Texas Volleyball (No. 5 ) improves to 2-0 in Big 12 Action After Sweeping Oklahoma

AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 5 Texas Volleyball team defeated Oklahoma 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-19) in front of 4,068 fans Saturday afternoon in Gregory Gymnasium. Senior Bailey Webster led the Longhorns' offensive attack with a match-high 15 kills, while senior libero Sarah Palmer paced the defense with her match-high 18 digs and senior setter Hannah Allison added 43 assists throughout the three-set match.

The win marked Texas’ 42nd-straight win at home in Big 12 play.

In the first set, Texas (8-2, 2-0 Big 12) never trailed and won 25-17. With the score 6-4, a block by Allison and Khat Bell began a 7-1 Texas run. The Longhorns opened up an eight point lead at 18-10 before the Sooners (13-3, 1-1 Big 12) used 4-1 and 4-0 runs to get back within four. After a UT timeout, the Longhorns closed out the set on a 4-0 run.

The second set was a much closer contest with Texas narrowly winning, 25-21. The set saw nine ties and four lead changes. Oklahoma held their first lead of the match at 4-3, but UT answered with a 5-1 run. The rest of the set was back-and-forth with both teams within three the entire way until the Horns used a 5-1 run after being down 21-20 to close out the set. In that run, freshman Chiaka Ogbogu recorded three of her six kills in the set.

Texas never trailed in the third set and jumped out to a 7-4 lead. With the score 19-17, the Horns finished off the match with a 6-2 run including back-to-back kills by freshman Victoria Pilar. As a team, Texas hit .432 (19-3-37) in the third set, led by Webster’s seven kills.

The Longhorns continue their season Wednesday, Oct. 2 when they take on the Baylor Lady Bears in Waco at 8 p.m. Central in a match televised nationally by ESPNU.

Post-match Notes

- Texas is now 8-2 on the year after today’s 3-0 win against Oklahoma with a Big 12 record of 2-1 … the Longhorns lead the all-time series against Oklahoma at 41-3, including a 21-1 record at home.

- The Longhorns have won 42 straight league matches in Gregory Gym … the streaks now spans five seasons and began with a 3-0 win over Texas A&M on Nov. 1, 2008.

- Texas hit a .319 (49-13-113) to Oklahoma’s .179 (34-15-109).

- Freshman Chiaka Ogbogu tied her career high of nine kills (9-2-17, .412) while adding four block assists.

Post-match Quotes

Texas Head Coach Jerritt Elliott

Opening Statement: Our fans are coming out again in great numbers to support this team and they have a lot of fun. You know, any time that you play OU there’s a lot of rivalry in it and whether it’s in volleyball, whether it’s in football or basketball, we are really proud to be able to play the way we did tonight. I thought we had some spurts of playing at a very, very high level and I think we are getting better each match and we’re seeing it more consistent for longer periods of time.

 

Freshman Chiaka Ogbogu

On an increased role as a freshman: I think our team is doing a really good job of helping me and all the other freshman get acclimated to the game and I’m taking each game as a learning process.

 

Senior Sarah Palmer

On the role of the underclassmen: They have a huge role, they’ve been pushing everybody in the practice gym and coming out really hard in games and it’s been fun playing with Chi (Chiaka), Pilar (Victoria) and Chloe (Collins). They’re very athletic, and as you could tell tonight, they do a really good job in the front court and as well as in the back court.