The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Arizona
No. 2 Volleyball preview: No. 21 Arizona (26 West Longhorn Classic)
09.10.2014 | Volleyball
Texas will face its second-straight ranked opponent to open its home season Friday night.
26 West Longhorn Classic
No. 21 Arizona at No. 2 Texas
UCF at No. 2 Texas
Florida A&M at No. 2 Texas
Gregory Gym (4,000) | Austin, Texas
Sept. 12 & 13
Match #5: No. 21 Arizona (6-0, 0-0) at No. 2 Texas – Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.
Match #6: UCF (6-1, 0-0) at No. 2 Texas – Sept. 13 at noon
Match #7: Florida A&M (0-6, 0-0) at No. 2 Texas – Sept. 13 at 3 p.m.
When: Friday-Saturday, Sept. 12 & 13
Where: Austin, Texas
Live Stats: Click here
Television: Longhorn Network
Texas Radio: Click here
Quick Hits
• The Longhorns open their home season with the 26 West Longhorn Classic after moving to 4-0 with the 3-1 defeat of Florida (3-2) last Saturday...sophomore Chiaka Ogbogu had a career-high nine blocks and 11 kills in the match...freshman Cat McCoy posted 20 digs...It was a balanced attack as eight players recorded at least two kills and six had at least one block.
• The Longhorns are ranked No. 2 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll (Sept. 9)... After the first week of the season, the Longhorns have appeared in the Top 10 of the AVCA poll for 116 of the last 121 weeks ... Texas has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 for 156 consecutive weeks, dating back to 2004.
• Texas has been selected to finish first in the 2014 Big 12 Conference race in a vote of league head coaches ... the Longhorns have been chosen at the top of the preseason poll for the past four seasons and seven times overall (1996, 2008, '09, '11-14) ... UT received eight of the possible nine first-place votes, while tallying 64 points overall.
• Senior outside hitter Haley Eckerman has been named the Big 12 Conference's Preseason Player of the Year for 2014 ... Eckerman, senior middle blocker/right side Khat Bell, junior middle blocker Molly McCage and sophomore Chiaka Ogbogu were all named to the Big 12 Preseason Team.
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On how they did last week and what they are bringing to this weekend: Yeah, you know it's early in the season so you don't know how teams are. I thought we played really well. I was pleased with our composure and how steady we were throughout the entire match; expect for early in game two, we got a little tight. We bounced back out of it and responded. So I'm excited get tested again here Friday night against No. 21 Arizona, I think it's going to be a good test for us. We still have some room for improvement, that's the thing we understand right now. We are really pushing our team during practice. We've been really stern with them and really getting them to understand the number one most important thing we do is have great work ethic.
On different players stepping up each week: We said early that we have a lot of talent in our gym. So for us as coaches, we evaluate our daily practice routines. And the players that are stepping up in the practice arena are the ones getting opportunities in the matches. It's kind of been my philosophy the whole time; you've got to practice hard and play hard and that's how you get yourself on the floor. So regardless to what has happened the week prior, that's what we reflect on every single day and evaluate in that. And it's making for some tough decisions by our staff, but it's making our players a lot more emotionally competitive and they are a lot steadier. In the end I think we can become a better team because of it.
On Chiaka: Chiaka was big for us. And we knew that in the first weekend we didn't get her the ball enough. She is such a threat. And there are those relationships that we are working on because since it's her first time in the middle full-time; and our setters are kind of switching back and forth. So we want to get her more balls because her numbers are staggering right now and she can a force to be reckoned with, it's tough to contain her if we are controlling the ball.
On Arizona: They are well coached by Dave Rubio and they've got a very good team—they are undefeated. Kingdon, their outside hitter is averaging 6 kills per game so it's going to be someone that can really expose us. We are going to have to do a good job of trying to contain her and or stop her. But they have balance around everywhere else too. So it should be a good match up for us. For me, with the way preseason always is, I want to see, I want to test my team. And as I tell my team, my matches are during practices so I can evaluate where we are and see what we need to work on to progress through the season.
Chiaka Ogbogu
On how much she has grown as a player from last season: It's definitely a different ballpark this year, I'm still an underclassman but I have a little bit more responsibility this year. I think I'm more comfortable in my position this year. Also because my setters are trusting me a lot and the coaches are trusting me. So I'm able to be more myself this year because I'm not a newbie coming in.
On how she feels going into the first home match of the season: I'm so excited. We are really hoping for a really big crowd for this weekend. Arizona is a really good team, they are ranked No. 21. So it's going to be exciting showing the fans how hard we have been working and what we have been doing everyday.
On all the competition being in their gym: Jerritt used to say that the starting side vs. the non-starting side—the non-starting side could potentially be a top-15 team itself. The non-starting side really pushes side a. So the fact that there is so much competition in our practice that when we get to the games, it's not as nerve-wracking because we have already been through those tough spots during practice.
