No. 2 Texas Holds On Against Texas Tech In Five Setter

  0 Carly DeMarque | October 22nd, 2016 | Big 12, College - Women's Indoor, News

Match Stats

Paulina Prieto Cermane posted a career-best 24 kills on a .365 hitting percentage, also adding six blocks and six digs for the Longhorns. Ebony Nwanebu and Micaya White each added 16 kills in the win. Nwanebu also added five digs, while White picked up nine digs and five blocks. Chloe Collins posted 61 assists and 12 digs for a double-double.

For the Red Raiders Lauren Douglass put down 14 kills, while Sarah Redding career-high 17 kills in the loss. Setter Marguerite Grubb posted a double-double  with 44 assists and 12 digs.

 

Press Release

Courtesy of Texas Athletics

LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 2 Texas Volleyball defeated Texas Tech, 3-2 (21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 26-28, 15-7) in Lubbock to improve to 16-2, 8-0 on Friday night.

Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame led the Longhorns in kills with a career-high 24 kills on 52 swings, hitting .365. She also added six blocks and six digs.

Junior Ebony Nwanebu and freshman Micaya White also posted double-digit kills for Texas, both with 16. Nwanebu’s 16 kills came on a .395 hitting percentage, also adding five digs and one ace. White added nine digs and five block.

Senior Chloe Collins posted 61 assists for her sixth match with 50 or more assists. She also added 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.

Junior Cat McCoy led in digs with 20 and sophomore Yaazie Bedart-Ghani posted nine blocks.

Texas Tech jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the first set and did not look back, keeping the lead throughout the set and finishing, 25-21. The Red Raiders hit .343 in the set and held the Longhorns to .229.

In the second set, neither team led by more than two until back-to-back kills from Prieto Cerame sparked a 7-1 run, giving Texas an 11-5 lead. The Longhorns commanded the rest of the set, finishing 25-18 to even the match.

Texas kept the momentum going into the third set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead with an 8-1 run, stretching it to lead by as many as 11 at 19-8. The Horns hit .739 in the set to close, 25-16.

The Red Raiders jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the fourth set, but Texas executed a 5-0 run to tie the score at 8. Texas Tech answered with two-straight points, but kills from Prieto Cerame and Nwanebu tied it back and the Longhorns took their first lead of the set at 12-11. The Horns had two match points, but the Red Raiders held them off and came back to win the set, 28-26.

The Horns jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth set and didn’t look back. Texas did not let Texas Tech closer than four points and took set five, 15-7.

Texas will hit return to Gregory Gym to host Oklahoma on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. The match will be televised live on Longhorn Network.

Press Release

Courtesy of Texas Tech Athletics

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech volleyball put together one of its strongest performances of the season Friday night in front of the 10th largest crowd (1,223) to watch a volleyball match in United Supermarkets Arena as it took No. 2 Texas to five sets before falling 2-3 (25-21, 18-25, 16-25, 28-26, 7-15).

The Red Raiders took a 1-0 lead after an impressive offensive performance in the first set. Texas, however, would respond in the next two frames to pull in front, 2-1. The Red Raiders would fend off two match points for the Longhorns in the fourth and storm back to send it to a deciding fifth set, where Texas was able to pull out the win.

“Today was a good day,” head coach Tony Graystone said. “We took a lot of positive steps. I’m really pleased with the effort. Obviously, we wanted a different outcome, but this was a great launching point, and I’m really happy about it.”

Tech came out gunning from the start, using a 4-0 spurt to take a 7-3 lead early on. The Red Raiders outhit the Longhorns .343 to .229 in the frame, led by senior Lauren Douglass who smashed five of her 14 kills in the set, to earn a 25-21 set win that marked the first time Tech has taken a set against Texas since 2010.

“The offense was good,” Graystone said. “Our ball control was nice. Our passing kept us going and we were able to split their block. Even though they have a lot of size, when we found a hole we were able to score.”

The Longhorns would rebound in the second set, jumping out to a 12-5 lead. Texas Tech committed eight errors in the set and hit just .024 as Texas went on to even the overall score at 1-1.

Texas hit .739 as a team in the third frame and used runs of 8-1 and 6-0 to offset Texas Tech’s strong .318 hitting percentage for the set, as the Longhorns would take a 2-1 lead.

The Red Raiders took a major step forward as a team in the fourth set. With the Longhorns serving for the match up 24-22, Douglass came through with a big kill and Texas committed an error to even the score at 24-24. Tech was finally able to break through in a close set and capture a 28-26 win to send the match to the fifth set.

“We called our last timeout when we were down 19-21, and I just asked them to find a way to tie it up and see what would happen,” Graystone said “We finally tied it up at 24-24, missed a serve and then fought back and won it at the end. That was a really good moment for us to manage a set against a really nice team to come back and steal something late. Those are the kind of things that good teams do.”

Sophomore Sarah Redding led the Red Raiders with a career-high 17 kills in the loss, which is Texas Tech’s 11th straight. To go along with Redding and Douglass, freshman Toni McDougald also finished in double figures with 13 kills, marking the first time since Tech’s 3-2 victory over Rice on Sept. 14 that Tech had three players with double-digit kills.

Senior Marguerite Grubb earned her fifth double-double of the season and 16th of her career, finishing with 44 assists and 12 digs. Sophomore Reyn Akiu, who resumed her role as starting libero after two games with a knee injury, posted 23 digs while junior Ashley Morgan recorded a season-high 13 digs, respectively.

UP NEXT
Another top 10 opponent awaits Texas Tech as No. 6 Kansas comes to United Supermarkets Arena Wednesday, Oct. 26, for a 6 p.m. showdown. The Red Raiders fell to the Jayhawks in straight sets just two weeks ago on Oct. 8 at Horejsi Family Athletics Center.

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About Carly DeMarque

Carly DeMarque

Carly DeMarque has been involved with competitive volleyball for the majority of her life, playing competitively at the club and collegiate level for 15 years and coaching club for five. Now a retired Division I volleyball athlete out of McNeese State University, she continues her volleyball enthusiasm by stepping back into …

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