Texas
No. 2 Texas Defeats Mustangs, 3-0
8/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
AUSTIN, TX – The Cal Poly volleyball team dropped its second match of the 2012 season to the second-ranked Texas Longhorns, 3-0, despite giving the home team all they could handle in the third set. Set scores went 25-17, 25-16 and 25-20. The Mustangs will return to tournament play latter Saturday when they play LSU.
The Mustangs were paced by junior Holly Franks with eight kills while sophomore transfer Megan Groess came off the bench to spark the team with seven kills on 16 swings. Senior Molly Pon added six kills while freshman Nicole Kessler led the team with 12 digs. Megan McConnell tallied two kills with three blocks with junior Kate Walters dishing out 27 assists with nine digs.
Texas was led by Sha'Dare McNeal with nine kills with Bailey Webster recording seven. For the match, Texas was credited with nine solo blocks and 18 assisted.
Overall Texas hit .305 in the win and held the Mustangs to a .008 hitting percentage.
In the first set, with Texas leading 4-3, the Longhorns went on a 6-2 run to hold a 10-5 lead. Texas then on to score the next seven straight points (17-5) forcing a Cal Poly timeout. Coming out of the break the Mustangs scored two quick points, but it would not be enough to get back in the set with Texas hitting .200 and winning the set 25-17. The Mustangs were held to -.100 when Texas was credited with three solo blocks and 10 assisted blocks in the set.
A kill by Hardin to open the second set gave the Mustangs the early lead and a kill by Franks kept the score tied at 2-2. The Mustangs kept pace with the Longhorns and took a 5-4 lead on a solo block by McConnell. Texas scored the next five points (9-5) with Cal Poly taking a timeout. The Mustangs scored the first points after the timeout, but Texas would score the next six points to extend its lead to 14-6. The Longhorns would go on to win the set 25-16 while hitting a blistering .476. The Mustangs hit .088 in the set.
Midway through the third set Cal Poly was in striking distance of the Longhorns trailing by three, 10-7. The Mustangs trailed by just two, 12-10, on a kill by Pon. A block by McConnell and a kill by Franks tied the match at 13-13 with Texas taking a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Texas edged out to a 17-15 lead, but the Mustangs kept pace and tied the set back up on a kill by Groess at 17-17. With the score tied at 18-18 on another kill by Groess, Texas scored the next two points forcing a Mustang timeout. Cal Poly was within one (21-20) on a ball handling error by the Longhorns, but made it a two point lead on a kill with the Mustangs taking a timeout trailing 22-20. Cal Poly would not score another point as Texas closed out the set and the match, 25-20.
