University of Missouri
Texas
No. 2 Texas Too Much for Volleyball
10/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 21, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas - Despite another quality effort from outside hitter Paola Ampudia (Cali, Colombia), the Mizzou volleyball team fell, 3-0 (14-25, 20-25, 20-25 ), at No. 2 Texas on Wednesday (Oct. 21) inside Gregory Gymnasium. With her 16 kills, Ampudia has now led the team in that department in five straight matches and has 82 kills during that span. Junior Rosa Medrano (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) also had a fine match for Mizzou, posting 10 kills on a team-best .381 hitting. The Tigers struggled to slow the UT attack, allowing the Longhorns to hit .452 for the match.
Texas used the serving arm of All-American Destinee Hooker to build an early 4-1 lead until a kill from Ampudia gave the Tigers their first offensive point of the match. The Tigers hung tough with the two-time defending Big 12 Champs until Hooker added a pair of kills to make the score 11-5 in favor of the Longhorns, prompting a Mizzou timeout.
Mizzou won three of the next four points out of the timeout to pull within four at 12-8 as the attack of Ampudia kept the Tigers close. But Texas - led by seven kills on 11 errorless attacks from Hooker - outscored Mizzou 13-6 from that point to claim the first frame, 25-14. Ampudia led Mizzou with five kills on 15 attacks while hitting .267.
Mizzou's defense slowed the Longhorn attack - which hit .593 in the first frame - as they played even with Texas for the first 12 points, keeping the score knotted at six. From that point, the Texas serve kept the Tigers out of system as UT built a slight 12-8 advantage. Ampudia pulled the Tigers back within two at 13-11 after she fired a kill of off Texas libero Heather Kisner, forcing a UT timeout. Out of the timeout, Texas was caught in a rotation violation, pulling Mizzou within one at 13-12.
After a spectacular dig from Tiger libero Caitlyn Vann (Muncie, Ind.), Ampudia killed the point to draw Mizzou even at 13. The teams traded sideouts from there and then Texas slowly built a three-point lead at 19-16. That lead was all that Texas needed as they downed Mizzou, 25-20, despite much sharper play from the Tiger attackers and defense. Mizzou hit .222 in the set as opposed to .167 in the first. Ampudia led all Tiger attacker with nine kills through the first two sets while Medrano added five - three in the second set - on .333 hitting. Vann led the Tigers through the first two sets with eight total digs.
Mizzou once again hung tough with Texas as it relied on the attack of Medrano to take some of the pressure off of Ampudia as she posted two kills in the early going, keeping the Tigers close at 7-6. The lead was extended to 13-10 and the Tigers had several swings to try and cut the lead to two, but UT scored on a broken play to open a four-point lead. The Longhorns kept that cushion despite the attack of Ampudia and Medrano, who kept Mizzou within striking distance throughout the set. Mizzou drew as close as 21-17 in the final frame, but ultimately fell short at 25-20.
Mizzou will return to action as they face off against archrival Kansas in Lawrence on Saturday. The match is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. (CT). For all the latest on Mizzou volleyball, stay tuned to www.MUTigers.com.
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