The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M vs. SMU
12.02.2016 | Volleyball
Sophomore Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani led the Longhorns to victory on a career-high night.
AUSTIN, Texas — No. 4-seeded Texas Volleyball (23-4) swept the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (21-14), 25-14, 25-16, 25-17 on Friday night in the NCAA First Round at Gregory Gym.
With the win, the Longhorns improved to 30-0 in first-round matches, 64-9 in NCAA matches played in Austin and 84-30 (.737) in NCAA matches all-time.
Sophomore Middle Blocker Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani recorded a career-high .929 hitting percentage, leading the team with a career-high 13 kills. Her previous career-high came against Baylor, when she hit .833 on 11 kills.
Bedart-Ghani's hitting percentage (.929) against UTRGV is the highest mark for any Texas player in a game this season (min. 6 kills). She also contributed a team-high two blocks.
Freshman libero Autumn Rounsaville and freshman outside hitter White led the Longhorns with two service aces apiece, while freshman outside hitter White led the team with 11 digs marking the seventh time this season she has finished in double-digit digs.
The sweep marks the 11th sweep on the season and brings the Horns to a 14-1 record when playing at home in Gregory Gym this season. The Longhorns hit above .300 for the 13th time this season (.356).
In the first set, Texas jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead. Several Longhorn errors brought RGV back into the match at 7-7. A service error from the Vaqueros sparked a 10-2 run by Texas, giving them a 18-9 edge. After a kill from senior Paulina Prierto-Cerame widened the gap to 21-11, UTRGV was forced to call a timeout. The Vaqueros simply could not surmount a first-set comeback as the Horns finished the set giving up only three more points, 25-14.
The Vaqueros settled into the second set more quickly, but still found themselves in a 4-9 hole as they called a timeout. A kill from sophomore Morgan Johnson began a 7-3 rally by the Longhorns that opened the score to 14-7. Although the Vaqueros managed to tally nine more points, they struggled to produce offensively, hitting .048. The home team never gave up the lead, taking the set 25-16.
UTRGV took a 3-2 advantage in the third set. White responded promptly with two service aces that helped rally Texas to 7-3 advantage. UTRGV would stay within striking distance as Vaquero Dubravka Vukoja registered a service ace to come within four points, 10-14, of the Longhorns.
The visitors continued to battle, forcing a Texas timeout as they closed the gap again, 14-18. Still, the Vaqueros could not find an answer as an attack error set up a match-point opportunity for the home team. Longhorn Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani recorded a kill to give Texas the set win, 25-17, and the first-round victory.
The Longhorns will return to Gregory Gym on Saturday, Dec. 3 to take on SMU at 7 p.m. CT. The winner of the match will advance to the NCAA Regional Semifinals.
Postgame Notes
-The Longhorns move to a perfect 30-0 in first round matches with the win over the Vaqueros.
-The Longhorns now sport a 3-0 record against UTRGV. Their last win against the Vaqueros prior to Friday night was on August 30, 2002.
-The Longhorns are now 14-1 when playing at home in Gregory Gym this season.
-The win marks the 11th time the Longhorns have swept a team this season.
-The Longhorns are now 64-9 all-time in NCAA matches played in Austin
-Texas is 84-30 (.737) all-time in NCAA tournament matches.
-Sophomore middle blocker Yaazie Bedart-Ghani recorded a career-high .929 hitting -percentage, leading the team with 13 kills. Her previous career-high came against Baylor, when she hit .833 with 11 kills.
-Bedart-Ghani's hitting percentage (.929) against UTRGV is the highest mark for any Texas player in a game this season (min. 6 kills).
-Bedart-Ghani also contributed a team-high two block assists.
-Freshman libero Autumn Rounsaville and freshman outside hitter Macaya White led the Longhorns with two service aces apiece. Her performance marks the first time she has accomplished this feat.
-The Longhorns hit above .300 for the 13th time this season (.356).
-Freshman outside hitter Macaya White led the team with 11 digs. The performance marks the seventh time this season she has finished with double-digit digs.
Postgame Quotes
TEXAS
Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott
Opening Statement: First, we'd like to congratulate UT Rio Grande Valley, coach Todd Lowery, and the tremendous job they've done this year. It's not easy to build a program and to get to this level and get to the NCAA Tournament. It's great for our state to have this kind of success. It's very important to me as a head coach to have that and I'm excited for Todd and his program to be able to build on this and to hopefully have some more years of that. But they should be really proud about what they accomplished and, moving forward, I know this will be a good boost for them to get energized for the spring.
On our side, I thought we just did a nice job of staying steady the whole night and just playing consistently. I thought Chloe [Collins] did a nice job locating the ball. Obviously Paulina [Prieto Cerame] and Yaazie [Bedart-Ghani] were extremely hot tonight and kind of led the charge from our offensive output.
On moving Yaazie Bedart-Ghani from the outside to the middle: We were lacking in that position. Not by talent, but by experience. When we lost obviously Chiaka [Ogbogu] and being able to get Orie [Agbaji], we knew Orie is a really good volleyball player for us but she doesn't have a lot of experience at the high end and so the game was a little fast for her to able to catch up. The one that Yaazie always has is that she has the best demeanor on our team and she doesn't get rattled. She stays steady and I just threw her into practice and told her, "Try to hit a couple of these balls, let me see what it looks like." We got one of the lazier ones, and that's why our quickest is not as quite as fast as the other ones but she was able to do that. We started doing some box transitioning to see what she could do. After about a week or two, I was just training her over a period of time and I felt confident in what she could do and she's developed. The other side is that she's worked extremely hard to get in the best shape she has ever been in and so she's jumping higher she is more confident now. I think she feels great and understands the game at a higher level and she's been able to adapt. Her blocking game has gotten better. Her transitioning footwork has gotten better and her trust. Both of our middles are playing at a higher level than they have at the first half or three quarters of our season.
On how important consistency from the team's seniors are: They're important. You have to have senior leadership, you have to have people that are committed to what the standards are in our program and, most importantly, giving. Those players are very giving: Chloe, Nicole [Dalton], Paulina, and Kate [Palladino], who doesn't play a lot but those guys are forgiving. So when you have that leadership, it makes everyone around them better. One of the things that we've been talking about is making sure that we're making strong eye contact to give confidence in those players and give conversations with the tone of their voice. I thought they did an excellent job tonight in that process.
On what he told his team to keep confidence high: They stayed a little bit more steady. Our defense kind of dropped off and their offense got a little bit hotter, but right now, I told them at the break that this is the NCAA Tournament. The key to this is being able to concentrate and compete for long periods of time and not let other teams get the confidence in what they're doing. If you do that, you can set yourself up for big failure. There's no breaks in this, the schemes are going to come down to some close points and being able to execute. But our side-out percentages were very good tonight, and we've got to be able to apply that tomorrow night against a very good SMU team.
Outside Hitter Paulina Prieto Cerame
On how it feels to open the tournament with a win: It's awesome. The way we came out with energy and knowing that UT Rio Grande Valley would come out with energy as well and the way that we kept composed, I was very happy about that. So we're just taking it one game at a time and we're looking forward to SMU tomorrow.
Outside Hitter Yaazie Bedart-Ghani
On her performance and leading the team in hitting percentage: Chloe [Collins] was putting up really great balls for me tonight and we were just connecting very well. We just got into a nice groove.
On transitioning to a new position at middle blocker: It's gone a lot smoother than I anticipated. I definitely have a lot of support here, and they've really been helpful with blocking and getting everything, so I've felt a lot of support. That's been the biggest thing.
Setter Chloe Collins
On her team's performance: I thought we were really steady the entire match. We maintained our composure the entire time and we had the momentum. I just thought we played really well tonight.
On balancing tomorrow's schedule with graduation and the NCAA Second Round match vs. SMU: It's a pretty hectic day, but our coaches have planned it all out so that we're not stressed about making sure we're on time for graduation and on time for the match as well. Our graduation is at noon and we have walkthrough at three, so that allows us enough time to relax for a little bit and get back to the gym to get ready for SMU tomorrow.
UTRGV
UTRGV Head Coach Todd Lowry
Opening Statement: Just overall I can't say how proud I am of this group of girls and what they accomplished this year and since we really took over this program two years ago. Just had a wonderful group of girls that bought into what we were telling them to do and had a great run here at the end of the season and I'm proud of the way the came out, being down 2-0 and fighting in set 3.
On how his players handled the pressure of playing Texas: I think we came out and had some jitters early. I think we expected that and we were a little bit higher in sets one and two. I thought we settled down in set 3 and kind of made Texas earn the points that they did score. That was kind of our goal coming in here. We knew it was a tall order facing up against Texas, a lot of offense, but we wanted them to have to earn everything they got and we didn't have to give away a lot of points to them. I think set 2 we had a eight or nine errors which is just too high. One of the things we did well in the WACK tournament was play low air volleyball and we didn't do that early in this match. But I thought we did well in set 3.
On if the team approached this match differently: They are definitely bigger than anyone else we see. We worked a lot with our hitters about going high hands off the block and not trying to bury balls in the center of the court like we get away with in our conference. I thought our hitters did a good job with that especially late. I thought we got a lot of high touches that put the ball deep in the court against them and I thought we served it well. We wanted to serve aggressive against them and hit our targets and I thought we did that well in set 3.
On how the experience will help the program build: I think it does a couple things. One, next year the girls come back or the year after and the jitters start to go away and they kind of start to expect to be at this level. I think that is a big thing for the program to start to build that history. We went through it a little bit last year where we couldn't close out tight sets and we had a few of those games this year and those games become fewer and fewer as the years go by and this program gets better. The history and expectation of winning every night you come on the court starts to build. So I think this group of girls can take it back and lead our incoming class that we're happy about and move forward with this momentum.
On moving forward: That's the one thing about college volleyball, or any college athletics- it never ends. The recruiting process and then the girls get a couple of days here before finals and get a little bit of a break for Christmas and then they come back and start training and getting back at it and building for next year. I thought we did that really well last year. We made some big strides in the spring that we were happy with and we definitely can take away some things from this match that we need to get better at in the spring and work on. That will definitely be our goal.
UTRGV Hitter Alisha Watson
On Texas: They are pretty big in offensive so you have to bear down and take whatever they give you. It took a lot for us to just come together and stay dicisplined and stay focused and not just ride with the emotions they were giving. They are a pretty solid team there's no doubt about that.
On if the NCAA Tournament experience met their expectations: It was great. There was a lot more crowd support than I expected. It was really great to see our town coming in and to have that much of a representation for us. I was really proud to see that. It's definitely different than what we had before so that was pleasantly a surprise.
On what it meant to play in an NCAA Tournament match close to home: If feels great. I got to have a lot of my family here and just see a lot of old faces and girls I've played before. It's just nice to be able to come here and be back at home and do what I love here.
UTRGV Hitter Bojana Mitrovic
On the match and Texas' rowdy environment: As coach already acknowledged I think this was a huge success for our school and community. It was a pleasant experience for us to be here and be apart of this tournament. I think it was a huge deal considering that this is barley the second year of our program. I think the way our school adjusts to our team and adjust to athletics in general is amazing and we're more than thankful for that. I'm also very proud of my team and how hard we worked and how we fought until the last moment. No one saw us here and we did it. I'm very proud of where we are and playing another great season with this program.
On if this experience will help the team next year: For sure. Just coming here and seeing how things work; we know this is a great level, this is world volleyball. It's lmost as equal as professional volleyball. It's amazing to be apart of it and just to have a chance and come here and compete because it's a dream of every single person that plays volleyball. I think it's an amazing experience and I'm more than happy to be playing a part of it.
