The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
24 - 2
Texas State
24 - 13
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas State | 13 | 24 | 16 | 0 |
| Texas | 25 | 26 | 25 | 3 |
No. 1 Volleyball sweeps Texas State in first round of NCAA Championship
12.05.2013 | Volleyball
Texas advances to face Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA Championship Friday evening at 7 p.m.
Box Score | Photo Gallery | Video: Post-match Press Conference
AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 1 Texas Longhorns swept the Texas State Bobcats (25-13, 26-24, 25-16) Thursday evening in the opening round of the NCAA Championship at Gregory Gym. With the win, Texas improved to a perfect 27-0 all-time in first round matches and advance to face former Big 12 Conference rival Texas A&M Friday night at 7 p.m. Central in second round action.
Big 12 Player of the Year Haley Eckerman swatted 14 kills and notched 19 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Bailey Webster recorded her 16th double-digit kill match of the season with 13 kills, while senior setter Hannah Allison matched a career-high with five kills and added 28 assists.
In the opening set, Texas (24-2) jumped out to a 10-4 lead. Texas State (24-13) would only get within six points as Texas coasted to the 25-13 victory. Allison sparked the Longhorn offense, matching her season-high in kills with four in the opening set to go with nine assists.
The Longhorns carried momentum into the second, escalating quickly to a 13-2 edge. Texas State battled back, stringing together a 13-5 run to get within three points. The Bobcats evened the set at 21-21, igniting back-and-forth play from both teams. At 24-24, Webster smacked back-to-back kills to seal the second set win for Texas 26-24.
Texas State took its first advantage of the match in the third, grabbing the 10-6 lead. Texas' wouldn't fold and immediately fought back to score the next four points, knotting the set at 10 points apiece. Texas continued to find its game, allowing just six more Texas State points to win the third 25-16. In total, Texas closed out the third set on a 19-6 clip to win the match.
Earlier on Thursday, the Texas A&M Aggies (19-11) defeated UTSA in straight sets Thursday afternoon. Last season Texas defeated Texas A&M, 3-1, in the second round en route to the program's third national championship.
POST-MATCH NOTES
Team Notes
- With the win, Texas is a perfect 27-0 in first round NCAA tournament matches... the Longhorns are 55-9 in all-time NCAA matches played in Austin.
- Texas' 20-match win streak is its longest since 2010.
- The Longhorns held the Bobcats to a season-low .092 hitting percentage.
Individual Notes
- Haley Eckerman recorded double-figure kills (14) for the ninth consecutive match.
- Hannah Allison matched her career-high four kills in the first set of the match.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
TEXAS
Texas Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
Opening statement: I was very impressed, obviously, with Texas State. They played extremely well, they were confident, and we knew that coming in. They had some great wins coming into the NCAA tournament. They played really, really well and put us on our heels for a while and I was happy that our team responded and got back into our rhythm and was able to pull this out. This is the NCAA tournament, this is what it is about. You are going to get everybody's best shot, especially us right now. It is great that we are moving on and we got a big match tomorrow night against Texas A&M. We would like to play smoother for longer periods of time but I like what our team is doing, we are in a good mindset, and I am looking forward to it.
Senior S Hannah Allison
On a majority of the assists going to the outside hitters: Every game is different. We have All-Americans or potential All-Americans at every position. Depending on what the other team gives us and the flow of the game, we have options on how to run the offense and they were getting it done on the outside and didn't really have an answer for them. So the flow of the game led it to be more outside heavy where as against other opponents it might be otherwise.
Junior OH Haley Eckerman
On thoughts about how Texas dominated Texas State in the first set: I think we were just ready to play. It is exciting to be in this tournament and so I think for us it was just focusing on doing what we do best and that is what we did in the first game really well.
Senior OH Bailey Webster
On what changed in Texas State after the first set: I think Texas State was just playing really good defense. They played great tonight and I think that, yes, they did change their defense, but just as every team will do and I think that they were giving us certain shots and we have to adjust along with them adjusting.
TEXAS STATE
Head Coach Karen Chisum
Opening statement: I don't think I could be any more proud of this team. I think (Texas Head Coach) Jerritt (Elliott) had to call four timeouts. We were slow starting, no doubt. But you saw what Texas State volleyball and these ladies are about when we get rolling. Once we got that rhythm, our goal was to run a fast offense. We can't play with (Texas) on the high outside sets like that. We served very well in the second and third sets and when we were able to run the fast offense, I thought we were productive and successful. Caylin Mahoney, our setter, made an adjustment and got the ball to these three (Molly Ahrens, Amari Deardorff, and Ashlee Hilbun). These three right here are a big part of Texas State Volleyball.
Senior RS Amari Deardorff
On success in the second set: To build off of what Coach Chisum said, we definitely started running a quicker offense. Physically, they could just overpower us and once Caylin (Mahoney) started mixing it up and we were really running fast sets, we were seeing solo blocks and it was a lot easier. We felt like we could hang with them and out attitude just totally changed.
Senior MB Molly Ahrens
On impact of the faster offense: Like Amari (Deardorff) said, it really came from running a faster offense. Once we were able to open up the hitters like me and Ashlee (Hilbun) more and have a faster offense, it really got the momentum of the game going. It kind of put the game on our shoulders and we got to run at our speed instead of their speed. Waiting on the block was a huge thing and we were able to get more productive touches off of it for our back line to just slow down the ball. I think that was huge for our defense.
Senior MB Ashlee Hilbun
On Texas State's defense: I think it started with our block, and once we started waiting on the block and slowing those touches down, our defense definitely got a lot more confidence. Once we got that confidence and some digs, we were ready to push them.
