WVU travels to No. 3 Texas

No. 3 Texas established a trend for the West Virginia volleyball team that has plagued the young Mountaineer squad to this point in the season.

In their first Big 12 conference loss to Texas, West Virginia head coach Jill Kramer said that her team could "keep up and play with anyone in the Big 12," following an Aug. 29 loss to the Longhorns.

Today, that sentiment is much the same as a hungry Mountaineer team travels to Austin Saturday to face off against Texas for the final time this season with hopes of ending a 13-game losing streak, as well as 13-game conference losing streak.

"Texas is tough ? plain and simple," Kramer said. "They play great volleyball, much like the rest of the Big 12, and they don?t let up. I think we?ll be prepared for them, and we will go out there and get ready to play our game just like any other day."

Kramer?s Mountaineers were stifled offensively against Baylor in their latest match, but they saw an impressive rise in defense against a offensively strong Bears team.

Freshmen Anna Panagiotakopoulos and Hannah Sackett controlled the court defensively, earning 14 and 11 digs, respectively.

The young West Virginia team also saw improvements in its blocking as they outdid the Bears 7-5 in blocks with Arielle Allen providing the much-needed spark as she continues to transition to middle blocker.

"None of us would be playing here if we didn?t want tough competition," Allen said following their loss to Baylor. "We are all here to play; win or lose, this is our team. If we didn?t have such great chemistry this (losing streak) would be tough to deal with, but because we are such a close team, we are getting through it."

At 8-19, the Mountaineers hope to end on a high note ? starting with the Longhorns. Texas is 22-3 and has not lost since Sept. 14 when the Longhorns fell to Illinois 3-2 in sets.

Since then, the experienced Texas team has steamrolled every opponent they faced, defeating several ranked opponents along the way.

West Virginia volleyball will be traveling to Texas for the first time Saturday and anticipates leaving an impression much like the Aug. 29 impression they left when the Longhorns defeated the Mountaineers in Morgantown.

"Our game plans are going to start getting much more intricate over these last few games," Kramer said. "We did it against Baylor, and I?m hoping we can work on a new one against Texas this week in practice. We did much better against the middle attack against Baylor, and I?m hoping that continues."

West Virginia will have its hands full as the Longhorns boast one of the best middle attacks in the NCAA, as well as one of the largest rosters, with several players ranging from 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-5.

Mountaineer freshman middle blocker Caleah Wells will have her hands full with Texas? Madelyn Hutson yet again. The 6-foot-5 sophomore will most likely see significant play time against West Virginia as the Longhorns prepare for the NCAA tournament.

The match is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.

Source: http://www.thedaonline.com/sports/wvu-travels-to-no-3-texas-1.2955675

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