The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
9-2, 1-0
West Virginia
8-6, 0-1
No. 5 Volleyball opens Big 12 with win at West Virginia
09.20.2016 | Volleyball
Freshman Orie Agbaji finished with a career-high nine blocks.
MORGANTOWN, W.V. – No. 5 Texas Volleyball defeated West Virginia, 3-1 (24-26, 28-26, 25-18, 25-15) to start the Big 12 Conference season with a road win on Tuesday night.
Freshman Orie Agbaji led the Longhorns with a career-high nine blocks, the most of any Texas player so far this season. She also added three kills on four attempts.
Senior Nicole Dalton took over setting duties for Texas, posting 41 assists, five kills, nine digs and three blocks in the match.
Three Longhorns finished with double-digit kills, all hitting .260 or better.
Freshman Micaya White finished with 18 kills, nine digs and five blocks in the match.
Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame had 15 kills, hitting .419 and junior Ebony Nwanebu finished with 13 kills, hitting .429, seven digs and four blocks.
Junior Cat McCoy led with 15 digs, while sophomore Lauren Beard and freshman Claire Hahn added four.
As a team, Texas (9-2, 1-0) hit .344 in the match and outblocked West Virginia (8-6, 0-1), 17.0 to 4.0.
In the first set, neither team led by more than two until the Mountaineers went on a 6-0 run to take an 8-4 lead, but the Longhorns chipped away, winning six of the next eight points and tied the score at 10. West Virginia went on another 3-0 run to take a 16-13 lead later in the set, but could not pull away and Texas tied it again at 18. They tied three more times before the Longhorns saved three set points, but the Mountaineers closed in on the fourth to take set one, 26-24.
Neither team led by more than two in the second set, featuring 12 ties early, until West Virginia took an 18-16 lead. Texas responded and tied it at 20, but the Mountaineers took another lead, 22-21. Back-to-back kills from White gave the Longhorns the advantage, but neither team could pull away until Texas closed the set, 28-26, to even the score, 1-1.
The third set picked up where the second set left off with six ties until the 7-7 mark when the Longhorns went on a 4-0 run to lead, 11-7. UT maintained the lead and extended it for a 21-15 advantage. From there, Texas finished with another 4-2 run to close set three, 25-18.
In the fourth set, the Longhorns jumped out to a 4-1 lead and stretched it to 11-5. The Mountaineers could not close the gap, pulling to within five at 10-15, but Texas responded to increase the lead and finished the match with a 25-15 fourth set.
Payton Caffrey led West Virginia with 26 kills and nine digs.
The Longhorns will return to Gregory Gym to welcome No. 8 Kansas on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. The match will be televised live on Longhorn Network.
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