MATCH #14: No. 18 TEXAS (11-2, 6-1 Big 12) vs. No. 7 Missouri (12-1, 6-1 Big 12)
When: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Austin, Texas (Gregory Gym)
Television: Match will air live on ESPNU
All-Time Series Record: Texas leads the all-time series, 10-8 (6-3 home, 4-5 away, 0-0 neutral)
Series Streak: Missouri won the last match and has taken eight of the last 10 meetings
Last Meeting: Missouri won, 3-1 (30-23, 30-24, 22-30, 31-29) in Columbia on Nov. 14, 2004
Last Texas victory: Texas won, 3-0 (33-31, 30-22, 30-23) in Austin on Oct. 13, 2004
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott vs. Missouri: 2-6 (all at Texas)
QUICK HITS
· UT has won its last five matches and 10 of its last 11, the team's best 11-match stretch since opening the 2004 season 16-0 ... UT also had a five-match winning streak earlier this season (Sept. 9 through Sept. 14).
· UT is 3-0 in matches against ranked teams in 2005 (3-2 vs. No. 24 Kansas, 3-0 at No. 16 Kansas State and 3-2 at No. 23 Texas A&M).
· Texas has won its last 10 home matches and 20 of its last 21 at Gregory Gym ... UT's last loss at home - and only loss at home in 2004 - was a 3-2 loss to No. 4 Nebraska on Oct. 20, 2004 ... it was the Horns' only loss in Austin since the tail end of the 2003 season.
· Texas ranks the top three in every offensive category in the Big 12 statistics (conference matches only) behind only Nebraska and Missouri ... UT is tied for third in hitting (.264), third in assists (15.00/game), third in kills (15.93/game) and first in aces (2.07/game) ... defensively, UT is in the top seven of the three categories.
· Texas ranks the top five in all seven defensive categories in the Big 12 statistics (conference matches only) with showings in the top three in six areas: first in opponent kills (13.02) and assists (12.06) per game, second in opponent digs per game (11.96), third in opponent hitting percentage (.174) and aces per game (0.90) and fifth in opponent blocks per game (2.28).
· The Horns' middle blockers hit .466 in a 2-0 week for UT ... Brandy Magee hit .500 (33 kills on 56 attacks with five errors) while Leticia Armstrong hit .435 (37 kills on 62 attacks with 10 errors) ... the pair also had hand in 21 of UT's 25 blocks on the week.
· Leticia Armstrong has recorded double-figure kills in six of the last seven matches and has not hit lower than .344 in the team's last 11 matches ... she has also collected 37 blocks (all block assists) in the last six matches ... she is now fourth in the Big 12 in hitting percentage (.424) and is ranked 10th nationally in that category.
· Alyson Jennings has recorded double-figure digs in 11 of 13 matches this season, including three 20-dig efforts ... as one of the team's primary passers, Jennings has only had six return errors in 49 games on the year.
· Since starting to play all six rotations five matches ago against Kansas, Jen Christian had recorded double-figure points in four of five matches, her only such occurrences of the season.
· Texas is barely second in the Big 12 in aces (0.01 per game behind leader Missouri) and the team has six players who have recorded at least 10 aces on the year, led by Kiley Hall's 19.
· So far this season, Texas has used a steady rotation of two freshmen, four sophomores and three juniors, routinely starting a total of five freshmen or sophomores.
· The Longhorns have now been ranked in 20-straight editions of the AVCA poll, dating back to Sept. 20, 2004 when they cracked the poll at No. 22 after opening the season 10-0.
· Texas has an all-time program record of 873-326-14 (.725) ... the Longhorns have an all-time record of 128-59 (.684) in Big 12 play, spanning 10 seasons of play ... Texas won its first Big 12 title in 1997 and has a total of three second-place finishes (1996, 1998 and 2004).
GAMERS
Only three Longhorns have played in all 49 games so far this season: Leticia Armstrong and the Horns' defensive players Alyson Jennings and Kiley Hall ... Michelle Moriarty and Dariam Acevedo have each played in 48 games ... in 2004, only two players played in all 105 games - Acevedo and Mira Topic.
LONGHORNS CREEP UP IN POLL
For the third week in a row, Texas moved up in the AVCA Coaches Poll, this week moving up to No. 18 ... UT was No. 19 last week and No. 22 the week before polls ... the Longhorns began the season ranked No. 11, the team¹s highest preseason ranking since 1999 (No. 9).
STRONG ATTENDANCE AT HOME AGAIN
The Longhorns are ranked 11th nationally in home attendance, according to the weekly research done by the University of Wisconsin ... the Horns are averaging 2,090 fans per match ... Hawaii is first with 7,247, followed by Nebraska at 4,681 ... a total of five Big 12 teams (No. 2 NU, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 24 Missouri and No. 27 Kansas State) are all ranked in the national top 30.
1. Hawaii 7,247
2. Nebraska 4,681
3. Wisconsin 4,011
4. Minnesota 3,339
5. Purdue 2,845
6. New Mexico State 2,795
7. Penn State 2,470
8. Florida 2,320
9. Texas A&M 2,240
10. Stanford 2,192
11. TEXAS 2,090
Last year in 2004, Texas finished the year ranked eighth nationally in home attendance, averaging 1,868 fans per match ... that attendance figure was the program¹s highest average since 1998 and the 28,022 total fans who came out to see the Horns was the best since 1999.
SCHEDULE NOTE
The Texas-Kansas State volleyball match scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 22, has now been scheduled for 7 p.m. The Texas-Texas Tech football game will be at 2:30 p.m. Fans will receive a free general admission ticket to the UT-KSU volleyball match when they present a Texas-Texas Tech football ticket at the Gregory Gym gate prior to the match.
