Volleyball to Host No. 2 Texas on ESPNU
September 23, 2014 05:27 PM | General
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| Senior Evyn McCoy led the Mountaineers with eight blocks against Duke. |
| Photo courtesy of Steve Prunty |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University volleyball team will welcome the No. 2-ranked Texas Longhorns to the WVU Coliseum in a 7 p.m. match on Wednesday. The match, which will be televised on ESPNU, will serve as the Big 12 opener for both squads.
Tickets for the match are $1. All fans are encouraged to wear white in an effort to "white out" the WVU Coliseum.
"We are really looking forward to welcoming Texas to the Coliseum tomorrow night," said coach Jill Kramer. "We have the opportunity to host Texas on national television once again and we always do a great job of making this a marquee event. We tend to draw our biggest crowd for this match, our record being somewhere around 3500. We would love to beat that record tomorrow night."
The Mountaineers (10-3) and the Longhorns (8-0) will meet for the fifth time since WVU joined the Big 12 in 2012, with Texas leading the series 4-0. West Virginia is 1-1 in league-opening matches since joining the league, dropping 3-0 match to Texas in its inaugural Big 12 event in 2012 before topping Kansas State 3-1 in 2013.
The undefeated Longhorns boast wins over No. 8 Nebraska, No. 18 Arizona and No. 10 Florida this season. They are led by Haley Eckerman and Amy Neal, who boast 2.87 and 2.86 kills per set, respectively. Eckerman also averages 0.52 aces per set, while Mirta Baselovic leads the blocking effort with 1.80 blocks per set.
Wednesday will mark the third time this season WVU has faced a nationally-ranked opponent. The squad opened the season against the then No. 9-ranked BYU Cougars, dropping a 3-0 match, and faced No. 13 North Carolina on Saturday. The Mountaineers are slated to face four more teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA poll. They are set to play No. 23 Kansas on October 15 (home) and November 26 (away) and will also take on Iowa State (October 4 and November 8), Kansas State (October 25 and November 29) and Oklahoma (October 8 and November 1)- all of whom are receiving votes in the poll – as part of the Big 12 schedule.
West Virginia returns to WVU Coliseum after a two-game road swing through North Carolina as part of the Big 12-ACC Challenge this past weekend. The Mountaineers took the first set at Duke, who recently dropped out of the top 25, but couldn’t close things out and fell 3-1 to the Blue Devils on Friday. On Saturday, WVU dropped a tough 3-0 battle to No. 13 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Jordan Anderson and Lamprini Konstantinidou continue to lead the Mountaineers and the Big 12 in several categories. Anderson, who was honored as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week earlier this month, leads the conference with 4.90 kills per set and ranks sixth in NCAA Division I. She is also atop the leaderboard in points per set with 5.49. Former Big 12 Rookie of the Week Konstantinidou continues to lead the league in assists per set with 11.49 and ranks sixth with 0.39 aces per set.
After taking on the Longhorns, the Mountaineers will travel to the Lone Star state for a 3 p.m. (CT) tilt at Texas Tech in Lubbock. Like the Longhorns, the Red Raiders remain undefeated this season.
"We need Mountaineer Nation behind us more than ever. Great things are happening in our volleyball program and we want all mountaineer fans to be a part of every magical night ahead in the Coliseum. We have had a banner year for our average attendance in pre-conference events and are looking forward to that carrying over into conference play," said Kramer. "I get such great feedback from all over the country after this match each year about what great progress our program is making and the electric atmosphere we are providing our fans and student-athletes."
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