No. 1 Huskers Fall to Texas

Austin, Texas ? Sarah Pavan totaled a match-high 17 kills, but fifth-ranked Texas snapped the Huskers’ 29-match win streak with a 30-22, 30-25, 30-20 victory over top-ranked Nebraska Wednesday night in Austin.

Destinee Hooker and Juliann Faucette combined for 30 kills, as Texas became the first Big 12 team to sweep the Huskers since the Longhorns accomplished the feat in 1997.

With the win, Texas (15-3, 11-1 Big 12) forged into a tie with Nebraska (19-1, 11-1 Big 12) at the top of the Big 12 standings. The Huskers swept the first meeting between in the teams in Lincoln on Sept. 12.  The Huskers, the last remaining unbeaten team in the country, fell for the first time since Nov. 11, 2006, at Colorado, a span of 30 matches Since then, NU had dropped only six games in that span prior to Wednesday’s sweep and none in the last 17 matches.

Pavan finished with 17 kills, but the Huskers hit a season-low .145, nearly .200 points below their national-best .343 hitting entering Wednesday’s contest and were swept for the first time since the 2005 NCAA title match.  Hooker tied Pavan for match-high honors, while hitting .455 on 33 swings. Faucette finished with 13 kills, seven digs and three blocks, as UT out-blocked the Huskers 12.5-7 and hit .371 against the Big Red.

Nebraska Coach John Cook said the Huskers’ inability to put pressure on the Longhorns, allowed Texas an opportunity to get rolling offensively. 
 
“Texas played well tonight, and we were out of sync,” Cook said. “If you don’t pass the ball and stress them with serving, they are hard to stop. We allowed Destinee and Brandy (Magee) to get free swings and they are hard to stop if you do that. We did not pressure them serving and we didn’t pass well. ”

 Cook said the Huskers didn’t match the intensity that Texas brought to the gym tonight.

“We haven’t been pushed all year. We were pushed tonight, and we didn’t push back,” Cook said. “It was disappointing with this team that they couldn’t find a way to push back.”

The Huskers could not match the Longhorns’ block in game one, as Texas took the opener with a 30-22 victory, snapping NU’s streak of 53 consecutive games won. UT totaled 7.5 blocks in the opener, including three apiece by Faucette and Lauren Paolini, while NU committed 11 hitting errors and hit just .085.  Pavan was the only offensive bright spot, totaling eight of NU’s 15 kills.  The Huskers found themselves in trouble early, as the Longhorns took advantage of numerous errors to take a 15-10 advantage at the media timeout. Nebraska regrouped, and ran off five of the next six points to pull within 16-15 on a Rachel Holloway kill, but two straight Husker miscues and a Texas block by Faucette and Magee quickly pushed the UT margin to 19-15. The Huskers got to within 20-17 on a Kori Cooper kill, but the Longhorns ran off five unanswered points, extending their lead to 25-17 on a block by Magee and Faucette, and cruised to an eight-point victory.

In game two, Texas was firing on all cylinders, out-hitting the Huskers, .409-.269 in a 30-25 victory. The Huskers jumped out early in game two behind Christina Houghtelling, who totaled three quick kills in helping NU build an early 7-4 advantage. Texas would fight back behind the play of Hooker, who totaled nine kills on 13 swings in game two alone, and Paolini, whose consecutive kills capped  a 3-0 spurt to tie the score at 7-all. The teams would trade points until kills by Ashley Engle and Magee put UT up 12-10. Nebraska was within 16-14 after a Tracy Stalls kill, but Texas seized the momentum by running off five of the next six points, taking a 20-15 lead after a Husker attack error. Nebraska fought back, getting to within 23-20 after two straight Pavan kills and was within 28-25, but consecutive kills from Faucette and Hooker sent the Huskers to the locker room down 2-0.

In the finale, the Huskers led 4-2, but could not hold the early momentum. Texas regrouped and won the next five rallies, jumping to a 7-4 lead after an Engle kill and forcing the Huskers to take their first timeout. UT eventually got the margin up to 9-4 before the Huskers ran off three straight points to pull within 9-7 after a Pavan block.  Nebraska was within 13-10, but Texas kept up the momentum with three straight points, including a Faucette kill to make it 16-10 and forcing the Huskers to use their final timeout. UT eventually pushed the lead to 18-10 after a Faucette kill before a Stalls kill ended the spurt. The Huskers got within 21-16 on a Houghtelling kill, but a service error and another kill from Hooker pushed the lead to seven points, and NU was unable to cut into the Longhorn lead the rest of the night in falling 30-20.

The Huskers will return to action next Wednesday, as they host Missouri at the NU Coliseum. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be aired on the Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com. In addition, the match will carried live nationally on Nebraska Educational Television and CSTV.