 "Photo: Paul Chouy, Daily Texan Staff")
Destinee Hooker probably wishes that every Texas match was broadcast on national television.
In 17 previous national television appearances through her three-year career, the opposite hitter has averaged almost 15 kills per match.
On Wednesday night, Hooker nearly reached that mark in the first set in front of a national audience on ESPNU, posting an astonishing 24 kills while committing only five errors on .352 hitting in No. 4 Texas’ 3-1 victory over No. 3 Nebraska.
“It’s just adrenaline,” Hooker said. “Once I start going, I just want to keep going. And then you have your teammates who are picking you up as well. It’s the best feeling you can have on the court.”
With the win, the Longhorns (22-3, 15-2 Big 12) are now just a half game behind the Cornhuskers (25-2, 16-2 Big 12). Texas has now also assured itself at least a share of the Big 12 title, as long as it can win its final three conference matches.
The first set was a tightly contested affair, with the Longhorns just managing to keep their noses in front for most of the way. Texas was able to extend its advantage to three points on four separate occasions in the set but could not widen that margin further until the end of the frame. Ahead 21-19, the Longhorns rode a 4-0 run to close out the set 25-19.
Hooker was on fire in the opening frame, tallying 12 kills with zero errors while hitting at a remarkable .632 clip set.
“Everything she touched was golden,” head coach Jerritt Elliott said of Hooker’s performance in the first set. “She couldn’t do anything wrong. She had great speed. She had great attack selection and was a huge reason in that first game that we were able to win.”
Despite managing to keep things close for much of the game, Nebraska struggled to find its rhythm in the opening set hitting a lowly .111 on 13 kills and 8 errors.
The Longhorns continued their momentum to start the second set building an early 9-6 advantage.
But this time the ‘Huskers showed their mettle, knotting it up at 11 and then using a 7-2 run to build an 18-13 advantage of their own. Texas ran off four consecutive points to trim its deficit to one but was unable to overcome the Big Red wave as the ‘Huskers took the set 25-21.
After a strong performance in the first set, Hooker and the Longhorns were held to a dismal .094 attack percentage in the second stanza with just nine kills.
Much like the first two, neither team seemed content to play from behind in the third set.
Nebraska opened the game strong, building an early 11-6 advantage. This time it was the Longhorns’ turn to respond, and that they did, eventually tying the set at 17 and then taking their first lead since the first point of the set at 20-19.
Texas did not relinquish that advantage and an eventual kill by senior Lauren Paolini gave the Longhorns a 25-22 set victory.
The Longhorns rode their late third game surge into the next set, claiming the first six points of the fourth game to take the early advantage. But as was becoming a theme on the night, the ‘Huskers rallied back to even the match at nine.
The teams battled toe-to-toe from that point forward and, after 10 subsequent ties, once again found themselves even at 21.
The Longhorns then used a timely 3-0 run to earn three match points. After the ‘Huskers saved one of those match points, a kill by junior Ashley Engle sealed the set and match for Texas.
With the victory, the Longhorns have put themselves in the position they would like to be in at their regular season winds down.
“It’s a huge win,” Elliott said. “And I think, as a coach, there are a lot of coaches who look up to Nebraska’s program in terms of how people cover their program, their attendance, the passion for it. But to win that game was huge. It had not only the opportunity for us to now, if we win out, be co-champions [of the Big 12], which is our goal. But also it had implications of a No. 1 seed [in the NCAA Tournament].”
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