The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
27-4, 14-2Big 12
Creighton
29-7, 18-0Big East
No. 4 Volleyball advances to fifth-straight Final Four
12.10.2016 | Volleyball
Texas Volleyball defeated Creighton, 3-0 to advance to its fifth-straight NCAA Semifinal and 12th in program history
AUSTIN, Texas — No. 4 Texas Volleyball (26-4) advanced to its fifth-consecutive NCAA Final Four for Longhorns with a 3-0 defeat of Creighton (25-19, 25-20, 25-11) on Saturday at Gregory Gym.
Junior Ebony Nwanebu led Texas with 13 kills, registering a .619 hitting percentage, while freshman Micaya White also finished in double-digits with 12 kills, hitting .458.
Senior Chloe Collins and junior Cat McCoy recorded match-highs with 34 assists and 12 digs, respectively. Sophomore Yaazie Bedart-Ghani led the Longhorns with four blocks.
Texas posted a .425 hitting percentage, including a .550 mark in the third set, holding Creighton to a .154 clip for the match.
The Longhorns went on a 5-0 run to take an early set one lead, 7-2, and force Creighton to burn a timeout. Texas added another five points to their run before Creighton's Jaali Winters would answer with a kill, bringing the score to 12-3. The Jays were plagued by errors, committing six on the match, but managed to mount a comeback to bring them within three points, 19-16.
Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame responded to the Jays rally with three kills of her own, giving Texas a 23-17 advantage. A Creighton double-contact error gave Texas set one.
The two teams traded points in the opening of the second set, gridlocked at 7-7. Creighton's Marysa Wilkinson tallied three kills to help the visitors widen the gap to 11-9. A service ace from Brittany Witt and a hitting error from Texas gave the Jays a 13-9 advantage and forced a Texas timeout.
Coming out of the break, the Horns mounted a 6-2 run that saw two kills a piece from White and Nwanebu. A hitting error from the Jays gave Texas the lead, 16-15. The home team grew their lead to 20-17, but Creighton found their way back into the match 21-20. A kill from Nwanebu and a double block sparked the horns to a 4-0 run, taking set two.
Looking for the sweep, Texas jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in set three. After a Creighton timeout, the Horns stepped on the gas, growing their run to 7-0. A kill from Creighton's Winters broke the rally, bringing the score to 9-3. The Jays could not find an answer for the Horns offense and were forced into another timeout down 4-13.
On their way to win the set, Texas only gave up six more points to the visitors. The Horns won the set, 25-11, punching their ticket to Ohio.
With the win, Texas improves to 87-30 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches and 67-9 in tournament matches in Gregory all-time, which includes 33-straight NCAA Tournament wins at home that dates back to 2006. Under Coach Elliot, the Horns improve to a 34-2 mark in tournament matches in Gregory
Texas will square off with Nebraska in Thursday's NCAA semifinal in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday, Dec. 15 with match time to be determined.
