10/17/01
Longhorns fall in three to second-ranked Nebraska
LINCOLN, Neb. – Freshman outside hitter Mira Topic (Kambelovac, Croatia/Vladimir Nazor) finished with a team-high 10 kills as the University of Texas volleyball team fell to second-ranked Nebraska 3-0 (17-30, 22-30, 21-30) on Wednesday evening in the Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln, Neb.
Texas falls to 10-7 overall and 5-5 in the Big 12 Conference. No. 2 Nebraska improves to 16-1 overall and 9-0 in league play.
"Tonight’s match was a good learning experience for our young team," said head coach Jerritt Elliott. "We played hard but we are still making too many mistakes. When you play a quality team like Nebraska, your inexperience gets exposed."
Freshman middle blocker Bethany Howden (Austin, Texas/Westlake) finished with seven kills and four blocks while redshirt-sophomore Kathryn Wilson (Macomb Township, Mich./Dakota) added six kills. Defensively, senior outside hitter Gipy Duarte (Lima, Peru/Colegia Maria Reina) led the team with nine digs.
The Huskers dominated game one, collecting 16 kills and hitting .237 to Texas’ nine kills and -.091 hitting percentage. Wilson recorded four kills and a sizzling .600 hitting percentage for the Longhorns. After an early 3-3 tie, Nebraska went on a 27-14 run for the 30-17 victory.
Game two was a seesaw battle with Texas taking an 8-7 lead after an attack error by Nebraska. The Huskers pulled out in front once again 14-12 but Texas tied the game at 14-14 on two consecutive kills by Topic. Nebraska answered with a kill by Jenny Kropp to give the Huskers the lead for good as they finished game two with a 30-22 win.
Texas held an early 3-1 advantage in game three but a kill by Laura Pilakowski started the Huskers on 13-6 run. The Longhorns came out of their timeout to score three points, making the score 12-15 Nebraska. The Huskers answered with a 15-9 run to put the match away with a 30-21 win in game three.
Senior Nancy Metcalf recorded a team-leading 15 kills to lead the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers to their 14th consecutive win.
The Longhorns return home to face the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, at Gregory Gym. Friday’s match is the second of Texas’ three rescheduled contests postponed earlier this season by the national tragedies. Individual match tickets can be purchased by calling UTTM at (512) 477-6060 or 1-800-982-BEVO.
