10/15/01
Longhorns rally to beat Texas Tech in five games
LUBBOCK, Texas – Freshman Mira Topic (Kambelovac, Croatia/Vladimir Nazor) collected 21 kills and 12 digs for her 13th double-double of the season as the University of Texas volleyball team came back from an 0-2 deficit to beat Texas Tech 3-2 (27-30, 23-30, 30-27, 30-26, 15-8) Monday evening at the United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
"The team showed a lot of character tonight," said head coach Jerritt Elliott. "They came out in game three with a conscious effort to turn the match around. By winning game three, the players gave themselves the confidence needed to pull out the victory."
The Longhorns snapped a three-match losing streak to improve to 10-6 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12 Conference. Texas Tech falls to 11-6 overall and 4-4 in league play.
The comeback marks the 18th time in school history that the Longhorns have rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win, the last time occurring against BYU on Sept. 1 at the Point Huskies Invitational.
Topic recorded 20-plus kills for the second consecutive match. She collected 34 kills against Missouri on Saturday, Oct. 13, which broke the Texas individual match record for kills in a five-game match. Freshman middle blocker Bethany Howden (Austin, Texas/Westlake) finished with 18 kills and a sizzling .457 hitting percentage, marking the ninth time this season she has hit above .400 in a match. Topic and Howden also led the team with five blocks apiece. Redshirt-sophomore Kathryn Wilson (Macomb Township, Mich./Dakota) finished with a career-best 13 kills and four blocks while senior outside hitter Katia Lara (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Jucelino) led the team with 17 digs. Freshman LaTonya Coates (Bangor, Mich./Bangor Public) made her first collegiate start and contributed seven kills, 13 digs and a .250 hitting percentage.
Texas fell behind early, dropping the first two games of the match and hitting .110 going into intermission. The Longhorns turned things around in game three to hit .381 with 22 kills and only six errors. Texas, which finished the match with a .210 hitting percentage, edged the Red Raiders in game four 30-26 before putting the match away with a 15-8 win in game five.
The Red Raiders, which finished hitting .208 for the match, were led by senior Heather Justice with 25 kills.
The Longhorns return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 17, when they travel to Lincoln, Neb., to face No. 2 Nebraska at 7 p.m. in the Nebraska Coliseum.
