Huskers fall to Texas in Austin

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By CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star

AUSTIN, Texas — Destinee Hooker bent from the waist and delivered a pose for the TV cameras that said “Not tonight, Nebraska. Not on my watch.”

If the eighth-ranked Husker volleyball team could’ve had a counter for the All-America outside hitter Friday, it might have had enough to hand No. 2 Texas its first loss of the season.

But with Hooker providing nine of her 19 kills at the end of three close sets, the Longhorns fought off an inspired NU team 25-22, 26-24, 25-19 before a sellout crowd of 4,009 at Gregory Gym.

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“We certainly had our opportunities and I thought our team competed hard and we did a really good job of following our game plan,” NU coach John Cook said. “Destinee, you can do everything right and she still gets kills. She’s a once-in-a-lifetime-type recruit, I think, for a college program.”

Nebraska fell to 16-6 overall and 8-4 in the league.

The Huskers — who have never lost more than four conference matches in a season — came out looking determined to topple a team that since beating them in four games in Lincoln on Sept. 26 had swept eight straight opponents.

The 6-foot-4 Hooker would have none of that.

With the teams tied at 20 in the first set, Bailey Webster slammed a kill down the line to put the Longhorns ahead for good. Hooker eventually finished it off with two kills around one by NU’s Lindsey Licht. The final one was a tip from the back row.

Nebraska looked primed to get even by taking a 23-21 lead in the second set on a kill by Licht and hitting error by Rachel Adams. But Hooker again elevated her game, smashing back-to-back kills. Then, after NU’s Tara Mueller sent a set-winning attack wide, Hooker went to the service line and contributed to a double hit by Mueller before getting a back-row kill to give Texas the set.

The Huskers broke to a 10-4 lead in the third set, but couldn’t maintain momentum and, after Sydney Anderson got a kill to pull NU to 20-19, Hooker responded again.

Her 16th kill made it 21-19, and after Kori Cooper’s hitting error, Hooker slammed two more kills, before driving home one more for the win.

“Being a senior, I was thinking we’re not going to lose the game. We’re not,” Hooker said in regard to posing after her next-to-last kill. “We’ve worked too hard in the practice gym and the whole season to let up now.”

The Longhorns (18-0, 13-0) are now in great position to win their first outright Big 12 title since 1997.

Meanwhile, Nebraska, which hit .168, returns to the NU Coliseum for a Wednesday match against Missouri before getting another crack at Iowa State, another team that beat the Huskers on their home court.

“I have to keep in perspective we’re learning what we’re going to have to do to be successful in November,” Cook said. “I think there were a lot of positives — knowing we had a shot at this match.”

Licht, who hit .316 and led Nebraska with 10 kills, saw Friday’s match in a similar light.

“There are going to be little baby steps, but come November, we’re going to be a great team,” she said.

Added freshman outside hitter Hannah Werth: “I think that’s the hardest we’ve fought all year. (Texas is) a great team.”

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.