The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
12-2, 4-0Big 12
Kansas State
12-4, 1-2Big 12
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEXAS | 25 | 25 | 25 | 18 | 15 | 3 |
| K-State | 22 | 27 | 17 | 25 | 12 | 2 |
No. 4 Volleyball wins five-set thriller at Kansas State
10.01.2016 | Volleyball
Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame finished with 20 kills, hitting .500 to lead the Longhorns.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – No. 4 Texas Volleyball defeated Kansas State, 3-2 (25-22, 25-27, 25-17, 18-25, 15-12) on Saturday night to improve to 12-2 and 4-0 in the Big 12 Conference.
Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame and freshman Micaya White led the Longhorns with 20 kills each.
Prieto Cerame's 20 kills came on 36 swings with only two errors for a .500 clip. She has posted double-digit kills in seven-straight matches for Texas, also adding six digs and two blocks.
White posted her second-straight double-double and third of the season, with a team-leading 16 digs to go along with her 20 kills, hitting .213.
She has finished with double-digit kills in 14 matches this season, including the last 12, also recording two service aces and five blocks in the match.
Junior Ebony Nwanebu had her eighth-straight match in double-digit kills with 17, hitting .273. She also finished with nine digs and three blocks.
Prieto Cerame, White and Nwanebu have all finished with double-digit kills hitting .200 or better in four-straight matches and 10 overall.
Senior Chloe Collins recorded her fourth-straight match with 50 or more assists with a season-high 56, also adding 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
Sophomore Morgan Johnson finished with a team-high six blocks, while freshman Orie Agbaji added five, leading the charge for a 12.0 to 8.0 block advantage for the Longhorns.
The first set started off tight as neither team led by more than two until the Longhorns went on a 7-1 run behind serving from Prieto Cerame and kills from Nwanebu to take a 14-9 lead. The Wildcats responded with three-straight points, but Texas had an answer of its own with a 4-0 run for an 18-12 advantage. Kansas State went on to win five-straight points to pull within one, but Texas held strong and took set one, 25-22.
In the second set, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 8-4 lead, but they could not keep the momentum and Texas pulled to within one at 10-11. KSU kept the lead until the Longhorns tied the score at 18 and took their first lead of the match, 19-18. UT then extended its lead to 22-19, but the Wildcats won four-straight points to take a 23-22 lead. Both teams had at least one set point, but KSU sealed it on their second set point, 27-25 to even the match at 1-1.
Texas responded early in the third set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Longhorns kept a sizable lead throughout the set, not letting the Wildcats to within more than three and leading by as much as nine. Texas took a 2-1 advantage in the match after winning set three, 25-17.
Kansas State turned the tables in the fourth set, jumping out to a 6-2 lead and keeping it until the Longhorns evened the score at 13. The teams traded points until the Wildcats won three-straight points to take a 19-16 advantage and stretched their lead to 22-17. Texas could not recover and KSU evened the match to take the fourth set, 25-18.
The Wildcats took the first two points of the fifth set, but the Longhorns evened the score at 4-4. From there, neither team led by more than one until Texas went on a 4-0 run with Prieto Cerame behind the service line to lead, 11-7. The Longhorns did not look back and took the set, 15-12.
As a team, Texas hit .296 for its 13th match hitting .210 or better this season.
The Longhorns will return home to welcome Iowa State to Gregory Gym on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m., live on Longhorn Network.
