The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
13-2, 5-0Big 12
Iowa State
8-8, 1-4Big 12
No. 4 Volleyball defeats Iowa State, 3-2
10.08.2016 | Volleyball
Three Longhorns finished with double-digit kills.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 4 Texas Volleyball defeated Iowa State, 3-2 (25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10) to improve to 13-2, 5-0 on Saturday night.
Freshman Micaya White, senior Paulina Prieto Cerame and junior Ebony Nwanebu led the Longhorns with double-digit kills.
White posted 17 kills, hitting .220 for her 13th-straight match in double-digits. She also had nine digs and three blocks for the Longhorns.
Prieto Cerame finished with 16 kills, while junior Ebony Nwanebu had 13, hitting .303.
Sophomore Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani added seven kills hitting .400, while freshman Blair Westerlund had five hitting .385 in her Texas debut.
Senior Chloe Collins posted 46 assists and 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. She also had three aces, three kills and one block.
Junior Cat McCoy led in digs with 23, while Nwanebu, Westerlund and sophomore Morgan Johnson all recorded four blocks.
In the first set, the Cyclones went on a 5-0 run early, but the Horns fired back with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 12-7 lead. Texas kept the lead, not letting Iowa State within more than two and took set one, 25-21. The Longhorns hit .571, led by Prieto Cerame's six kills.
In the second set, neither team led by more than two until the Cyclones went on a 4-0 run for a 15-11 advantage. Texas capitalized on errors to fuel its own 4-0 run to tie the score at 15, but ISU responded with three-straight points to take an 18-15 lead. Back-to-back kills from Prieto Cerame pulled the Horns to within one and Texas took back the reigns at 20-19, but ISU tied it once again at 21. The Cyclones survived three set points to tie it at 25, but an Iowa State error followed by a Collins kill gave Texas set two, 27-25.
In the third set, the Longhorns created some space with an early 7-1 run to lead, 10-6 and stretched it to 15-10, but Iowa State responded with a 4-0 run to pull within one. Texas maintained a lead until the Cyclones tied it at 18 and they tied four more times before Iowa State took a 23-22 lead and won the next two points to take the set, 25-22.
In the fourth set, neither team could execute a run, or lead by more than two. At 19-19, Iowa State went on a 4-1 run and closed out, 25-21 to even the match, 2-2.
The Cyclones took the momentum into the fifth set with an early 3-1 lead, but Texas did not fold and went on a 4-0 run to take a 7-5 lead. The Longhorns stretched their lead to 9-6 on back-to-back kills from Prieto Cerame and did not look back, taking the set, 15-10 and the match, 3-2.
As a team, Texas hit .267 and outblocked the Cyclones, 11.0 to 5.0.
Texas will hit the road to take on Baylor on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.
Postgame Comments
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On their second five-set match in a row: It has been great that we have been able to be in that position. We have seen a little bit of our personality when it gets to game five. There's a little more urgency.
On their problems in the third and fourth sets: We just aren't playing at a high level. Emotionally, we are not there, we are disconnected as a group at times. They put it in cruise control and don't make things happen and other teams pounce on that from the defensive side.
On winning the Big 12: We have a really special team, I think we can be really good. We need to figure out their identity and figure out what we want to be a part of. I know that we had some new players in there and I thought they did a nice job. We did some good things offensively, but defensively, it wasn't as good. We just have to be able to play one game at a time and compete for that amount of time and execute at a high level. If we do that, good things will happen and that's going to be the goal.
On what the team needs to work on before facing Baylor on Wednesday: We need to find an identity. Baylor is playing at a very high level right now. If we play like that, with that defensive mentality, it's going to be a tough night for us. We just have to get in and watch some film and figure some things out.
Sophomore Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani
On what contributed to her success as a middle blocker tonight: We ran a little bit of a higher ball for me and I was able to see the block pretty well. I think that helped a lot.
Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame
On playing the fifth set: For some reason, we didn't have that urgency from the start. Obviously, the fourth set was a wake-up call and in the fifth set you have to compete. I think that we need to step it up and compete from the beginning and that should be motivation enough to put our nerves aside and do what we need to do.
