The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
20-2, 12-0Big 12
TCU
10-14, 2-10Big 12
No. 3 Volleyball sweeps TCU, improves to 12-0 in Big 12 play
11.08.2017 | Volleyball
Sophomore Micaya White led Texas with 14 kills and 13 digs.
AUSTIN, Texas – Sophomore Micaya White posted 14 kills and 13 digs to lead No. 3 Texas Volleyball (20-2, 12-0) past TCU (10-14, 2-10) in straight sets on Wednesday evening, (25-17, 25-23, 25-14).
White's 14 kills came on 35 swings for a .314 hitting percentage. She was one of three Longhorns to finish with double-digit kills.
Senior Ebony Nwanebu posted 13 kills (.500) with only one error on 24 attacks, and freshman Lexi Sun had 12 kills (.476).
Freshman Ashley Shook recorded a career-high 14.33 assists/set on 43 assists, tying Nwanebu's team-high .500 hitting percentage on five kills, and recording seven digs.
Senior Cat McCoy recorded a team-leading 18 digs, while White's 13 digs gave her a sixth double-double of the season.
Texas posted 9.0 to 4.0 blocking advantage over the Horned Frogs by Chiaka Ogbogu's team-high five blocks, while Morgan Johnson, Nwanebu, Sun, and White all recorded three.
The score in the first set was tied at four apiece after White had hit back-to-back kills for Texas to open the match 3-0. The Longhorns responded with a quick 4-0 run through kills from Shook and Ogbogu, forcing TCU's first timeout at 8-4. Growing the lead to as many as eight before set point at 24-17, a block from Ogbogu and Nwanebu secured the first set for Texas.
White and Nwanebu had led Texas with five kills apiece in the first set, and White recorded her sixth on the opening point of the second with a tip for a 1-0 Texas lead. TCU tied on six occasions, but finally at 23-23. A kill from Johnson took Texas to set point at 24-23, preceding the Horned Frogs mishandling an attack from Sun, giving the Longhorns the set at 25-23.
TCU tested Texas' defense after the Longhorns had moved to a 2-0 match score lead. Forcing Texas to come from behind five times, the Horned Frogs fell behind for the first time in the set at 7-6 when Sun and Johnson combined for a block. The block kick-started a decisive run for Texas to secure the match, 18-8, for a third set score of 25-14.
Next up, Texas heads out on the road to face No. 24 Iowa State on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcasted on Cyclones.TV.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On the consistency in this game: It was much more consistent for us tonight. The areas we were focusing on this week were serving and passing. And as the match got better, I thought our serving got better. I thought our serving was pretty steady. Offensively, our numbers were really good. The area I was impressed with was Ashley set a really good game tonight. I was very pleased and our set average percentages were very strong. Good results.
On how the serving effort went tonight: It depends on the individual. Some are serving a little bit better. I mean you saw Cat (McCoy) start serving some tough balls down the line. And getting them out of their system a little more. They were hurting us on the right side a lot. So we made a focused effort to get more zone rotation. To eliminate that a little more and got them down to earth. They were both hitting high .400's. I thought their servers did a nice job, but overall there are some players that are serving very well in practice and aren't carrying that over into the match. And so, that have to be able to get that confidence and be able to do that. It's a big part it because TCU in the first game was hitting 5-45 on perfect passes they were negative the rest of the way. So we have to get teams out of system with our size block and put some stress on them. You really give them an out when you're not putting consistent tough serves on them over a period of time.
Freshman Setter Ashley Shook
On her thoughts on the match: Our passing was really good. All of our first touches were putting me in a great spot to get good balls to the hitters. Also, our block touches were something we wanted to focus on in this game and we were getting really good block touches for a majority of the match. I think everything was really flowing well.
On her aggressive play opening the match: It just worked out. I try not to predetermine what I'm going to do. They were hitting the passes perfect for me to get into that situation so I would just dump.
On the overall offensive performance: I think we have weapons everywhere. It has been awesome to be able to get our connections better as the season has gone on with more practice. We keep having more practice together and I think that's showing. Everyone's trusting me and I'm trusting them and I think we've been building on that really well.
Senior Outside Hitter Ebony Nwanebu
On the sharp effort tonight: You kind of saw it drop off in the second set when it was really close. However, the third set of this game and of the last game, I think we just came out and got out on top of it and didn't let up like we had in past games. I think that shows improvement within our team.
On how this sets up the team before the next two matches: I think it gives us confidence. You never know what type of environment you're going to get. You can't just say that since we won tonight then we're going to cruise next game. But it for sure gives us some confidence to keep going, especially with the tournament so close. It shows us what we can do if we keep pushing.
