9/8/01
Howden and Topic lead 25th-ranked Longhorns past Florida State
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Freshmen Bethany Howden (Austin, Texas/Westlake) and Mira Topic (Kambelovac, Croatia/Vladimir Nazor) posted 25 and 21 kills, respectively, as they guided the No. 25 Texas volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Florida State on Saturday evening in College Station, Texas. The Longhorns improve to 5-1 by defeating the Lady Seminoles 30-20, 32-34, 31-29 and 30-21.
Howden’s 25 kills against the Lady Seminoles are the third time this season she has collected 20 or more kills. She also hit .404 for the match, marking the fourth time she has hit about .300. Topic recorded her fifth double-double of 2001 behind tonight’s 21 kills and 17 digs while finishing with a .341 hitting percentage. She was errorless until late in game two, recording six kills in 11 attempts in game one.
Senior outside hitter Katia Lara (Sao Paolo, Brazil/Jucelino) also finished with 14 kills and 17 digs for her third double-double of the season. Defensively, senior outside hitter Gipy Duarte (Lima, Peru/Colegia Maria Reina) led the team with 21 kills.
Texas and Florida State battled back and forth in all the games, including being tied on 11 times during the loss in game two. The Longhorns took game one after going on an 18-9 run late while outhitting Florida State .271 to .042. Texas had four game point opportunities in the second game, but Florida State fought back with three straight kills to win 34-32. Topic and Howden were key to the 31-29 win in game three, recording 15 of the 21 kills. In game four, the Longhorns took an early lead behind two kills from Howden and went on hit .277 to Florida State’s .098 while recording 17 kills and a match-low four hitting errors.
Florida State, who falls to 1-4, had four players finish in double figures for kills, led by Alex Sevillano (19).
The Longhorns begin conference play when they travel to Lubbock, Texas to face Texas Tech on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.
