11/7/02
Colorado 3, Texas 1
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| Jackie Bernardin |
AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas volleyball team lost its second consecutive match as the Colorado Buffaloes defeated the Longhorns, 3-1 (30-20, 20-30, 37-35, 30-20), in front of 1,361 fans on Wednesday night at Gregory Gym.
Texas (18-6/9-5 Big 12) was lead by sophomore Mira Topic (Kastela Kambelovac, Croatia/Vladimir Nazor) who tallied a season-high 31 kills by hitting .393 on 61attempts. Topic's 31 kills bettered her previous season-high of 22 against San Diego on Aug. 31, but was four shy of her career-high of 35, set against Texas Tech on Oct. 31, 2001. Colorado was paced by senior setter Elizabeth Gower who garnered her second triple-double on the season with 11 kills, 51 assists, and 10 digs.
Sophomore Bethany Howden (Austin, Texas/Westlake) followed Topic with 16 kills and hitting .306 while sophomore Kathy Hahn (Leander, Texas/Leander) contributed a .292 hitting night with 11 kills. Topic also lead the team in digs with 15, followed by junior libero Stacy Millichap (Woodside, Calif./UCLA) with 13.
"We knew how Colorado was going to play tonight, but didn't execute our game plan," said Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott. "We missed some key opportunities in game three that could have turned the match in our favor."
Texas got into an early hole and would go on to drop game one, 20-30. Texas' early deficit was attributed to a .065 hitting-percentage while the Buffs hit a conservative .222. With three kills, Topic was the only Longhorn to register a positive hitting percentage at .375.
Texas turned the table on the Buffs to win game two, 30-20, as UT hit .389 while holding CU to a .081 clip. Topic had nine kills on 15 attempts with no errors in the second game. The game was as close as four, 20-16, until the Horns rattled off 10 of the last 14 points in the game.
After the break, Texas scored the most points in a single game this season with 35 in a losing effort as Colorado won a pivotal game three, 37-35. The game had the highest point total since game one of the Oct. 5 match against Kansas in which Texas won, 34-32. Topic had 14 kills in 21 attempts for .571 while Howden tallied seven kills for a .462 hitting percentage.
Colorado carried the momentum from game three by hitting .462 to win the match in the fourth game, 30-20. Texas hit .146 in the final game of the match. Howden and Hahn hit identical numbers in game four with four kills on seven attempts with one error.
Texas will host No. 5 Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. at Gregory Gym.
