The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
11-1, 1-0Big 12
TCU
11-4, 0-1Big 12
No. 2 Volleyball defeats TCU, 3-0 in Big 12 opener
09.23.2015 | Volleyball
Prieto Cerame led the Longhorns with a career-high .444 hitting percentage
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 2 Texas Volleyball opened Big 12 Conference play with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 29-27) victory over TCU on Wednesday at Gregory Gym. With the win, the Longhorns improve to 11-1, 1-0 on the season.
Senior Amy Neal and junior Chiaka Ogbogu both had double-digit kills for the Horns, with 18 and 13, respectively.
Junior Paulina Prieto Cerame posted a career-high hitting percentage with nine kills on 18 attempts and only one error (.444).
Senior Molly McCage led the Longhorns with 5 block assists, giving her the third-best blocking assist career of Texas history with 399.
As a team, Texas hit .312 to TCU's .192 and out-blocked the Frogs to ten to four.
Texas started steady with early kills from senior Amy Neal and junior Paulina Prieto-Cerame, but the Frogs battled back to take a 10-8 lead after consecutive double blocks. The Longhorns fired back with an unanswered six-point run that made it 15-11. The Horns never looked back and closed out the set 25-19.
TCU started strong with a four-point opening stretch, and back-to-back aces gave the Frogs a 7-4 advantage. Kills from Ogbogu helped to chip away at TCU's lead, tying the set at 8-8. The Longhorns took their first lead of the set (11-10) after a double block effort from McCage and sophomore Mirta Baselovic. The lead continued to change two more times, but Texas held on to out edge TCU, 25-21.
Texas dominated the start of the third set, and consecutive McCage kills gave the Horns a 10-4 lead. TCU had a steady rally back, going on a 5-0 run to take a 15-14 lead. The teams remained within striking distance of each other, and the score was tied at 27-27. A Frog serving error and Neal kill handed the third set to the Longhorns, 29-27.
Texas will continue conference play this Friday, Sept. 25 in Morgantown, West Virginia at 5 p.m. CT to take on the Mountaineers.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
Opening Statement: We are excited to start the Big 12 play. TCU is a formidable team. We came out with a lot of energy, especially with Paulina (Prieto Cerame). We were ready to establish the game and we played well in spurts. We are still working through some things as they were up 14-10 in game 3. We couldn't figure out the rotation, but for us to be in that situation as coaches is sometimes nice, because you see what your team is made of and they were very efficient and had a lot of first-ball kills. Give credit to TCU for battling us, but I liked our team's demeanor and the way that they held them.
On what he saw in the third set: Some real urgency, making some big plays, and battling. And we just took some great swings and we were very efficient. We made some good set selections. Overall, it was very efficient.
On what they want to work on: I think we need to get more balanced on the right side of the court. Especially in transition where we're depending a lot on Molly (McCage) and Amy (Neal) right now, and it would be nice just to take a few swings and get some balance, and take their blockers with us a little bit more. So the transition game over there is an important thing and getting efficient there is going to be key for us.
On playing through a tough call: You know, we don't usually address the team, it's usually kind of my little battle with the referee, with the mind games that we play. It's part of the job that they do and so be it. You're going to get some good calls and some bad calls and that's part of coaching and playing. We talk about it in practice and sometimes in practice we'll give them a bad call and let them keep going to let them learn how to deal with that situation.
Junior Outside Hitter Paulina Prieto Cerame
On what she sees from the team: Just the fact that we expect the ball from each other and like (Coach Elliott) said, urgency. We are taking it game by game but we are thinking a lot the last game, and holding each other accountable. That has played a big role this year, and I agree; our team has been very mature this year.
On the slower pace of the game versus the faster pace: It just starts with one play and that is when you have to be able to cut it off, and stay focused. Sometimes with the pass, we got into a little funk but we were able to get out, so that was good.
On beginning conference play: Yes, we love playing the Big 12. The Big 12 is a great conference of many great teams. We are just excited that it is here.
On playing through a tough call: Yeah, our crowd is great and they always back us up. They're the first ones to be like, 'Oh, that's not the right call'. But yeah, even in practices, we're super feisty and competitive, so we do get mad either way.
