Final: Texas defeats Georgia 3-1

Texas finishes their first home stand 3-0, with a 4 set win over Georgia in the final game of the Time Warner Cable Invitational. Texas won the match 25-21, 22-25, 25-13, 25-17 in front a loud crowd on a Friday night at Gregory Gym.

Hurricane Ike was no match for the power displayed by the Horns tonight. Texas hitters, Juliann Faucette, Destinee Hooker, and Lauren Paolini outclassed the Bulldogs all night. Besides an uncharacteristic second set serving the ball the Horns, dominated tonight’s match.

Faucette and Ashley Engle were named to the All-Tournament team, while Heather Kisner was voted Top Libero and Destinee Hooker named tournament MVP.

Set 4: Texas 25, Georgia 17

Bad news for Big 12 opponents, Destinee Hooker now has her serve dialed up. The junior All-American blazed an ace past the Bulldogs. Texas took an early lead before Georgia closed it a bit, but the Horns are still in control of this fourth set 8-5. Make that 9-5, the Dawgs just sent one to the upper part of Gregory Gym.

Another huge Lauren Paolini kill stretches the Texas lead to 15-10.

Service error number–way too many. Ashley Engle nearly hit an event staffer with her wide left miss.

But have no fear, Destinee Hooker is here to make up for it with another service ace. Her serve can be downright dangerous. You won’t catch me stepping in front of one of her fast balls, you can guarantee that. Hooker’s service run has the Horns up 19-14 which forced a Bulldog timeout.

Juilann Faucette must have heard I didn’t vote for her as tournament MVP, seconds after sending my ballot in she smashed two huge kills to push Texas to near victory. Then she grazed the end line on another to end the game 25-17.

Set 3: Texas 25 vs. Georgia 13

Texas libero got the Horns off to a strong start, her service ace helped the Horns build an early 5-0 lead.

Lauren Paolini gets back into the action with two kills in a row, extending the Texas lead to 9-1, and forcing Georgia to call a timeout. Paolini had a combined 8 kills in the first two games.

Another Texas service error–that doesn’t help the side out percentage. That makes 12 service errors for the Longhorns this match. Georgia still takes the cake with 17 service errors through the first 2 sets.

Out of the timeout Georgia has narrowed the Texas lead to 10-6.

I wonder if the Gregory Gym faithful will start repeating the PA guy if he starts yelling SERVICE ERROR. Yet another one. To make up for it Michelle Kocher got her second service ace of the game.

Then Faucette made the play of the match so far, diving back she dug a Georgia hit nearing the line and seconds later smashed an untouched kill, which she followed with a second straight kill to take the Texas lead to 16-8.

A member of the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Men’s Volleyball team is part of the Gregory Gym crowd–too bad the eager crowd started cheering before we could hear the name. Either way, there is at least one Olympic Gold medalist in the crowd tonight–nameless or not.

Did I mention that Georgia likes to serve the ball outside the court–yet another Bulldog service error. Uga would not be happy. This isn’t a recent trend, the Bulldogs are averaging 9.8 service errors a match–but tonight the number is abnormally high. Their erradict serving ways seem to be wearing off on Texas, the Horns are also already above their season average of 7 service errors a game.

Ashley Engle added her own service ace–and Destinee Hooker was all over the court, over the net, on the floor, it didn’t matter–the versatile outside hitter is doing it all for the Horns in this third set.

Faucette finished off the Texas dominated set with a powerful, cross-court kill to win the third set 25-13. The ‘Horns sideout percentage should be slightly higher this set.

Set 2 Notes

Texas is holding Georgia hitter Maria Taylor to .273 hitting percentage, at least in the second set. Taylor had 9 kills, second most behind Destinee Hooker who had 10 kills in the second set. But Hooker hit a better .389 in the second set.

In the second game Texas’s side out percentage fell to 62 percent, from 68 in the first game while the Dawgs raised theirs from 58 to a match high 69.

The 62 percent mark is far below where Elliott want his team to perform.

Set 2: Texas 22, Georgia 25

Yet another Bulldog service error. Blame it on the increased barometric pressure do to Ike. But the Dawgs refuse to make excuses and take an early 6-3 lead in set 2.

Ashley Engle gets into the action in game too with a huge kill. On the next point Destinee Hooker goes way above the net to block a Georgia hit, and follows it up with a huge kill off the side of a Bulldog’s arm. Engle follows it up with another left handed smashing kill, to bring Texas back into the set, now only down a point.

Georgia still leads 12-11

Texas knotted things at 12 and then again at 13, only to see the Bulldogs take the lead the again both times. Georgia then extended their lead to 18-15 and….

Yet another Bulldog service error. Followed by a Michelle Kocher service ace to bring the lead back to one. But Georgia hit a service ace of their own before Elliott called a timeout.

Texas 17–Georgia 20

After Georgia slowed down another Hooker laser beam, Lauren Paolini smashed it back for a huge kill. Paolini had 3 huge kills in the first game but hadn’t done much in the second until she returned a huge smash. Faucette followed it up a few points later with her own smash bringing the score to 22-23, Georgia still in the lead.

Georgia finishes off the second set 25-22 after fighting off Hooker’s huge serve.

Set 1: Texas 25, Georgia 21

Lauren Paolini slams a kill straight down to put Texas up 4-3, and then All-American Julliann Faucette smashes home a kill of her own to make it 5-3 Texas. Destinee hooker who is known for her powerful serve just missed the court, ending Texas string of kills with a service error.

After the error Georgia moved into the lead with 3 quick points going up 6-5. But a service ace by Paolini put the Horns back on top 7-6.

Yet another Texas service error–a stat to keep an eye on for the Horns this season. If they can stay consistent with their serve they could go a long way.

Not often does Destinee Hooker get stuffed at the net. Not only is she surprised, but so is the the Gregory Gym crowd–when Hooker was blocked a noticeable gasp came out of the crowd.

No matter the surprise, and the early service errors Texas is now up 15-10 over the Bulldogs. Lauren Paolini is looking very strong in this first set.

Just after I finished updating that Hooker got blocked–gasp–she was back to her normal self. Most of the Bulldogs simply watched the laser kill as it zoomed past them. While Hooker may have gotten blocked, the true shock will be when someone digs one of her monster swings.

After a Bulldog service error Texas leads 19-10

The Bulldogs have cut the Texas lead to 21-19, forcing Texas coach Jerritt Elliott to call a time out. We’ll see how the Horns respond after the Bulldogs have cut the lead.

Hooker proceeds to trick everyone in the gym, going up high only to tap it over the Georgia blockers.

After another Hooker kill, Texas takes the first game 25-21 on a Bulldog service error.

Pregame

Just working out the kinks, seeing if this whole live blogging affair will actually work without us having to add a thousand new posts. Currently Texas starters are launching small plastic volleyballs to eagerly screaming fans. We should be starting any moment now.

We are running a little behind tonight at the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational. Before the last game of the tournament could get under way, two other Texas teams, Houston and Texas State went to 5 sets before the Cougars won. Needless the say the final game wasn’t making the 6:30 p.m. scheduled start time.

The only UT sporting event of the weekend left, after Ike has wreaked its havoc on the football and soccer schedules, the students are crammed into their section along the sideline. It may be the free t-shirts, or simply the fact that students are sports starving on this campus and know the big meal Saturday was canceled.

That or they might be eager to see the No. 3 ranked volleyball team in the nation. Just maybe. Tonight’s match up with Georgia should be the best of the tournament, both teams won their first two matches over Texas State and Houston.

Texas volleyball coach Jerritt Elliot has been selected as one of two head coaches for the women’s USA Volleyball A2 team.  He will be coaching the team in Atlanta for the USA Volleyball Adult Open Championships this spring.

“It’s a great honor to be selected to coach with USA Volleyball,” Elliot said in a press release. “I know they have selected a talented group of players and I am exciteda bout training with the team. I look forward to what should be a great opportunity, coaching the A2 program.”

The A2 team is a 22-player team with two 11-member squads. All players are still eligible to compete in college. Michigan State coach Cathy George is the other A2 coach.