Match Stats
- #1 Texas def. #15 Oregon 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23)
- Texas moves to 1-1, Oregon falls to 1-1
- Exatech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Gainesville, Florida
- Vert Challenge
- Attendance: 3,812
- Box Score
After #1 ranked Texas lost to #9 Florida to open their season on Friday, the Longhorns looked like they were in for another long night when they dropped the first set against Oregon on Saturday. But then veteran middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu came alive, finishing with 10 kills, 3 aces, and 5 block assists to lead the Longhorns back to their first win of the season.
Ogbogu hit .467 on the day, and more importantly led a Texas defense that held Oregon to a .159 hitting efficiency percentage (.033 and .167, respectively, in the 2nd and 3rd sets).
Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott seems to have decided that they’re going to feed freshman outside hitter Lexi Sun, the 2017 Gatorade National Player of the Year, early and often this year. For the 2nd-striaght game, she led the team in attacks (39), though it was a more balanced offense as compared to the 56 she took on Friday.
It was a freshman connection, as another rookie Ashley Shook has won the battle for Texas’ starting setter position. She had 38 assists on Saturday and 11 digs – both of which were team highs.
Micaya White, who still has a DWI charge lingering over her, improved, but still struggled on Saturday. She had just 5 kills and a -.059 hitting percentage in Texas’ lost, but recorded 6 on 34 swings and a .059 hitting percentage in the win Saturday.
Morgan Johnson also played well for the Longhorns – she had 6 kills on 12 swings to go with 6 block assists.
The Texas block was in mid-season form, even though their offense struggled. They had 13 blocks on the game to just 7 for Oregon. Where the Ducks came up on the short end of the defense at the net, they played well in the back row – August Raskie and Brooke van Sickle had 15 digs each, part of 61 overall for Oregon.
Offensively, Oreogn got 16 kills from Lindsey Vander Weide and another 10 from Van Sickle – who scored hers on a .333 hitting percentage. Oregon setter Maggie Scott also was a perfect 3-for-3 on kill attempts out of the setter position. Neither team served particularly well, but Oregon had 12 errors to just 2 aces.
Video
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— Texas Volleyball (@TexasVolleyball) August 27, 2017
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