Texas beats NU, tightens Big 12 race
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By TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star
AUSTIN, Texas — If there had been a line on Wednesday’s showdown for the Big 12 volleyball title, you can bet Nebraska would have missed it.
A four-set victory for fourth-ranked Texas may have played out as the Destinee Hooker show on national TV, but when No. 3 Nebraska goes back and watches the tape, all they’ll see are the hitting errors — 33 season-high attacks into blocks, into the net and beyond the sidelines — that proved too much to overcome.
“We had a chance to win this match in (set) three, and we hit it away,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “We couldn’t put the heat on them when we needed.”
The Longhorns’ 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 25-22 win essentially left the teams in a tie for the Big 12 lead. And minus a stunning upset in the final eight days of the regular season, tied is where Nebraska and Texas will finish for the second straight year.
A bigger concern for Nebraska may be its first serious injury suffered by a starter in several years. Kori Cooper, the junior middle blocker playing back in her home state, went out early in the fourth set with what Cook said appears to be a season-ending knee injury.
“I don’t think it looks good,” said Cook, adding that he may have to at least look at pulling freshman Allison McNeal from her redshirt season.
In the last week, Nebraska has seen right-side hitter Lindsey Licht suffer an elbow sprain and has lost backup Brooke Delano to what appears to be a season-ending surgical procedure.
Licht played Wednesday, but after scorching Texas for 17 kills on .500 hitting in the teams’ first meeting this season, the sophomore was limited to seven kills while erring 11 times in the rematch.
“We worked on it all week,” said Texas coach Jerritt Elliott. “We are physical enough to do a better job (defensively) than we did at Nebraska. It’s different when you’re playing at home.”
Nebraska (25-2, 16-2 Big 12) didn’t go down without a fight, however. Even with the errors, even with walk-on Jordan Wilberger thrown into the lineup and a record crowd of 4,324 sensing a big victory, the Huskers still were tied 21-21 and within reach of sending the match to a fifth set.
Texas closed it out with Ashley Engle and Juliann Faucette — not Hooker — both scoring a pair of late kills.
Hooker led Texas (22-3, 15-2) with 24 kills, half of those coming in a mind-boggling, one-of-its-kind first set. In last year’s Texas win over Nebraska in Austin, Hooker shined with 17 kills and hit .455.
“Everything she touched tonight was golden,” Elliott said.
Nebraska’s best chance came in the third set. Leading 11-6, and later 16-12, the Huskers seemed in great position to win and all but lock up the outright conference title.
But three straight points from the Longhorns swung the momentum, and Hooker generated some of her own electricity, swinging for an 18-18 tie after a Heather Kisner dig. Then, after the Longhorns had shanked a pass, Hooker took an out-of-system set and delivered a kill that put UT ahead to stay.
Even with Hooker dominating — 12 kills on 19 error-free swings — Nebraska had a glimmer of hope in the opening set. By serving tough, the Huskers twice had swings to tie the Longhorns at 19-19.
And things couldn’t have looked much worse for the Huskers after they opened the second set with four more hitting errors and trailed 4-1. Yet they rallied to win, outscoring Texas 12-4 in one stretch as Rachel Schwartz came up with several big digs.
“I thought we competed hard the whole night,” Cook said, noting that Nebraska split eight sets with the team picked almost unanimously to win the league title this season.
Elliott said that both teams deserve to be No. 1 seeds when the NCAA selections are announced on Nov. 30. But first, the Longhorns must avoid a letdown over the final three matches, and Nebraska may be faced with patching together a healthy lineup.
“We’re going to get an opportunity to see how resilient we are,” Cook said. “Wilberger’s going to do a great job for Cooper, and I think our team’s going to find a way to raise their level.
“It’s another challenge.”
Briefly
Jordan Larson led Nebraska with 15 kills and Amanda Gates matched her career-high with 11 … The Huskers were outhit .333-.165.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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