No. 9 Volleyball staves off challenge by TCU
Oct. 5, 2012
by John Byczek, Texas Media Relations On Wednesday night, the No. 9 Texas Longhorns swept the TCU Horned Frogs, 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17), at Gregory Gymnasium. It was a hard fought battle during the annual Volley for a Cure event promoting the Horns for Hope initiative to help raise community awareness for breast cancer. The Longhorns, who are undefeated in Big 12 conference play at 5-0, struggled at times, taking the lead, but allowing TCU to find its way back. Texas had 14 hitting errors throughout the night, allowing TCU to keep hope alive. The Horns came into the game as the nation's leader in blocks but recorded a season-low three blocks against the Horned Frogs in the first-ever Big 12 matchup between the two schools. "I was not really hot tonight on blocks, but as coach said, it happens," UT junior outside hitter Bailey Webster said. "You do not have a great blocking game every time. (TCU's Stephanie Holland) did a great job of hitting mine. It is something I need to adjust quickly and improve." Texas was able to tighten up its game during the second set, as did TCU, who had 16 hitting errors on the night. "I felt like we were really jittery," head coach Jerritt Elliott said. "We had to be patient with the ball and control it to get good swings. We had a lot of opportunities to do that, but we shot ourselves in the foot early on. We were a lot better in game two." The Longhorns offense was balanced, boasting three players with double-digit kills, while Haley Eckerman led with 13. Hannah Allison had 36 assists, making her the 11th player in Texas history to record 2,000 career assists.
Elliott is still trying to find the most efficient line-up, though, and is looking to improve the passing game. In the third set, he made a libero change, taking Sarah Palmer out and putting in freshman Nicole Dalton. "We are trying to find our perfect pass percentage to improve," Elliott said. "It is the key component for us. If we are able to pass the ball, we can win. Nicole (Dalton) statistically has been one of our better passers and we have gotten to a point where we can get her in there more and study on her passing." |
|
