9/19/01
No. 25 Texas sweeps No. 20 Baylor
AUSTIN, Texas – Freshman Bethany Howden (Austin, Texas) was error-free from the floor, swatting 12 kills in 23 attempts while hitting a stellar .522, to lead the No. 25 University of Texas volleyball team to a 1-0 start in the Big 12 Conference after defeating No. 20 Baylor 3-0 on Wednesday evening at Gregory Gym. A crowd of 1,744 saw the Longhorns improve to 6-1 overall on the season.
Howden topped the .400 hitting percentage mark for the fifth time in 2001 as she helped the Longhorns roll up a .233 team hitting percentage to the Bears' season-low .150. Freshman Mira Topic (Kambelovac, Croatia) and senior Gipy Duarte (Lima, Peru) also collected double figures in kills with 12 and 11, respectively. Duarte added a team-high 13 digs to cap the evening.
“We are pleased with our win tonight, especially since it was on our home floor,” said head coach Jerritt Elliott. “We showed patience in the third game and overall executed very well tonight.”
Texas took the first two games 30-28 before coming from behind to edge Baylor in game three 34-32. The score was tied 18-18 when a kill by Howden pushed the Longhorns ahead for good in game one. Howden finished with five kills on 10 attempts as Texas outhit Baylor .306 to 178. The Longhorns pulled ahead early in game two as a kill by Duarte broke a 5-5 tie. Duarte and Topic recorded five kills apiece -- 10 of the team's 15 kills in game two. The Longhorns continued their trend by taking the early lead in game three. The Bears battled back tying things at 15-15 and held the lead until late in the game when Texas rallied from a 25-22 deficit to tie the game at 27-27. Howden’s fifth kill of the game put the Longhorns at match point for the third time in the game. Freshman setter Abbie Schindler (Santa Cruz, Calif.) added the final point with her second kill of the match.
It marked the first loss of the season for Baylor (8-1, 0-1), which hit 141 points below its season average.
The Longhorns return to action on Saturday, Sept. 22, when they travel to Ames, Iowa, to face the Iowa State Cyclones at 7 p.m. in the Hilton Coliseum.
