10/2/01

2001 Longhorns Match Notes -- No. 8
Overall Record: 9-4 • Big 12: 4-2 • Home: 3-1 • Away: 2-1• Neutral: 3-1
Longhorns Schedule/Results | Longhorns Roster | Complete PDF notes

This Week's Schedule
Date	Opponent	Time (CT)	Location
Wed., Oct. 10	No. 23 Colorado (9-4 / 4-2 Big 12)	8 p.m.	Boulder, CO
Series: Texas leads 10-4  •  Last Meeting: Colorado 3-1 (11/22/00 in Austin, Texas) Win Streak: Colorado 2  •  UT vs. Colorado in Boulder: 4-2
Sat., Oct. 13	Missouri (12-4 / 4-4 Big 12)	7 p.m.	Austin, TX
Series: Texas leads 8-2  •  Last Meeting: Missouri 3-0 (11/11/00 in Columbia, Mo.) Win Streak: Missouri 2  •  UT vs. Missouri in Austin: 4-1
AVCA Top 25 | Volleyball Magazine Poll

Senior OH Katia Lara

BATTLING THE BUFFALOES: Colorado swept the season series against Texas last season 3-0 in Boulder, Colo., and 3-1 in Austin. The Buffaloes entered the rankings at No. 23 for the week of Monday, Oct. 8, after upsetting No. 16 Texas A&M in College Station (Oct. 3) and No. 25 Kansas State in Boulder, Colo. (Oct. 6). The Longhorns hold the all-time advantage with a record of 10-4. Eight of the 14 matches between the two teams has gone five games with the Longhorns winning six of those eight. Texas, which is facing its sixth ranked opponent of the season, is 4-2 at Colorado. The Buffaloes, under fifth-year head coach Pi'i Aiu, are led by senior Sonja Russell and sophomore Monique Gerlach with 3.39 and 3.38 kills per game, respectively.

TAMING THE TIGERS:  The Longhorns lead the all-time series with the Missouri Tigers 8-2. Texas won the first eight meetings with the Tigers, but dropped both matches in 2000. Nine of the 10 matches have been won in three sets. The only match to last more than three games was a 3-2 Texas win in Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 28, 1999. The Tigers started the season with eight straight wins but have dropped four of their last eight matches, all to Big 12 opponents. Missouri, coached by Susan and Wayne Kreklow, is led by juniors Lisa Morris and Christi Myers who are averaging 4.36 and 3.41 kills, respectively.  

HEAVY SCHEDULE: Two of the Longhorns' three postponed matches will be made up in the next week. Texas has a stretch of six matches in 11 days, starting with No. 23 Colorado on Wednesday, Oct. 10, and going through Saturday, Oct. 20, when it takes on Iowa State at home. Five of the six matches are in conference play, including meetings against No. 23 Colorado, Missouri, Texas Tech, No. 2 Nebraska and Iowa State. The Texas Tech match, which was previously scheduled on Wednesday, Sept. 12., is being made up on Monday, Oct. 15 in Lubbock, at 6:30 p.m. The other rescheduled match is on Friday, Oct. 19, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6:30 p.m. in Gregory Gym. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was one of the teams scheduled to play in the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational on Friday-Saturday, Sept. 14-15. The Auburn match, originally scheduled for Friday, Sept. 14, is still in progress of being rescheduled for later this season.

THIS WEEK IN TEXAS VOLLEYBALL: The Longhorns (9-4 / 4-2 Big 12) enter Big 12 Conference action this week in a tie for third place with Colorado (9-4 / 4-2 Big 12). Texas travels to Boulder, Colo., for an 8 p.m. CST matchup with the No. 23 Colorado Buffaloes on Wednesday, Oct. 10, marking the sixth time this season the Longhorns have played a ranked opponent. On Saturday, Oct. 13, the Longhorns return home to face the Missouri Tigers (11-4 / 3-4 Big 12) in a 7 p.m. match presented by Time Warner Cable. Saturday's match is Camper Reunion Night and Fun for Four Night. All campers presenting a valid flyer at the door will receive free admission. Those without flyers also get a deal by purchasing four tickets for just $10.

SHORTHORNS: Senior outside hitter Katia Lara has stepped it up a notch in the last few matches. Lara recorded 24 kills, a .333 hitting percentage, four service aces, eight digs and seven blocks against Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Lara missed her career-best in kills (17) by one against the Aggies ... freshman middle blocker Bethany Howden hit a combined .435 with 31 kills against Oklahoma and Texas A&M last week. In conference only matches, Howden is second in hitting percentage at .383 ... senior outside hitter Gipy Duarte broke her block solos record against No. 16 Texas A&M. Duarte had recorded one block solo on 10 occasions while at Texas, but that came to a halt when she posted three block solos in the 3-1 loss to the Aggies ... redshirt-sophomore Kathryn Wilson set a new career mark in kills with 11 at Oklahoma (10/3) ... freshmen outside hitter Mira Topic has posted double figures in kills and digs in 12 of the 13 matches and record a hitting percentage of .300 or better in seven matches ... freshman setter Abbie Schindler leads all Big 12 players in assists with 13.85 in conference only matches ... the 2001 squad has three Austinites on the roster in sophomore middle blocker Kathy Hahn sophomore defensive specialist Adrian Greenman and Howden. No Austinite has ever earned volleyball All-America honors in a Longhorns uniform ... the Longhorns roster also features three Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 Recruits in Hahn, Howden and freshman outside hitter LaTonya Coates which marks the 10th consecutive year that Texas has had a player named on the Fab 50 list ...Hahn, who has been out of the lineup for a month, has returned to full practice without restriction, and her competitive status for matches remains day-to-day. Tina Bonci, co-director of UT's athletics sports medicine and athletics training division, said UT cannot disclose Hahn's medical condition which was monitored in preseason and subsequently required extensive testing. Bonci noted the condition proved not to be season- or career-threatening, but will continue to be monitored on a daily basis.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE: Freshman Bethany Howden and redshirt-sophomore Kathryn Wilson have provided the 2001 Longhorns with solid play at middle blocker. Wilson and Howden are one-two in blocks per game with 1.33 and 1.31, respectively. Howden, a graduate of Westlake H.S. in Austin, has hit above .400 seven times this season while posting a career-best 27 kills against No. 11 BYU. Wilson also has set a number of career-highs. Wilson, who collected a career-high 11 kills at Oklahoma, has recorded six or more blocks in seven of the 11 matches this season.

TRUE FRESHMEN: The Longhorns continue to be led by freshmen Bethany Howden and Mira Topic. The duo are making a huge impact on the court, combining for more than half of the teams kills against Oklahoma and Texas A&M last week (58 of 113). Topic collected her 10th and 11th double-doubles of the season with 14 kills and 10 digs at Oklahoma and 13 kills and 12 digs in the loss to Texas A&M. The 6-2 outside hitter leads the team in digs (176), points (235.5) and service aces (29). Howden, who leads the team in kills (191), pounded out 14 against OU while hitting .545, marking the seventh time she has hit above .400 in the Longhorns' 13 matches. The 6-2 middle blocker posted a career-best nine blocks and .565 hitting percentage against the Jayhawks on Wednesday, Sept. 26. She is second on the team in blocks (59) and in points (225).

FRESHMEN RECORD BOOKS: Mira Topic and Bethany Howden are on pace to leave their names in the Longhorns' record books. Topic and Howden have collected 190 and 191 kills, respectively, through 13 matches for an average of 4.22 and 4.24 kills per game. Each are likely to record more than 300 kills this season, becoming the sixth and seventh Longhorns freshmen since 1982 to reach such a mark. Fellow teammate Kathy Hahn tallied 308 kills in her freshman campaign in 2000. Howden has also recorded 59 total blocks in 45 games for an average of 1.31 per game. On that pace, Howden could become the first freshman to reach 100 blocks since Katie Austin in 1995 (104 / 0.83 blocks per game). Through 45 games, Topic has posted 176 digs for an average of 3.91 digs per game and is on pace to surpass Demetria Sance's freshman record of 435 digs in 1995. Sance averaged 3.42 in 127 games played.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP: Outside hitters Gipy Duarte and Katia Lara are the only two upperclassmen on the court for the Longhorns in 2001. Duarte is the lone Texas player to have been here four years while Lara enters her second season at UT after transferring from Barton County Junior College in 2000. Duarte and Lara are each averaging over two kills per game. Duarte averages 2.04 kills per game, is second on the team in digs (2.80) and third in service aces (11) and blocks (44). Lara, a former juco All-American, recorded a season-best 16 kills against No. 16 Texas A&M and now averages 2.60 kills per game. She is second in service aces (17) and has recorded four double-doubles this season.

AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS: Texas Volleyball is now 2-3 against ranked opponents in 2001. The Longhorns defeated their first ranked opponent since 1999 when they rallied from an 0-2 deficit to defeat No. 11 BYU at the Point Huskies Invitational in Seattle, Wash. The last ranked opponent to lose to Texas was No. 21 Colorado on Nov. 20, 1999, which also witnessed a comeback from an 0-2 deficit. In addition to No. 11 BYU, the Longhorns also faced No. 9 Stanford, No. 20 Baylor, No. 9 Florida and No. 16 Texas A&M. Dating back to the 1995 season, the Horns are 41-41 (.500) against ranked opposition, going 20-12 in Austin, 10-8 in neutral-site matches and 11-21 on the road. Over the same span, UT posts a stellar 100-14 (.877) mark against unranked opponents.

ELLIOTT ERA: Texas Volleyball is 9-4 on the season under first-year head coach Jerritt Elliott, the best start by the Longhorns since 1999 when they posted a 15-4 mark through their first 19 matches. In his first season at Southern California, Elliott posted an 8-3 record through the first 11 matches before guiding the Women of Troy to a 13-6 mark the remainder of the season and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Elliott, in his first season at UT, has guided the Longhorns to a 2-3 mark over ranked opponents this season, including the dramatic come-from-behind win against No. 11 BYU. Elliott is 3-0 in season openers during his career.

TEXAS IN THE RANKINGS: The Longhorns dropped out of the USA Today/AVCA Division I Coaches poll, receiving 88 votes for the week of Monday, Oct. 1. Texas was not ranked in the 2001 preseason poll but appeared at No. 25 on Monday, Sept. 3, after upsetting No. 11 BYU 3-2 in Seattle, Wash. The Horns remained at No. 25 for the next two weeks before jumping to the No. 23 spot  following a 3-0 sweep over No. 20 Baylor at home to open the first week of Big 12 Conference action. The return to the USA Today/AVCA poll during the week of Monday, Sept. 3, marked the first time since early last season that Texas found itself nationally ranked. The Horns fell out of the rankings for the first time in history on Monday, Sept. 11, 2000, after being ranked in each of the previous 238 AVCA polls dating back to 1981. With UT's absence, only Nebraska, Stanford and Pacific remain as schools to be ranked in every AVCA poll. Texas broke in the Volleyball Magazine's Top 20 Poll for the first time in 2001 during the week of Monday, Sept. 24. The Longhorns earned the No. 20 spot after defeating No. 20 Baylor 3-0 to open the conference season.

AMONG BIG 12 PLAYERS: Texas has made a mark among Big 12 players in the individual rankings as of Monday, Oct. 8. Mira Topic ranks first in digs (3.91) and service aces (0.64) and is sixth in kills per game (4.22). Bethany Howden also finds herself in two Big 12 categories. Howden is fifth in kills (4.24) and  sixth in blocks (1.31). Kathryn Wilson is tied for fourth in blocks per game at 1.33. Abbie Schindler ranks seventh among Big 12 setters, averaging 12.73 assists per game. Topic, Howden and Schindler are leading all Big 12 freshmen in every category in conference only matches. Topic leads in kills (4.35), service aces (0.60) and digs (3.95). Howden is first among all conference freshmen in hitting percentage (.383) and blocks (1.70) while Schindler leads in assists (13.85). The Texas freshmen are also leading all Big 12 freshmen overall in four categories. Howden and Topic are one-two among conference freshmen in kills with 4.24 and 4.22, respectively. Topic also leads all freshmen in service aces (0.64) and digs (3.91) while Schindler holds the freshmen lead for assists in 2001, averaging 12.73.