The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Nebraska
No. 3 Volleyball Preview: VERT Challenge
09.02.2015 | Volleyball
Texas will host No. 4 Nebraska and No. 4 Florida on Friday, Sept. 4 and Saturday, Sept. 5.
VERT Challenge
Gregory Gym (4,000) – Austin, Texas
Television: Longhorn Network
Friday, Sept. 4
No. 4 Florida (2-0) vs. No. 11 Oregon (5-0) – 3 p.m.
No. 3 Texas (0-0) vs. No. 4 Nebraska (3-0) – 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 5
No. 3 Texas vs. No. 4 Florida – 2 p.m.
No. 4 Nebraska vs. No. 11 Oregon – 5 p.m.
Notes:
• The Longhorns enter the VERT Challenge on the heels of a 3-0 performance at the American Campus Classic last weekend ... Texas opened its season with a sweep over Rice on Friday (25-12, 25-23, 25-14) and followed with 3-0 wins over UC Irvine (25-13, 25-7, 26-24) and LSU (25-12, 25-22, 25-21).
• Texas owns an 84-39 record against ranked opponents over the last 11 seasons (2005-14) and a 37-8 record at Gregory Gym during that span. The Longhorns have won their last four meetings vs. Nebraska with the Huskers' last win at Gregory coming in 2006. Florida defeated Texas on senior night in 2014 in five sets at Gregory.
• Freshman Morgan Johnson made an impressive debut after posting 15 kills and 11 blocks in nine sets in the first three matches. Her .407 hitting percentage earned her Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors, ranking in the top 10 in the conference in blocks per set and hitting percentage.
• Senior Amy Neal was the only Texas player to record kills in double-digits in all three matches last weekend. She also led the Longhorns in kills in all the matches: vs. Rice, 11 (.375); vs. UCI, 10 (.381); vs. LSU, 12 (.167).
Additionally, Neal led UT in service aces after tying her career high (4) against UCI. She stands at 3.81 digs per set behind sophomore Cat McCoy.
Media Availability Quotes
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On how he's feeling about the team: I thought the first weekend went pretty smooth. We had some really good things and some things that we need to work on, and that's what we are attacking this week as we prepare for the big weekend we have coming up.
On what he is most excited about: Well it's so much fun. To be an athlete, to play in front of our arena that is probably going to be sold out. It's going to be a fun opportunity for them, but also to see how they are responding to every situation. You want to push your team, you want to see how teams are going to expose you, and really learn from that this early in the season.
On playing tough competition early in the season: Well, we are used to it. I think it gives us an opportunity to get our freshmen acclimated to what a big town environment is and the stresses that are a part of that. And to see how well they are connected to it, to put that on. More importantly it shows us what we are doing in our gym and where we need to improve and we are really crunching some numbers to find out where we can squeeze out a little more offense or to be better defensively, and just looking at all those opportunities.
On working on passing: It's a staple for any volleyball team, so it's something that we will work on on a daily basis. It's something we will continue to improve on. We had some good matches with the passing and we had one match that wasn't so good. So just getting it back in that rhythm will be one of the challenges this weekend. We have a general feeling we think of how they will be serving us and we just got to be ready.
On who has stepped up: Well, I think we are very proficient at the blocking thing. We are pretty steady. I think we are disciplined in a lot of areas. I think the players from last year have improved tremendously and the players that we have now, the freshmen are doing a nice job, so our blocking will be solid. We've got a few players who are quite physical with Chloe [Collins] and Amy Neal on the line up. And now we have to counteract that and in turn we got to get a little more defense and more opportunities to control the ball.
On Morgan Johnson: I am sure she is going to get some playing time. We will see how this week progresses and how they well they hard train and how well they are doing, but we are really talented in the middle position so it's something we got to evaluate and see but my goal is to find some opportunities for her to be able to play because she needs to be in the center more.
On starting the season strong: I thought last weekend we were as smooth as we have been in a few years, in terms of taking care of business and winning and handling some games so now we got to do that in a much tougher environment. Nebraska on film right now, is very good passing team, probably the best I have ever seen in a few years so they are going to pose a lot of problems for us. In terms of their ability to sideout at probably a pretty high percentage so we are going to have to counteract that with some good defense and some good transition swings.
Junior Setter Chloe Collins
On getting back to practice after the weekend: It's feeling really great getting back in the gym and work out our kinks that we've been working on, minus the errors, and getting back to work.
On what she's most excited for this weekend: I'm just most excited about going out and playing, to see what we can do and what we're capable of. Nebraska and Florida are two great opponents to see that.
On learning from tough opponents: We can learn that it's something to look forward to later on in our season. To know how we work together as a team in tough situations and being at home in a loud crowd will be great.
On playing tough opponents early: It helps us gain some experience, especially for our freshmen, to see what it's actually like to gain a little bit of what to expect moving forward in the season.
On how she is feeling on the court: I'm feeling a lot more confidence and more comfortable, especially with our offense and what we've been doing defensively. So it just allows me to just go out and play and do what I know I can do.
