The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Stanford
No. 4 Volleyball falls to No. 6 Stanford in NCAA Championship
12.18.2016 | Volleyball
Freshman Micaya White led the Horns with 17 kills, 11 digs and six blocks.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 4 Texas Volleyball fell to No. 6 Stanford on Saturday night in the national championship match, 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 18-25, 25-21) at Nationwide Arena.
Freshman Micaya White, junior Ebony Nwanebu and sophomore Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani all finished with double-digit kills, led by White's 17.
White also finished with 11 digs and a team-high six blocks for her ninth double-double of the season.
Nwanebu posted 16 kills, while Bedart-Ghani finished with 11 on 22 swings, leading the Horns in hitting percentage at .455.
Four Longhorns finished with double-digit digs, led by freshman Autumn Rounsaville's career-high 18. Junior Cat McCoy recorded 15, while senior Chloe Collins had 46 assists and 11 digs for her 12th double-double of the season and fourth-straight.
Collins finished her Texas career with 3,687 assists, the fourth-most for a Longhorn all-time.
In the first set, Texas struck first, jumping out to an early 9-5 lead, but the Cardinal responded with a 3-0 run to pull within one point and tied the score at 10-10. There were two more ties before Stanford took a 14-12 advantage, but the Horns won six of the next seven points to take an 18-15 lead. The Cardinal responded with 10 of the next 13 points to take set one, 25-21.
Neither team led by more than two in the second set until Stanford went on an 8-2 run to take a 12-7 lead, but the Horns responded with an 8-2 run of their own to lead, 15-14 and stretched it to 17-15. The Cardinal closed the second set on a 9-1 run to take a 2-0 lead, 25-19.
The third set began like the second as neither team led by more than two, but it was Texas that put together a 6-1 run to take a 16-10 lead and kept it until 21-15. Stanford went on a 3-0 run to pull within five at 16-21, but the Horns answered with back-to-back points and closed set three, 25-18.
The Cardinal jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the fourth set. Texas answered with a 3-0 run, but Stanford stretched its lead with a 3-0 run of its own, 9-3. The Longhorns put together a series of small runs, but could not close the gap and the Cardinal took the set, 25-21 to win the match.
2016 NCAA Division I All-Tournament Team
Micaya White, Texas
Ebony Nwanebu, Texas
Sarah Wilhite, Minnesota
Morgan Hentz, Stanford
Inky Ajanaku, Stanford
Kathryn Plummer, Stanford
Jenna Gray, Stanford
Most Outstanding Player: Inky Ajanaku, Stanford
