Volleyball Drops Five-Set Match to No. 2 Texas
September 24, 2014 11:07 PM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University volleyball team took the first two sets before falling in a 3-2 heartbreaker to the No.2-ranked Texas Longhorns on Wednesday evening at the WVU Coliseum in a game that was televised nationally on ESPNU.
The Mountaineers, who had never won a set against the Longhorns, fell in set scores of 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 18-25 and 7-15. The match was the Big 12 opener for both teams and moved WVU to 10-4 on the season while Texas remains undefeated at 9-0.
West Virginia was only the third team this season to win a set against the Longhorns, and just the second team to take two. Texas previously defeated then-No. 11 Florida, 3-1, before claiming a 3-2 win over No. 9 Nebraska on Saturday.
“The good thing is it’s a little bit of a milestone- this is the first time we’ve ever taken a set from Texas,” said coach Jill Kramer. “And we took it to five. I don’t want to discount that. But at the same time, that’s nothing to celebrate. We want to take the match. I think our team came out with the right kind of energy and I thought the crowd was great tonight – they really helped us out. And then when we came out for the third, the tables turned a little bit.”
Nikki Attea put up a career-best 20 kills with 14 digs and an ace to lead the Mountaineers. She also hit for a team-best .381 clip. Jordan Anderson added 19 kills and 19 digs, hitting .278. Hannah Sackett rounded out the Mountaineers in double figures, also putting up a career-high 14 kills. Caleah Wells and Evyn McCoy each had four kills as well.
Gianna Gotterba tied Anderson’s team-best 19 kills, setting a new career high. Melvina Brown also had a career night with nine kills and an ace. Their fellow freshman Lamprini Konstantinidou posted a career-best 54 assists with 10 digs and a pair of block assists.
McCoy was again the team leader in blocks with three block assists. The Mountaineers finished with 3.0 team blocks and hit .184 on the night.
Haley Eckerman had 12 kills for Texas, just missing a double double with nine digs. Chiaka Ogbogu and Khat Bell each had nine blocks as the Longhorns tallied 15.0 team blocks in the match and hit for a .269 clip as a team.
Anderson helped the Mountaineers get off to a solid start, hitting .364 with four kills as WVU hit .243 as a team in taking the first set. Sackett and Attea each had three kills, while Gotterba added eight first-set digs. After keeping it close to start off, a mid-set 6-0 run gave West Virginia an 18-12 lead on a kill from Anderson. The Longhorns strung together six in a row to tie the set at 23-23, but a kill from Attea and a Texas attacking error gave WVU the 25-23 win.
Sackett took charge in set two, putting up seven of the Mountaineers’ 16 kills while Anderson hit .400 and found the court five times. Konstantinidou had 15 assists, while Brown added in ace in the set to help West Virginia to the 25-19 set win. The teams traded points to an 11-11 tie before the Mountaineers took a 17-13 lead on a Longhorn attacking error. Texas cut the deficit to one at 20-19, but West Virginia capped the set with a 5-0 run as a kill from Sackett put things away.
Attea took the lead with six kills and hit for a .600 clip in set three, but the Longhorns put down 20 kills to the Mountaineers’ 16. Sackett put four on the floor, while Anderson came through with six digs. This time, the Longhorns seized a 10-5 lead and never looked back. Attea added a pair of kills near the end of the set but Texas scored back-to-back points in claiming the 25-20 triumph.
The Longhorns outhit the Mountaineers .257 to .091 in set three, through Anderson had five kills and five digs for West Virginia. A 6-0 run pushed Texas to an 8-4 advantage and the Mountaineers would later put up three in row, but could only cut the deficit to four at 18-14. A trio of kills ended things at 25-18 in favor of Texas and forced the fifth set.
Though the Longhorns finished with just one more kill than the Mountaineers at 6-5, Texas put up five team blocks and WVU hit -.160 as the visitors took the set and the match. Attea had four of West Virginia’s five kills with Konstantinidou assisting on all five. The Mountaineers found themselves in an early 5-2 hole, and the Longhorns soon rattled off five straight to make it a 10-3 set. Anderson and Attea found the court, but it wasn’t enough to cut into the Texas lead as the Longhorns claimed the final set 15-7 for the 3-2 win.
West Virginia will travel to Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday for a 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) match at Texas Tech. It marks the second consecutive match the Mountaineers have faced an undefeated opponent as the Red Raiders are 13-0 to start the season.
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