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Sept. 27, 2008

Box Score

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The No. 3 Texas Volleyball team received a 20-kill effort from junior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker and an error-free performance by senior All-America middle blocker Lauren Paolini as it downed Kansas, 3-1, Saturday night at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. The Longhorns' 25-14, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23 victory improved UT to 8-2 on the year and 2-1 in Big 12 play, while KU fell to 7-6 overall and 1-3 in league action.

In the first set, Texas grabbed an early 10-4 edge and it never looked back. A 7-1 run fueled by a pair of kills by Paolini extended the Horns' edge to 23-12 and two kills down the stretch by Hooker helped the Horns close out the set, 25-14. UT out-hit the Jayhawks, .429-to-.000 in the opening frame and Hooker connected for five kills.

After taking an 11-7 edge on three Hooker kills to start the second set, the Longhorns allowed a 6-0 Kansas run and enabled the Jayhawks to claim a 17-13 advantage. Texas managed to narrow the margin to two (21-19) on a block assist by freshmen Rachael Adams and Michelle Kocher, but could not close the gap further, as a 4-1 KU run closed out the set, 25-20.

Texas grabbed the advantage early on in the third set and widened its lead to six (15-9) behind a 6-2 run paced by two Paolini kills. The Longhorns added a 5-1 run highlighted by two kills and a solo block from Hooker to push the lead to 20-12, but a Jayhawks rally narrowed the Horn's lead to 22-18. UT responded by taking advantage of two KU miscues and using a kill by sophomore All-America outside hitter Juliann Faucette to close out the frame, 25-20.

The Longhorns trailed coming out of the gate in the fourth stanza, but pieced together an 8-1 run, beginning at the 12-14 mark to forge ahead 20-15. Paolini and Faucette headlined the run with three kills each. Kansas battled back to close the UT lead to 21-20 before junior All-America opposite hitter Ashley Engle hammered out a kill to close the set, 25-23.

Texas returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 1 when it travels to Norman to take on Oklahoma. The match will be televised nationally on ESPNU at 7 p.m. Central.

POST-MATCH NOTES
· Texas' victory improved its all-time record against Kansas to 24-4. Texas has won its last nine meetings with the Jayhawks
· Freshman middle blocker Rachael Adams earned the start for the Horns against the Jayhawks, marking the first start of her collegiate career. Adams tallied a career-best six kill in the victory.
· Junior opposite hitter Ashley Engle collected 11 digs in the win, tying her season-best that she set against Nebraska (9/20).
· Junior outside hitter Destinee Hooker's 20 kills pushed her career total to 960 and moved her into 17th place all-time at Texas. Hooker passed Dariam Acevedo's (2003-06) 945-kill mark in the record book.
· Senior middle blocker Lauren Paolini has now recorded two errorless performances in Big 12 play. She has only committed one error in three Big 12 contests, tallying 32 kills on 50 swings, while hitting at a .620 clip.

TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Jerritt Elliott
General statement: We found a way to win tonight. Our serving and passing game struggled at times tonight, but I felt like we made some good adjustments as the match went on. We put ourselves in a position to win and when we had to we got a big swing to win the match. This is how it is going to be in the Big 12 and we are happy to get out of here with a victory.

On the second set loss: Our serving and passing really struggled and we made a lot of uncharacteristic errors. In this game you can't make a lot of errors and that is where we need to get better production.

On the play of Lauren Paolini: Lauren is huge for us. We can't get her the ball enough when we are serve-receiving. She has been a huge part of our offense and her connection with (Michelle) Kocher is getting better, which bodes well for our team.

On the play of Destinee Hooker: She had some big swings for us and when KU got a run late in the fourth set, we called a play for her and she bounced back after a hitting error. I am very pleased with the way she is playing and overall I am happy with our improved blocking. We saw some good carryover today from what we have been doing in practice.