The top ranked Big 12 team proved too much for the Mountaineers on Thursday, as the No. 7 Texas Longhorns swept WVU in the first of two matches.
Neither team excelled defensively in the match, as ball control was a struggle for both Texas and West Virginia. Texas dug 40 of the Mountaineers’ 103 attacks and had 31 setter assists while WVU dug 33 of 92 attacks with 30 assists from senior Lauren DeLo.
By the end of the match, however, the Mountaineers proved to have a slightly tougher time in the back row than the Longhorns, as the team had six serve receive errors compared to the Longhorns’ zero.
Errors ultimately proved to be the determining factor in the match, whether it be defensively or offensively.
West Virginia finished with 42 kills across the three sets, which was one more than the Longhorns’ total. Nullifying this was the Mountaineers doubling Texas’s number of attack errors in both the first and third set, tallying six and eight respectively, and quadrupling the Longhorns’ errors in the second set with four.
The team’s ability to overpower even the best teams with their offense has been apparent all season, but this inability to keep errors down has held them back. Three Mountaineers, outside hitters Bailey Miller and Hailey Green and right side Tierney Jackson, finished with double-digit kills but had four or more errors each.
Texas’s threats were much more efficient offensively, as 6’5″ right side Molly Phillips finished with nine kills in 11 attempts with no errors, and outside hitter Jenna Wanaas tallied nine kills and just one error in 21 attacks. Junior OH Madison Skinner led the team in kills and attacks with 12 kills and three errors in 30 attacks.
The Mountaineers will look to keep their offensive strength going while limiting errors in Friday’s match. The match starts at 5 p.m. in the WVU Coliseum.
Photo from WVU Volleyball
