Match Stats
- #5 Texas def. West Virginia 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-14)
- Texas moves to 22-4 (14-2 Big 12); West Virginia falls to 12-18 (3-13 Big 12)
- Gregory Gym, Austin, Texas
The Texas Longhorns finished their season with a 3-0 thumping of the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday night in Austin. While the season didn’t end with a Big 12 title (their 2 losses left them out as compared to 1 for the champion Kansas Jayhawks), the Longhorns are still looking forward to a possible NCAA title in Columbus in 3 weeks.
“I feel like these past three matches we’ve played some of our best volleyball that we’ve played all season,” senior setter Chloe Collins said after the game. “I feel like we’re starting to gel at the right time. Each week and every day in practice, we’re progressively getting better. Right now, for me personally, I have a good feeling going into the tournament just based on how we’ve been practicing and playing.”
Texas coach Jerritt Elliott sees the team’s service game as the biggest potential area for improvement heading into December.
“There’s always room for improvement, but right now the areas we’ve been focusing on are big in our routines and our confidence level. I think we’ve been challenging them with that, I think they’ve bought into that, and I think they’re doing a really nice job. For us, I would say the one area where we need to do a better job is our serving routines. Game one we were up big and we ended up making ten errors in game one, and it’s a tribute to the missed serves. I think there are some more things we can do that we can dive into right now, because we have a 50-percent kill percentage, and that’s high. We’re also under a 12-percent hitting error, and that’s what we want to be at. If we can manage those kinds of numbers and pass the ball, we’ll be in good shape.”
Texas finished the match with 8 service errors – more than the 7 hitting errors they had – but made up for it with a .417 hitting percentage. That included just one player, Yaazie Bedart-Ghani, in double figures, but that one player hit for 10 kills on 12 attacks. That’s an encouraging sign for the Longhorns, who have faced uncertainty in the middle this season. They’ve played all year without two-time All-American middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu, who is sitting the season out to focus on her academic work. Texas runs a lot of their offense through the middle, and combined with Morgan Johnson (who also hit .750 on the day with 9 kills), the new pairing is really setting up well at the end of the season. Johnson also chipped in 8 blocks.
West Virginia ended ended their season in Austin, thanks to 12 kills from freshman Payton Caffrey. Caffrey came in and was immediately relied upon heavily for the Mountaineers on offense. She’s had a few inconsistent games this season, but largely has responded well with 4.4 kills-per-set. She ranks 16th nationally in attacks this season and 1st among freshmen, and has helped her team to a 7-win improvement over last season.
“Texas is consistently one of the top teams in the country and today they showed why,” said coach Reed Sunahara. “We’ve made great strides since last season, and a lot of that can be attributed to the leadership of our seniors. We still have some work to do, but I like the direction we’re headed.”
Press Releases
Courtesy Texas Athletics:
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 5 Texas Volleyball (22-4, 14-2) closed its regular season with a sweep of West Virginia (12-18, 3-13) on Senior Day inside Gregory Gym on Saturday afternoon, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-14).
Sophomores Yaazie Bedart-Ghani and Morgan Johnson led the way for the Texas offense. Bedart-Ghani posted 10 kills on 12 swings (.750) for the match, while Johnson registered nine kills, also hitting at a .750 clip, and a career-high tying eight blocks.
Junior Cat McCoy posted a team-high nine digs, and senior Chloe Collins tossed up 34 assists.
As a team, Texas hit at a .417 percentage while holding West Virginia to a .068 clip. This marks the lowest hitting percentage the Longhorns have held an opponent all season. The Horns outblocked the Mountaineers, 8-2, and totaled five service aces.
After opening on a 7-0 run, West Virginia capitalized off Longhorn errors to close the margin to three (13-10). The Horns never allowed the Mountaineers any breathing room, firing off three straight points to force a timeout. Johnson registered a perfect hitting percentage behind four swings to lead Texas, and a kill from freshman Micaya White ended the first set, 25-18.
Texas dominated the net in the second stanza, teaming up to post seven double blocks, all of which Johnson had a hand on. Consecutive aces from White gave Texas the 22-11 edge, and junior Kate Palladio stepped onto the court for her first time in the 2016 season to help Texas close set two, 25-13.
The final set proved to be the tightest of the three, with the Longhorns holding the slim 10-9 lead over the Mountaineers, in the heart of the closer. A 6-1 rally put Texas in a commanding position once again, and the Mountaineers would burn a timeout. The Longhorns offense never let up, ending things with a Collins ace and kill from junior Ebony Nwanebu to close the set and match, 25-14.
Texas will await its fate in the upcoming NCAA tournament in the selection show on Sunday, Nov. 27. The show will be live on ESPNU at 8 p.m. CT.
Postgame Quotes
Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott
On the team’s concentration on senior day: It’s always good to say goodbye to people who have done so much for the program. But I think that we’re focusing on our side of the net right now and just playing and building confidence. The last three matches have been really good, I think we’re starting to get some momentum and I think we’re starting to peak at the right time. Should we be able to advance next weekend, we’ll keep going. But our numbers are good and we’re starting to be more patience, playing the game the way it should be played and that’s with a high level of thought process, patience and execution through the match which was a big thing for us today and I’m pleased with what we saw. Defensively, our blocking’s getting better, defensive touches are getting better, blocker responsibilities are getting better so those are translating into real point for us.
On how the team has progressed since losing Chiaka Ogbogu: We had to make some big adjustments, and I think the biggest adjustment was Morgan moving to the M1 position. I’ve been hard on her all year long, probably harder than anyone else, but she’s now starting to show that her work and her love of play at the M1 is good. She’s committed to herself in terms of her conditioning and she’s getting to the point where she is becoming very dominant as a slide hitter and learning how to be good at that and having more range. Tonight, you saw it. Obviously Yaazie [Bedart-Ghani] has come along as well; more balance. It’s the first time our middles have produced that way.
On where the team needs to improve: There’s always room for improvement, but right now the areas we’ve been focusing on are big in our routines and our confidence level. I think we’ve been challenging them with that, I think they’ve bought into that, and I think they’re doing a really nice job. For us, I would say the one area where we need to do a better job is our serving routines. Game one we were up big and we ended up making ten errors in game one, and it’s a tribute to the missed serves. I think there are some more things we can do that we can dive into right now, because we have a 50-percent kill percentage, and that’s high. We’re also under a 12-percent hitting error, and that’s what we want to be at. If we can manage those kinds of numbers and pass the ball, we’ll be in good shape.
Texas senior setter Chloe Collins
On if she feels she and her team are ready for the NCAA Tournament: Yeah, I feel like these past three matches we’ve played some of our best volleyball that we’ve played all season. I feel like we’re starting to gel at the right time. Each week and every day in practice, we’re progressively getting better. Right now, for me personally, I have a good feeling going into the tournament just based on how we’ve been practicing and playing.
On today’s results, with goals of winning the NCAA Championship: That was a goal that we definitely wanted to attain and Kansas has to go out and do well against Baylor tonight. But we put ourselves in that position, we can lust learn from it and look forward to the NCAA tournament and what we can continue to work on.
Texas sophomore middle hitter Morgan Johnson
On her confidence: Like Jerritt said, being an M2, you mostly hit up front, but it’s totally different sets from being an M1. So at the end of the season, I have so much confidence. It was a different tempo, different sets, different chemistry with Chloe, and I think throughout the season, I’ve progressed. We’ve got our connection, we’ve got our chemistry down, and I know that Chloe and Jerritt have faith in me, so that really helps me out and gives me a ton of confidence.
Courtesy West Virginia Athletics:
AUSTIN, Texas – Unable to overcome a Texas offense hitting .417, the West Virginia University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match to the No. 5 Longhorns in their final contest of the season on Saturday afternoon at Gregory Gym in Austin, falling in set scores of 25-18, 25-13 and 25-14.
The Mountaineers end the 2016 season with a 12-18 overall mark and a 3-13 record in Big 12 play – a seven win improvement from the 2015 season. The Longhorns move to 22-4 overall and 14-3 in league action.
“Texas is consistently one of the top teams in the country and today they showed why,” said coach Reed Sunahara. “We’ve made great strides since last season, and a lot of that can be attributed to the leadership of our seniors. We still have some work to do, but I like the direction we’re headed.”
Payton Caffrey led the way with 12 kills and eight digs in the final match of her freshman campaign. Morgan Montgomery had seven kills and a trio of digs, while Mia Swanegan had five kills and a pair of digs.
Erin Slinde assisted on 19 of WVU’s 29 kills, adding four digs and a block assist. Gianna Gotterba finished with 10 digs and a pair of assists as Gabrielle Cuckovich and Taylor Cross each added three digs.
Hannah Shreve ended the match – the final one of her career – with a pair of block assists, and Natania Levak had three kills. West Virginia had .068 with 29 kills and a pair of blocks.
The Longhorns rolled to a 7-0 lead to start the first set and never looked back. The Mountaineers used a pair of Texas errors on a 3-0 run to come within three on a Slinde/Shreve block at 13-10. Swanegan notched a pair of kills and Montgomery added another with Texas at set point to extend the frame, but the Longhorns claimed the 25-18 win for a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second frame started similar to the first, with Texas taking four straight before the Mountaineers got on the board with a Caffrey kill. Kills from Montgomery and Caffrey brought WVU within two, down 8-6. A pair of 5-0 runs later put the Longhorns on top for good, 23-11. Swanegan and Montgomery put down kills late, but the Longhorns took a 2-0 lead after winning the set, 25-13.
The teams traded points to start the third as a kill from Caffrey brought the Mountaineers within one, down 7-6. A 4-0 run by the Longhorns then increased their lead to five at 14-9. West Virginia couldn’t recover, as Texas took five of the last six points for a 25-14 win in the set and a 3-0 victory in the match.
Led by Yaazie Bedhart-Ghani’s 10 kills, Texas hit .417 with 42 kills and eight blocks.
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