Volleyball preview: No. 14 Kansas State
Nov. 13, 2008
MATCH #24: No. 4 TEXAS (20-3, 13-2 Big 12) vs. No. 14 Kansas State (22-5, 12-4 Big 12) SERIES INFO LONGHORN NOTABLES • The Longhorns have now swept four straight matches since falling to Oklahoma (10/29) ... Texas kept its streak of sweeps alive when it downed Texas Tech, 3-0 on Wednesday (11/12) ... sophomore All-America outside hitter Juliann Faucette headlined the Horns’ attack in the win, recording her first kill/dig double-double of the year with her 11-kill, 10-dig effort ... junior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker added nine kills on .333 hitting and six digs, while senior All-America middle blocker Lauren Paolini added six kills on .455 hitting. • Texas is hitting a conference-best .349 in league play, holding a large .079 edge on second-place Nebraska which is hitting .270 in the Big 12 … senior All-America middle blocker Lauren Paolini is leading the way for UT in league play, hitting a Big 12-best .524, registering 130 kills on 225 swings, while committing just 12 attack errors in 15 matches … Paolini has recorded six error-free matches so far in Big 12 action … junior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker ranks sixth in the league with a .331 attack mark, while leading the Big 12 with 5.35 points and 4.42 kills per-set ... freshman setter Michelle Kocher ranks first in the conference in league play with 11.79 assists per-set. • Junior All-America opposite hitter Ashley Engle was received Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors on Nov. 10 after headlining Texas’ defense in its road sweeps of Baylor and Iowa State ... Engle’s all-around effort included 2.33 digs and 1.67 blocks per-set ... she added 3.17 kills and 1.33 assists per-set, while hitting at a .300 clip ... in the Horns’ sweep of Baylor, Engle recorded 11 digs, four total blocks, two solo blocks, eight kills, two assists and hit at a .350 clip ... Engle recorded six total blocks, three digs, 11 kills and six assists in the Longhorns’ sweep of Iowa State. • After losing to Oklahoma, 3-2 on Oct. 29, Texas has responded by dominating its next four opponents … the refocused Longhorns swept past Texas A&M (11/1) at home and posted road sweeps of Baylor (11/5) and Iowa State (11/8) before sweeping Texas Tech at home (11/12) ... in the four victories, UT has out-hit its opponents .320-to-.122 and out-blocked them 39.0-to-23.0. • The 2008 Longhorns have been putting up robust team hitting numbers en route to leading the league with a .339 attack mark on the year and a .349 hitting clip in Big 12 play ... UT has hit .350 or better in 10 matches this season, while hitting at a .400 clip or better in six matches ... the Horns’ defense has held opponents under .200, 16 times in 2008 and under .150, 12 times • Senior All-America middle blocker Lauren Paolini is in her final season on the Forty Acres and when her time is done her name will be written all over the Texas record books … last season, Paolini hit .419 and set a new single-season attack mark, but she is on pace to obliterate that mark this season as she is hitting .465 through 23 matches … the senior is also creeping up the career hitting charts, ranking second all-time at UT with her .359 attack mark, only trailing Brandy Magee’s (2003-07) school record of .373 … Paolini also ranks ninth all-time with 320 block assists and weighs in at 12th with 374 career total blocks.
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