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Oct. 16, 2010

Final Stats

Post-match interviews

AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 11 Texas Volleyball team used a career-high 17-kill performance by junior outside hitter Amber Roberson to sweep past Texas Tech, Saturday night in front a season-high crowd of 3,133 at Gregory Gymnasium. The 25-13, 25-14, 25-14 victory improved the Longhorns to 12-5 on the year and 7-2 in Big 12 play, while the Red Raiders 3-15 overall and 1-8 in league action.

Roberson hit .500 on the night and added two service aces, six digs and two total blocks. Senior middle blocker Jennifer Doris and sophomore opposite hitter Sha'Dare McNeal each added six kills, while McNeal chipped in four blocks.

In the first set, Texas took advantage of an early 5-0 run capped by two Roberson kills to claim a 7-4 lead. The Horns widened the lead to 17-8 behind a 5-1 run that included one kill from Roberson and closed out the frame on a 4-1 run that was punctuated with a Roberson kill and ended the set, 25-13.

Texas was hot to start the second set as Roberson recorded two kills to fuel a 6-1 run that gave the Longhorns an 8-5 edge. A 5-0 rally that ended with an ace by Roberson extended the lead to 14-7 before UT finished the stanza on a 7-2 run paced by a kill and a block by junior setter Michelle Kocher that claimed a 25-14 set win.

In the final set, Roberson headlined a 10-1 Texas run with four kills to help the Longhorns to a quick 15-5 lead. A double-block by Roberson and Doris helped UT extend the lead to 20-8 and Roberson's 17th kill of the night forced set point at the 24-13 mark. Texas went on to close out the set, 25-14 on Kocher's season-high fourth kill of the match.

Texas returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 20 when it travels to Kansas. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. Central.

POST-MATCH NOTES

• Texas' victory improved its all-time record against Texas Tech to 69-9-2 and 32-3 in Austin.
• Texas has now won four-straight matches which ties for its longest winning streak of the season.
• The Horns out-hit Texas Tech, .412-to-.049 in the win and out-blocked the Red Raiders, 9.0-to-3.0.
• UT set a new season-high for attendance with 3,133 fans at Saturday night's match.
• Amber Roberson set a new career-high with her 17-kill effort against Texas Tech.

POST-MATCH QUOTES
Head coach Jerritt Elliott
Opening statement: I was very pleased with our performance tonight. We have been working on staying steady and competing all the way through an entire match. We have been doing that, but the difference between Wednesday night's match and tonight's match is we were a lot more efficient from every aspect. There were not nearly as many errors. I thought our team flowed really well with Michelle (Kocher) stepping in to set and getting the quarterback duties tonight. Overall, I was very pleased. I thought that we had a great crowd and appreciate their support. It is nice to be able to count on different people every night and see Amber Roberson's game continue to step up as the season progresses.

On whether their strategy changed given that Texas Tech played so many players: We just kind of stuck with what we were trying to do. We were not trying to over think it with them. We knew that [Amanda] Dowdy would get a lot of balls. They switched her from outside to middle. They also started commit-blocking on Rachael (Adams), so we were having two blockers all the time. That left Sha'Dare (McNeal) open and our outsides were getting some good swings, so the numbers were pretty good for her and Amber (Roberson).

Junior outside hitter Amber Roberson
On whether she felt as though her teammates were looking for her tonight: Yes, they were definitely looking for me, especially in the back row because we have been practicing that. The practice that we have been doing really helped tonight

On keeping the number of errors low: One thing that we stress in the practice gym is low errors, so of course we are going to try to transfer that over to the court.

Freshman libero Sarah Palmer
On playing as a freshman: It was kind of a shocker coming in as a freshman and all of a sudden stepping up to play the libero position. Throughout the weeks, I have just gotten more comfortable and I have been working in the practice gym a lot. I have been getting feedback from the coaches and players on what they want from me and keeping that in the back of mind while focusing on what I need to do to make myself better on the court and make my teammates better. I feel like my teammates are helping me to build that confidence I need to become a better libero.

On the biggest adjustment to taking over as the team's libero: I definitely had to change my mindset of coming in to every practice knowing that I cannot just slack off. I have to keep pushing hard and learning everything super fast for the next game so I can just become better.

Junior setter Michelle Kocher
On what she saw open: Since our middles have been doing really well in the recent games, I think that Texas Tech had their eye out for them. What I saw open was the pin players and working around the middles because they had been doing such a great job. Really, the middles were doing the work opening up for everyone else.