40 Acres Sports

Texas volleyball fell to Stanford in a five-set showdown

The University of Texas volleyball team fell in the National semifinals to the Stanford Cardinal.  Stanford won the final game 15-13 in the final set.  For the first time in 27 years a team overcame a 0-2 deficit to reach the NCAA title game.  It will be the third title game appearance in a row for Stanford.

The Longhorns looked good early with superstar Destinee Hooker leading the way.  No team in the nation has an answer for Hooker’s ability to get up in the air.  Throughout the night Stanford put up to three people up for the block only to see Hooker go over the top for the kill.

Stanford was off early, but caught fire in the last three sets.  Texas struggled with communication on sets and on defense.  The experience of the Stanford squad proved to be too much for the young Longhorns.  Texas only has two seniors in their rotation so expect another long run next year.

Stanford will now play the winner of Penn State versus Nebraska.  Penn State won the title against Stanford last year 3-2.  Penn State has swept every game since.

Texas knocked out of NCAA volleyball tournament. Former UT coach Mick Haley and USC top the Horns in 3 games.

No. 3 Volleyball advances to NCAA Regional final with win over Florida. Horns will face No. 5 USC on ESPNU at 3pm on 12/8.

Texas volleyball advances to Sweet 16 with win over LSU. For some reason they’ll now play lower ranked Florida in Gainesville.

I was looking for some other Longhorn highlights this morning and stumbled on this profile on UT volleyball and track star Destinee Hooker on YouTube. We don’t do much track or volleyball news here at this site, but it’s clear that Destinee is one of the university’s best athletes and she’s been stellar performer in two sports. Here’s the video from CSTV and CBS:

The Lady Longhorns take on the Aggies tonight on CSTV at 7pm.