The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
1-0
Oregon
0-1
No. 2 Volleyball opens season with 3-1 win over Oregon
08.26.2016 | Volleyball
Three players finished with double-digit kills, led by Nwanebu’s double-double.
AUSTIN, Texas – Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame, junior Ebony Nwanebu and freshman Micaya White all posted double-digit kills to fuel No. 2 Texas Volleyball past Oregon, 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 17-25, 25-19) in Eugene, Ore. on Friday night.
Nwanebu led the Longhorns with 20 kills on 46 attempts, hitting .348 in the match, while also posting 13 digs for a double-double. Prieto Cerame posted 16 kills, while White had 14 in her Texas debut.
Junior Cat McCoy and freshman Autumn Rounsaville joined Nwanebu with double-digit digs, posting 16 and 11, respectively.
Senior Chloe Collins finished with a team-high 42 assists, while also posting two blocks with junior Mirta Baselovic and sophomore Morgan Johnson.
As a team, UT hit .285 to UO's .207 and posted 63 digs to Oregon's 59.
Nwanebu opened the match with a kill, the Longhorns and Ducks trading points until White's two kills fueled Texas on a 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead. Oregon fired back, rattling off three straight points to narrow the Horns' 14-8 lead to 14-11, but another Nwanebu kill ended the run. UT controlled the rest of the set, closing out 25-17 on an 8-2 run, with five kills from Prieto Cerame. The Longhorns hit .455 in the set, holding the Ducks to .258.
The second set started like the first with Texas executing a 4-0 run early in the set to take a 7-4 lead, but Oregon went on a 3-0 run of its own to even the score at 7-7. Back-to-back kills from Prieto Cerame put the Longhorns back on top again, but again the Ducks evened the score at 9-9. UT struck again, this time on a 3-0 run behind back-to-back kills from Nwanebu and again Oregon tied the score at 14-14. Texas then went on a 5-1 run with two kills from White and didn't look back, closing set two, 25-19 to take a 2-0 lead.
In the third set, neither team led by more than two until the Ducks took a 17-13 lead, but back-to-back Prieto Cerame kills pulled Texas to within two at 15-17. Oregon took control, winning eight of the last 12 points to take set three, 25-19.
The Longhorns jumped out to a 4-1 lead in set four and extended it to 8-3 behind a Johnson block and Nwanebu kill. At 9-5, Prieto Cerame and Nwanebu rattled off three-straight kills and took a 13-5 lead. The Ducks tried to claw back in, pulling to within six at 15-9, but two White kills gave the Longhorns a 17-10 edge. Texas did not look back, finishing the set, 25-19 to win its third-straight season opener, 3-1.
Ronika Stone and Lindsey Vander Weide led Oregon with 12 kills each.
Texas will have a quick turnaround to face No. 1 Nebraska on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 5:30 p.m. CT to complete the VERT Challenge.
NEXT UP: No. 2 TEXAS vs. No. 1 NEBRASKA
