The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
9-2, 1-0
West Virginia
12-3, 1-1
No. 6 Volleyball wins Big 12 opener at West Virginia
09.23.2017 | Volleyball
Sophomore Micaya White posted her second double-double of the season to lead Texas.
MORGANTOWN, W.V. – No. 6 Texas Volleyball (9-2, 1-0) defeated West Virginia (12-3, 1-1), 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-12) on Saturday afternoon to open Big 12 Conference play.
Sophomore Micaya White led the Longhorns with her second double-double of the season with 16 kills (.297) and a season-high 15 digs.
Freshman Lexi Sun and senior Chiaka Ogbogu also recorded double-digit kills with 13 each, Ogbogu doing so on zero errors for a .619 hitting percentage. Sun had her fourth double-double of the season, also adding 11 digs.
Freshman Ashley Shook posted her fifth double-double of the season with a career-high 53 assists, also adding 10 digs. Senior Cat McCoy led all Longhorns with 16 digs for her 10th match this season with double-digit digs.
Junior Morgan Johnson also had a career mark, finishing with 10 blocks to lead the Longhorns to a 14-8 block advantage over the Mountaineers.
As a team, Texas posted its eighth match hitting .300 or better with its .304 mark.
UT took an early 10-5 lead in the first set, but the Mountaineers rallied and chipped away at the score before tying it at 19. The Longhorns maintained the lead, but West Virginia tied the score two more times before UT pulled away for a 27-25 victory.
The Mountaineers took control in set two, leaping out to a 12-6 lead, but Texas bounced back with a 10-4 run to tie the score at 16. West Virginia pulled away again, but the Longhorns kept close and tied the score again at 20. From there, the teams traded points until WVU closed the set on a 3-1 run, 25-23.
In the third set, the Longhorns led by three points three different times, but West Virginia closed the gap and took its first lead of the set at 13-12. The teams tied four more times until the Mountaineers went on a 4-1 run to take a 20-17 lead. The Horns pulled to within one point at 21-22, but WVU won the last three points to take a 2-1 match lead.
The Longhorns came out strong in the fourth set, jumping out to an early 11-6 lead behind kills from White and Shook. From there, Texas did not look back, leading by as many as eight to close set four, 25-16 and force a fifth set.
The Mountaineers jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in set five and stretched its lead to a 9-4 advantage. Texas fired back with four-straight points to close the gap to one point and tied the score at 10 before rattling off five of the next seven points to take the match, 3-2.
The Longhorns will return home to welcome Baylor on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. The match will be televised live on Fox Sports Network.
