Volleyball preview: Kansas
Nov. 20, 2008
MATCH #26: No. 4 TEXAS (22-3, 15-2 Big 12) vs. Kansas (12-14, 6-11 Big 12) SERIES INFO LONGHORN NOTABLES • The Longhorns won their six straight match since falling to Oklahoma (10/29), knocking off No. 3 Nebraska, 3-1 on Wednesday night in front of a record crowd of 4,324 at Gregory Gymnasium ... junior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker headlined the Horns' attack by equaling a season-high with 24 kills on .352 hitting and chipping in 17 digs ... junior All-America opposite hitter Ashley Engle added 12 kills on .333 hitting and totaled eight digs, five assists and three blocks ... UT out-blocked NU on the night 14.0-to-4.0. • Texas is hitting a conference-best .344 in league play, holding a large .074 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 .502, registering 150 kills on 267 swings, while committing just 16 attack errors in 12 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 .334 attack mark, while leading the Big 12 with 5.33 points and 4.46 kills per-set ... junior All-America opposite hitter Ashley Engle ranks fifth in the league play with a .344 attack mark, while freshman setter Michelle Kocher ranks second with 11.62 assists per-set. • The Longhorns' 3-1 victory over No. 3 Nebraska on Nov. 19 drew a record crowd of 4,324 to Gregory Gymnasium ... the sellout crowd set a new record for the gym's current configuration, breaking the old mark (4,286) set on Oct. 24, 2007 when Texas swept Nebraska. • Texas landed five players on the 2008 Academic All-Big 12 Team, the most Longhorns on the squad since 1999 ... sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Doris, sophomore outside hitter Juliann Faucette, junior libero Heather Kisner and senior middle blocker Lauren Paolini earned spots on the first-team, while junior opposite hitter Ashley Engle claimed a place on the second-team ... Kisner and Paolini captured their second academic honors of their careers with Kisner earning her second first-team accolade. • After losing to Oklahoma, 3-2 on Oct. 29, Texas has responded by posting four sweeps and a pair of victories over No. 3 Nebraska and No. 14 Kansas State ... 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) ... the Horns then swept Texas Tech (11/12) before ousting K-State (11/15), 3-2 ... UT followed its five-set win in Manhattan with a 3-1 win over NU ... in the six victories, UT has out-hit its opponents .319-to-.160 and out-blocked them 64.0-to-37.5. • The 2008 Longhorns have been putting up robust team hitting numbers en route to leading the league with a .337 attack mark on the year and a .344 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, 17 times in 2008 and under .150, 12 times • Junior All-America outside hitter Destinee Hooker recorded her 1,000th career kill in Texas' 3-0 sweep of Baylor (10/8) ... Hooker's nine-kills on .350 hitting pushed the 6'4" outside hitter's career kill total to 1,004 ... she currently ranks ninth on UT's all-time kill list and is one of just 16 players to record 1,000 kills in their Texas careers ... her career kill total is now 1,192
|
|
