Volleyball preview: Kansas State
MATCH #25: No. 8 TEXAS (19-5, 14-3 Big 12) vs. Kansas State (10-17, 2-15 Big 12) · Texas remained at No. 8 in the latest CSTV/AVCA poll, released Monday, Nov. 13 ... UT has been ranked in the Top 10 of the poll in 10-of-11 weeks this season ... The Longhorns began the 2006 campaign ranked eighth in the preseason poll, marking the team's highest preseason ranking since 1998 (9) ... Texas earned its highest ranking in the poll Sept. 11 when it was voted No. 5, staying there for two weeks. · In two matches last week freshman outside hitter Ashley Engle erupted for a career week, tallying 6.71 points per game, 5.29 kills per game, while hitting at a .395 clip for the week and recording 3.71 digs ... She added 1.00 block per game, 0.86 aces per game and 0.71 assists per game ... The freshman connected for 37 kills in seven games, committing just seven errors, while recording 26 digs, seven total blocks, six service aces and five assists. · The Longhorns notched their season-high seventh consecutive win Saturday, dropping then No. 25 Missouri, 3-1 (29-31, 30-23, 30-27, 30-12), for their 11th victory in their last 12 contests. ...Ashley Engle led the Horns with a team-high 24 kills on .447 hitting, while equaling a career-high with 19 digs and adding four total blocks ... Senior middle blocker Jennifer Todd set a new career-high with 16 kills on 34 swings, hitting at a .382 clip and registering a pair of blocks ... Texas out-hit Mizzou in the match .274-to-.109, with the Horns hammering out 20 kills on .450 hitting in the final game. · Freshman outside hitter Ashley Engle was named Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, Nov. 6 after posting a 5.00 kills per game average and 4.29 digs per game mark in the Horns' wins over Kansas and Baylor last week ... The award is the first of Engle's career and marks the third consecutive week a Texas player has been named conference player of the week ... Against Baylor, Engle posted 27 kills on 48 attempts to lead Texas to a 3-1 comeback victory ... In the match she hit at a .396 clip and totaled 17 digs ... In the Horns' win over Kansas, Engle registered eight kills, recorded a team-high 13 digs, posted five total blocks and tallied two service aces ... For the week, she connected for 35 kills on 72 swings, while totaling 30 digs, six total blocks, three service aces and three assists. · Ashley Engle has recorded a kill/dig double-double in 10 of her last 13 matches, dating back to Texas' loss at Oklahoma (Sept. 27) ... On the year Engle has totaled 13 double-doubles ... Junior setter Michelle Moriarty has 15 assist/dig double-doubles on the year, including nine in her last 13 contests, while senior outside hitter Dariam Acevedo has tallied eight kill/dig double-doubles on the season. · Texas has a tough road down the stretch in the Big 12, as the Horns take on the fifth-toughest schedule of all league teams ... UT's next three opponents have a combined .551 winning percentage in league play ... Baylor has the toughest calendar of opponents at .646, while Iowa State is second with its opponents combining for a .636 winning percentage ... Colorado and Texas A&M tie for third (.583), Oklahoma ranks sixth (.538), Kansas weighs in at seventh (.477), Kansas State ranks eighth (.429), Nebraska ranks ninth (.394) and Texas Tech ranks 10th (.379), while Missouri ranks 11th (.369). · Several Longhorns blanket the most recent release of the Big 12 Conference's statistical leaders ... Junior setter Michelle Moriarty ranks atop the league in assists with 13.94 assists per game, and 14.06 assists/pg in conference matches ... The Longhorns rank second in the Big 12 with a .262 attack mark, while ranking second with a 16.80 kills per game average ... Freshman Ashley Engle ranks fourth in kills per-game average (4.31) and points per game average (5.02) in conference play, while sophomore Lauren Paolini ranks 10th in the Big 12 in hitting percentage, with a .319 attack mark.
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