The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
10-1
New Mexico State
9-5
No. 2 Volleyball defeats New Mexico State, 3-1
09.19.2015 | Volleyball
Four players finished with double-digit kills.
TUCSON, Ariz. – No. 2 Texas Volleyball defeated New Mexico State, 3-1 (25-22, 25-27, 25-23, 25-19) on Saturday to sweep the Wildcat Classic.
Senior Amy Neal led the Longhorns in kills for the eighth time this season with 16, also posting eight digs and three aces.
Junior Chloe Collins had 48 assists for her sixth match this season with 40 or more assists, while sophomore Cat McCoy recorded a team-high 17 digs.
Junior Chiaka Ogbogu tied her career-high with 15 kills, hitting .406 in the match, junior Paulina Prieto Cerame not far behind with 13. Senior Molly McCage also posted double-digit kills with 10, hitting a team-high .474.
McCage, Ogbogu and Collins led Texas in blocks with four each.
In the first set, Texas took a two-point lead at 5-3 with kills from Neal and Prieto Cerame and an ace from Neal, but the Aggies stayed close and took the lead at 9-8. From there, the teams tied six times until the Longhorns won three-straight to take a 21-18 advantage. NMSU fought back with three-straight points of its own to tie it once again, but UT was too strong and finished the set, 25-22.
New Mexico State jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, but Texas came back to tie it at 5. From there, the Longhorns went on a 5-1 run to lead, 10-6. UT maintained its lead until the Aggies executed two 3-0 runs to even the score at 14. Texas went on to win four-straight points, but NMSU fired back with a four-point run of its own to pull to within one and tied it at 22. The Aggies retook the lead to give themselves a set point at 24-23, but a McCage kill tied it back at 24. NMSU pulled ahead again at 25-24 for set point number two, this time a kill from Neal evening the score back at 25. The Aggies struck again with the third set point, this time closing to win the set, 27-25.
In the third set, neither team led by more than two until Texas created some space with a 9-3 run to lead, 17-11. NMSU rallied back with two-straight points, but kills from Neal and Ogbogu gave the Longhorns the advantage once again. From there, the Aggies stayed close, pulling to within one at 24-23, but Texas closed on a Prieto Cerame kill, 25-23 to lead the match, 2-1.
The Aggies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, but the Longhorns rallied back to tie the score at 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 and 8-8. The Aggies took a two-point lead at 10-8 and maintained it until UT evened it back at 12 before taking the lead. Texas was able to keep the lead and extended it to 18-14. New Mexico State could not close the gap and the Longhorns won the set, 25-19, and the match, 3-1.
Texas will begin Big 12 Conference play on Wednesday, Sept. 23 vs. TCU at 7 p.m. at Gregory Gym. The match will be televised live on Longhorn Network.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
AMY NEAL, TEXAS (MVP)
Molly McCage, Texas
Chiaka Ogbogu, Texas
Penina Snuka, Arizona
Kalei Mau, Arizona
Nathalie Castellanos, New Mexico State
Gwen Murphy, New Mexico State
Christian Lyle, Savannah State
Caitlynn Masoe, Savannah State
Post-Tournament Comments
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On the weekend: It's great that we went 3-0. Three matches in 24 hours is asking a lot. Arizona and New Mexico State both played really well. We had an emotional five-set win last night and to come back and play at 10 a.m. this morning after getting home so late was a challenge. It wasn't as smooth as we would have liked, but the players were gritty and that's the most important thing. Now we can go back and get ready to play for another Big 12 Championship.
Senior Outside Hitter Amy Neal
On the trip: I thought that this weekend was a good test for us since we hadn't played away at all. Arizona had a great crowd and I thought we responded well in the fifth set, which was a great lesson for us. I think it's good that we got that away test for our team. It shows a lot of confidence, but also showed us some things we need to work on, so we will go back and work on that on Monday and move on. But overall, they were really good wins for us and we played pretty well.
