The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
15-2, 7-0Big 12
TCU
10-8, 3-5Big 12
No. 2 Volleyball sweeps TCU at home
10.19.2016 | Volleyball
Sophomore Morgan Johnson posted 10 kills and a team-high six blocks in the match.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 2 Texas Volleyball swept the TCU Horned Frogs, 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-17), in its annual 'Volley for a Cure' match inside Gregory Gym on Wednesday night to improve to 15-2, 7-0 for the season.
Double-digit kills from freshman Micaya White, sophomore Morgan Johnson and senior Paulina Prieto Cerame paced the offense for the Longhorns, notching 13 and 10 kills, respectively. White also added 10 digs on the night, marking her fourth double-double of the season. Johnson's 10 kills marks her new career-high, and she led the team with a .533 hitting percentage.
Senior Chloe Collins tagged her sixth double-double of the year with the 37 assists and a season-high tying 15 digs.
Junior Ebony Nwanebu posted a season-high three aces along with three block assists.
As a team, Texas outblocked TCU, 9-5, and held the Horned Frog's to a .116 hitting percentage, the lowest of the season for the Horns.
This was a highly anticipated match and win for the Longhorns, who lost their only conference match last season to the Horned Frogs, 3-0, on October 28, 2015. Texas leads the all-time series against TCU, 11-1, and has never lost a game at home.
With the win, Texas remains the only undefeated team in Big 12 Conference play on the year. The victory marks the Longhorn's first Big 12 sweep of the season.
The Horned Frogs got off to a quick 4-2 advantage in the opening set, but kills from Johnson and Prieto Cerame tied things at four. After evening things again at seven, Texas took its first lead of the match after a service ace from Collins. TCU was forced to take timeout after a 6-2 Texas push, which gave the Longhorns a four-point lead (13-9). The Horns continued to push again, utilizing a pair of service aces from Nwanebu to lead, 17-10. A late 5-0 rally gave life to TCU and made it a one-point game, but a service error ended the stretch, handing Texas the first set, 25-23.
Consecutive kills from Johnson made it 3-2 Texas to start the second, and it would remain a one-point set until a pair of Longhorn attack errors gave TCU the 8-5 edge. The Horns slowly cut into the margin and tied things at 10 following back-to-back kills from White on the left side. Two more kills from White coupled with a solo block and kill from Johnson made the score 14-11 Texas, but the Horned Frogs responded with a 6-2 run to take control of the set, 17-16. It remained a close game from there, with no team leading by more than one point, until a White kill put her in the double-digits and gave Texas the 21-19 advantage. It was a quick close out from there, and Texas captured four of the last six points to take the second set, 25-21.
A 6-2 start propelled the Longhorns in the third set, but the Horned Frogs managed a 4-1 spurt to get within one (9-8) despite the long rally contests put up by Texas. The Horns utilized a 5-1 run to push their margin to five, but three straight kills from the Horned Frogs made it a two-point set (14-12). Two kills from Johnson found the back corner of the court, and one more from Prieto-Cerame forced a TCU timeout with Texas controlling the set, 17-12. From that point, the Longhorns never led by less than five points and closed the match, 25-17.
The Horns will continue their conference schedule as they take on Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas on Friday, Oct. 21. The first serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On the match: It was a tough match for us. I think they served extremely tough, trying to get us off the net. This is one of the few times our offense hasn't been as smooth as it has been [in the past]. We've been practicing so much on our defense and it's been getting better. That's the big improvement, but we've got to find that rhythm back.
On Morgan Johnson: I thought Morgan did a phenomenal job. In the end, we had to make sure that we were getting her involved and doing a good job and it's big that Morgan came up the way she did.
On Texas' first sweep in conference: I didn't realize that. We have dropped a lot of first games—a lot of that has been service errors and reception errors early on. Our conference is a lot better this year. TCU beat the No. 6 team in the nation and Baylor last week beat Washington State who was leading the Pac-12 last week. We have good teams and good teams become great teams when they play Texas. This is the game they circle on the calendar. I am most pleased with my team in game three tonight—this is the first time our offense hasn't clicked as well and our defense made up for it. That's what a good team does—makes up for offense on the defensive side. Our serve-receive got better and better and Cat really kept the glue together so we could get Morgan involved and this is the most production we have had out of Morgan. After game one, we challenged her and she responded.
Junior libero Cat McCoy
On what has been working defensively: In practice, we have been talking about going back to the basics and keeping it simple. In the beginning of the year, we had just kind of been all over the place, so we are just trying to dig the ball nice and high.
Sophomore Middle Blocker Morgan Johnson
On what was working for her tonight: Just like our team chemistry, I kind of feel like we're growing every day in practice and that just means the team is getting stronger and stronger.
