The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
18-1, 10-1
Kansas State
20-5, 7-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| K-State | 25 | 15 | 21 | 16 | 1 |
| Texas | 16 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
No. 5 Volleyball rallies to beat No. 22 KSU in Volley for a Cure match
11.07.2014 | Volleyball
The Longhorns notched their 23rd consecutive win against the Wildcats led by Amy Neal’s double-double.
AUSTIN, Texas -- No. 5 Texas Volleyball (18-1, 10-1) rallied to beat No. 22 Kansas State (20-5, 7-4), 3-1, (16-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-16) Friday evening at Gregory Gym. Junior outside hitter Amy Neal recorded her third career double-double (14 kills, 12 digs) in the pink-out Volley for a Cure match.
Senior outside hitter Haley Eckerman recorded her sixth-straight match with double-digit kills (10), while sophomore middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu matched her career high in blocks with eight.
The win marked Texas' 23rd-consecutive victory over the Wildcats.
In the first set, the Longhorns (18-1, 10-1 Big 12) failed to overcome an early five-point run as the Wildcats built a 10-5 lead. Texas came as close as within two (14-16), but could not close the gap and Kansas State took the set, 25-16.
In the second set, Texas bounced back with an early 4-0 lead to force a Kansas State timeout. The Horns continued their momentum by going on a 6-2 run to build a 17-9 lead. Texas maintained its lead and closed out the set to win 25-15. Neal paced the Horns with three kills on a .750 kill percentage in the set.
After the break, the third set was knotted at 4-all until the Horns went on a 4-0 run. The Wildcats rallied to within two (15-13) but Texas went on a 6-1 run, including two kills from Neal, to build the largest lead of the set, 21-14. The Wildcats fought back to trail by three, but an Eckerman kill put the third set away, 25-21.
After dropping the first point of the fourth set, Texas replied with two points and never trailed the rest of the way. Texas went on a 4-0 run to build the largest lead of the set, 18-10, thanks to two kills from senior Khat Bell. Once again, Eckerman would put the set away, but this time with two kills, to win the set, 25-17
Brooke Sassin led the Wildcats with 13 kills.
Texas continues Big 12 play when West Virginia comes to Austin on Wednesday, November 12. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. Central and will be televised on Longhorn Network.
Head coach Jerritt Elliott
On the win: It was a big win for us. I thought it was matched well. We competed a lot better and obviously were able to put on some runs. This has been a long stretch for us, we've played three games in six days and we've been traveling a lot. This was an emotional match for us and a big match for us. I like the way we finished tonight.
On if he was worried at all in the first set: I did say several times that it was very similar to the way we started against Oklahoma. I think that's a lot about the mentality of how we prepare and how we get out there and compete. Give credit to Kansas State—they played extremely well. They only made one mistake and put a lot of pressure on us and we didn't deal well with it emotionally. I liked the way we caught ourselves when we unraveled a little bit. It shows me some positive signs.
On what he said during the break: I didn't really say anything. The only thing I said was that at some point you guys are going to have to figure this out. We can keep talking to you about this, but you are going to have to make that team dynamic and have the resiliency to be able to bounce back. So I don't think there are any words of wisdom, it's just that they took control of it which was important.
On the importance of tonight's win to win the Big 12: It was very, very important. Oklahoma has three losses, we have one. I'm not sure exactly how many Kansas State has now, but I think they have four so that pushed them another game back. With that, if we would have lost tonight and then lose again to Oklahoma and then to West Virginia, we'd be back at a tie. So every game right now is critical. If we are able to win on Wednesday and if we can go and beat Oklahoma, that means we have to lose our last three matches just to keep up the Big 12 championship. Which I hope doesn't happen.
Junior OH Amy Neal:
On the importance of taking the lead: I mean before the game started, we talked about talking more about their side and communicating and just honestly calming down. We talked about just playing our game and managing it. I think when we manage our game, we play fine and we're going to be good. We wanted to start off strong because we knew they were going to be just as strong.
On how they keep up their energy: We just need to take it game by game, we have to expect everyone's best game. Everyone in the Big 12 can beat anyone. So I just think coming out with the same mindset that every game and every set, we know every team is going to play with us and we can't look past anyone.
