10/15/03

No. 8 Kansas State 3, Texas 2

» Box score

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Eighth-ranked Kansas State defeated The University of Texas volleyball team, 3-2, on Wednesday night at Ahearn Field House before 1,733 fans in a Big 12 Conference match-up.

In a match that rewarded defensive play and offensive execution, both teams traded games until the fifth and final game when KSU (17-3, 7-1 Big 12) rallied from a 6-3 deficit to move ahead and take the game and the match. The Wildcats went on a 4-0 run to move ahead 14-12, but Texas (9-8, 4-4 Big 12) battled back to tie it at 14-14. KSU scored the final two points to escape the upset. The game was tightly contested and had several momentum swings before figuring in favor of the hosts.

Texas won games one and three, while Kansas State won the second and fourth. The team that won each game dominated the board in hitting and used a stifling defense to earn its wins.

“We did a lot of good things tonight, but in the end the match just didn’t go our way,” Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott said after the match. “I was impressed with our composure and confidence early. We served well as a team and our passing was steady. Kansas State is a good club and they just were able to pull out the win when it was needed.”

Freshman setter Jenny Andrew (Houston, Texas/Kingwood) had a career high 10 kills on her way to her first triple-double of her career. She added 11 digs to go along with her 51 assists. All-America junior Mira Topic (Kastela Kambelovac, Croatia/Vladimir Nazor) recorded her seventh double-double of the season and made two big strides in the Texas record book.

After falling behind 9-5 in the first game, Texas rallied with a 10-4 run to take the lead. The Longhorns extended their lead with a 13-4 stretch to close the game - 30-19 - and kept KSU in check by limited the team to a .152 hitting percentage. Texas, with only three errors in the game, had a .455 mark, highlighted by Topic’s six kills.

Kansas State rebounded in the second game with the win to pull even at 1-1. The Wildcats pulled out to a 7-3 lead and never looked back, extending the lead to as many as eight points twice. KSU hit at a .343 clip and cooled Texas to a .119 mark. Freshman Brandy Magee (Mission Vieho, Calif./Capistrano Valley) had five kills in the game to led UT.

With her first kill of the second game, Topic moved from sixth into fourth place on Texas’ career kills list, passing 1988 NCAA Player of the Year Dawn Davenport (1985-88), who had 1,310 career kills. Topic is now 70 kills away from third place, occupied by Diane Watson (1983-86) who had 1,408 in her career.

Texas came out of the break and practically repeated the first game. After falling behind 0-3, the Longhorns reeled off a 7-1 run to take the lead and go ahead 7-4. KSU came back with two successive points but junior Bethany Howden (Austin, Texas/Westlake) scored six straight points on her serve, after she recorded a kill, to put UT ahead 15-7. Texas extended the lead to as many as 11 (22-11) before taking the game with a 3-1 run, capped by a block by Magee and senior Kathryn Wilson (Macomb Township, Mich./Dakota).

UT hit .375 in the game and held KSU to a .029 mark. Topic added five more kills in the game, while Andrew added four.
Four Longhorns hit for double-figure kills, including Topic (20), Howden (18), Magee (13) and Andrew (10). Valeria Hajjas (21) and Cari Jansen (19) led the Wildcats in kills.

Topic added 18 digs, a season high, and sophomore libero Erin Larson (San Antonio, Texas/Ronald Reagan) added 17.
Texas did hold Lauren Goehring, KSU’s top player and the Big1 2 Preseason Player of the Year to a .174 hitting percentage. Goehring topped the Big 12 and was third in the nation in the category entering the match.

The Longhorns return to action on Saturday, Oct. 18 when they host Texas Tech in a Big 12 Conference match. First serve is set for 7 p.m. in Gregory Gym. The match can be seen on KVR-TV (Austin area only), and both live stats and an audio broadcast can be accessed at www.TexasSports.com.