The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
27-2
Purdue
23-10
No. 3 Volleyball advances to 10th-straight Sweet 16 with defeat of Purdue
12.04.2015 | Volleyball
Senior Amy Neal has led the Longhorns in kills in 23 matches this season.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas senior outside hitter Amy Neal recorded a team-high 17 kills Friday, including seven in a critical third set, to lead the No. 3 Longhorns to a 3-1 (25-14, 14-25, 25-19, 27-25) win against No. 17 Purdue in the NCAA Second Round at Gregory Gym.
The Longhorns (27-2) advance to the NCAA Regional Semifinals for the 10th consecutive year and the 28th time in program history. Texas will play host to the NCAA Austin Regional next Friday and Saturday at Gregory Gym. For ticket information, log on to www.TexasSports.com.
Neal, the 2015 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, was one of five Texas players with eight or more kills in the match. Senior middle blocker Molly McCage added nine kills on a match-high .304 hitting efficiency with a pair of blocks, while junior middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu had nine kills with eight digs and four blocks.
Freshman outside hitter Yaazie Bedart-Ghani tallied a career-high nine kills, while junior outside hitter Paulina Prieto Cerame chipped in eight.
Junior setter Chloe Collins dished out a match-high 44 assists, while sophomore libero Cat McCoy scooped up a match-high 18 digs.
Texas hit .219 in the match, and held Purdue to a .167 mark. The Boilermakers won the battle of the block, 11-7, while the Longhorns came up with 58 digs to Purdue's 53.
The Longhorns improved to 61-9 (.871) all-time in NCAA Tournament matches played in Austin and 81-29 (.736) in NCAA Championship matches.
Purdue (23-10) was led by a match-high 18 kills and seven digs from Annie Drews, while Amanda Neill came up with a match-high 18 digs for the Boilermakers.
Texas raced to an early 5-1 advantage in the opening set powered by kills from Ogbogu and Bedart-Ghani, and a service ace from Nicole Dalton. From there, four Purdue kills allowed the Boilermakers to climb within one, 7-6. After the two teams traded points, three consecutive kills from the Longhorns, capped by one from Bedart-Ghani extended Texas' advantage to 11-7 and forced a Purdue timeout.
That was the beginning of a 7-2 run by the Longhorns that ended on a McCage kill. The scoring spree forced another Boilermaker timeout with Texas in front 15-9.
The Longhorns kept rolling to a 21-14 advantage and closed out the set with four consecutive points, capped by an Ogbogu block that gave Texas a 25-14 first-set victory. The Longhorns hit .407 during the opening set, holding the Boilermakers to a .081 hitting efficiency clip.
The two teams battled evenly to start the second set until Purdue broke a 6-6 tie with a pair of points on Texas attack errors. Leading 8-7, the Boilermakers ran off four consecutive points to extend their advantage to 12-7. Purdue, with a 13-9 lead, used a 3-1 spurt that included three consecutive Boilermaker kills, to take a 16-10 advantage leading into a timeout by the Longhorns.
With Texas trailing 21-11, back-to-back kills by Prieto Cerame and Ogbogu drew the Longhorns within eight, 21-13. From there, Purdue easily closed out the set with a 25-14 win in the second frame.
Purdue took an early 7-3 advantage in the third set, that included four kills from Drews. Texas then engineered a 6-1 run that concluded with a McCage kill, putting the Longhorns ahead, 9-8, and forcing a Purdue timeout. Following six ties, Texas went ahead 16-14 after back-to-back kills from Bedart-Ghani and Neal.
Leading by just one, Texas used a 6-1 run, that was powered by three kills from Neal, to go ahead 22-16. From there, the Longhorns closed out the 25-19 third-set victory. Texas hit .405 in the third set, while Purdue hit .237. Neal had seven kills in the third frame for the Longhorns.
It was a closely contested fourth set until Purdue pulled ahead 11-9 thanks to a Drews kill and an attack error that led into a Texas timeout. Trailing by two points, the Longhorns evened the score at 14-all following a kill by McCage and an ace from McCoy. After another dead-lock at 15-15, Texas ran off three consecutive points, the last on a kill by Prieto Cerame to move in front 18-15.
Trailing 21-18, Purdue managed a 3-1 run of its own to knot the score at 22-all, capping the spurt with a kill from Alexa Smith. After trading points, huge back-to-back kills by Neal closed out the 27-25 deciding-set victory for the Longhorns.
POST-MATCH NOTES
Texas' Amy Neal has either led or tied for the lead in kills for the Longhorns 23 times this season.
Texas improved to 3-1 on the season when losing the second set and 4-1 in four-set matches.
The Texas senior class of Kat Brooks, Molly McCage and Amy Neal improves to 110-12 (.902), improving its winning percentage as the winningest class in school history.
The Longhorns reached at least 27 wins for the fifth consecutive season. Texas has won at least 25 matches in a season for 30 times in program history, including each of the last nine years.
