Volleyball rises to No. 8, Hooker named Big 12 Player of the Week
IRVING, Texas -- After hammering out 50 kills on .435 hitting against No. 1 Nebraska and then No. 23 Oklahoma, Texas freshman outside hitter Destinee Hooker has been named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week. The award marks the first career volleyball award for Hooker, but the third overall player of the week nod, after receiving honors in indoor and outdoor track last spring. Hooker and her Texas teammates moved up to No. 8 in the latest CSTV/AVCA Coaches Poll after knocking off Oklahoma, 3-2 and falling narrowly to top ranked Nebraska, 2-3 Nebraska is ranked No. 1 in the CSTV/AVCA poll. The Huskers are followed by No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Southern California. Missouri and Oklahoma join Nebraska and Texas as the only other Big 12 schools in the poll at the No. 16 and No. 20 spots, respectively. Hooker led No. 8 Texas in kills in both of last week's matches, setting a career-high with 24 kills against No. 1 Nebraska on Oct. 18 and resetting that mark with 26 kills against Oklahoma on Oct. 21. Against Nebraska, Hooker paced the Longhorns in their narrow 3-2 loss with a .538 attack mark, committing just three errors on 39 attempts. The freshman hammered out six kills on .750 hitting in game one against the Huskers before tallying four or more kills in games two through five. In Texas' match against Oklahoma, Hooker set a new career-high with her 26-kill performance, while posting a .364 attack mark. She totaled just six attack errors on 55 attempts for the match and added five total blocks, including three solo blocks. Hooker led Texas from the get go against Oklahoma, rattling off eight kills in the first game and five kills in games two, three and four. She added three more kills in the final stanza, averaging 5.20 kills per-game for the match. For the week Hooker connected for a 5.00 kill per-game average, while hitting at a .436 clip and collecting six total blocks and three digs. Hooker's award marks the second time in Big 12 history that a student-athlete has earned the honor in three sports, but she is the first to do so in which all three were not running events. Amy Mortimer (Kansas State won in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field. The 2006 NCAA outdoor high jump champion was named both Big 12 Indoor (Jan. 24) and Outdoor (May 2) Track & Field Athlete of the Week during the 2006 season. On the season, Hooker is averaging 3.71 points, 3.23 kills and 0.55 blocks in addition to a .254 hitting percentage. Hooker and the Horns return to action Wednesday, Oct. 25 when they travel to Lubbock, Texas to take on Texas Tech. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
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