Volleyball hitters’ ‘intent to dent’ leads to sweep of Army

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — There is nothing in volleyball quite like the sound of a kill finding the floor with a purpose. Just ask Texas sophomore outside hitter Yazzie Bedart-Ghani, who swings with an intent to dent whatever is in the path one of her kill attempts.

The Longhorns used its slew of outside hitters to pound overmatched Army, 25-15, 25-22, 25-18, Friday at Gregory Gym in their third match in two days at the American Campus Classic.

Freshman Micaya White led third-ranked Texas [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]with 16 kills and swung at .324 percent on 37 attempts. Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame added 12 kills, while Bedart-Ghani pumped in 11 — some of which surely had the velocity to leave an indention on the wood floor.

With the win, Texas improved its record to 4-1 on the season. UT head coach Jerritt Elliott said he liked the way his team matched Army’s competiveness.

“We played at a good level,” Elliott said. “We got a good lead coming out and played steady all the way through. Our serve-receive has improved in the past two matches, and we are getting some good swings. I like what I saw.”

Senior setter Chloe Collins quarterbacked the Texas offense with 40 assists and junior libero Cat McCoy dove and lunged for a game-high 12 digs.

Army (1-4) was led by Amber Clay’s 10 kills and 11 digs.

Texas dominated even without outside hitter Ebony Nwanebu, who sat out the match but was not injured.

Bedart-Ghani said there is a certain satisfaction to hitting the ball as hard as she does, especially when it results in a point for Texas.

“It was good being on the court tonight,” Bedart-Ghani said. “I got some great balls to hit from Chloe and I’ve been able to drive through them and get some good contact. We’re really starting to gel as a team and we’re coming together.”

The Longhorns roared out of the blocks in the first set, riding kills from White, Bedart-Ghani and Johnson to a 9-1 lead. Army took advantage of a handful of UT mistakes to close to within 15-11 but the taller and more talented ‘Horns regained their stride, winning 10 of the set’s final 14 points, three of the last four on two kills and a solo block by Prieto Cerame, to take the opening set, 25-15.

Things were a lot tougher for the Longhorns in the second set as Army assumed an early lead, gave it back and stayed with Texas until a 5-1 point run by the Longhorns pushed them in front at 14-9. Three floor-rocking kills by Bedart-Ghani staked Texas to a 17-11 advantage but Army, as one would expect, fought back, closing to 23-21 and then 24-22 before a White kill handed the set to the Longhorns at 25-22.

It was more of the same in the third set as Texas kept passing the ball to Bedart-Ghani, White and Prieto Cerame and those three players carried the Longhorns to a 25-18 win. Army stayed close for the first portion of the set, tying the score at 6-6.

But Prieto Cerame ripped a kill, then Bedart-Ghani added another and Orie Agbaji and Prieto Cerame combined for a block that pushed Texas’ lead to 9-6. Collins ended the match with a resounding solo block, her only recorded rejection of the match.

Texas returns to the court Saturday to face Miami (3-2), which is considered by many to be the strongest team in the tournament field outside of the Longhorns.

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