kills apiece in the final frame, and McCage added four.
Texas resumes Big 12 Conference action Wednesday evening when it returns home to Gregory Gym to host Texas Tech at 6 p.m. Central.
