AURORA, Ill. -- The Texas women's volleyball team closed out a successful spring exhibition schedule with a second-place finish at the Great Lakes Volleyball NCAA Invitational Saturday.
The 24-team tourney was played at Aurora's Great Lakes Volleyball Center, southwest of Chicago. Head Coach Jerritt Elliott's Longhorns went 4-1 on the day, advancing to the championship match against LSU.
Due to time constraints and travel plans, the finals were a one-game match (to 30 points) which was won by the Tigers, 30-27. That was the only game (of nine) that the Longhorns dropped during the tourney.
Earlier in the day, the Longhorns began with pool play, defeating Villanova (30-17, 30-20) and Iowa (30-27, 30-16) to win the pool competition. Texas then moved into the playoff round, defeating both Michigan State and Minnesota by 2-0 scores. The Longhorns stopped MSU, 30-28 and 30-19 before advancing to the championship with a 30-26, 30-16 victory over Minnesota.
"This was a good tournament for us, as we were able to get everyone solid playing time and see what they could do," noted Elliott. "It was an all-around strong effort and sets the stage for our upcoming season as we await the arrival of our incoming freshmen. Dariam Acevedo played really well for us, as did Alyson (Jennings) and Lauren (Paolini). We were not at full strength, as we played this tourney without newcomer Destinee Hooker, who competed this weekend in the high jump with our top-ranked women's track team.
"All in all, we saw tremendous things this spring," Elliott concluded. "Come August and preseason training, there are going to be some great battles for starting spots. Right now, the players will focus on finishing up their classes and May finals. We all are looking forward to August and encourage anyone who has never seen this team to come out to Gregory Gym and enjoy some great volleyball competition."
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