Horns put on a show

UTVballfan

100+ Posts
Of unstoppable athletic power, that is. They easily dismissed the #17 ranked team in the country. The K-State front line was outclassed and the back line was battered. K-State’s big hitters were humbled, as the Horns dissed the Russian, Korobkova, in every way possible, and held the Hungarian to a buck-something.

It took a little while for all systems to power up and come online, but once they did, the Horns were just awesome.

The turnaround came at 4-8. Jerry TO’ed after a few errors, and said, girls, let’s take this in a different direction. Right after this confab, Pao launched two kills, and Destinee and Ashley chipped in too. Kiley aced and TO by Susie.

But Fritz’s TO was no fix-it, as Jen Do and Destinee immediately killed to set the tone.

And then Destinee decided to take it to a new level altogether. It was at 12-12 when this amazing thing happened. She soared up from behind the 10 foot line, and rather than pounding hard like everyone expected, she angled this most incredible soft shot just over the net in the front right corner. It was a complete “wow” shot. I heard this guy go, “Oh, sick!” and the crowd oohed and ahhed. Even the sensei, Ashley, was impressed, and said, “Namaste, Destinee Hooker.”

The Russian and the Hungarian and the Kansans all died a little bit inside then, as they thought, “That is what it means to be a truly elite volleyball player.”

Destinee thought, “I’m in the zone, I can do what I want on a volleyball court!” She reverted to power then, and crushed one to earn 14-12. They tried blocking Destinee with a 5’10” setter. LOL, I don’t think so.

At 18-15 Destinee stuffed the Russian – nyet! Shortly thereafter Kiley got set for a potential back row kill, but we were denied. Sigh.

At 22-18 Destinee withheld her power and went for finesse again, and shot a ball to the far side but inside the 10 ft line again. Then on the very next point she shot a ball to the deep corner, Engle style. That kill was her 4th in as many swings, and 9th for the frame.

Destinee was transcendent, but the other Horns were on fire too. Pao was an efficient killing machine, per usual. Ashley was hitting hard, and Juliann was back to All American form.

The fun continued in the second set, as we fans were treated to many beautiful plays.

At 9-8, Kocher won a tough joust and slyly smiled. OK, she’s not ready for a Destinee-style back roll; we’ll take the smile.

At 11-10 Korncobova tried to dink over Destinee, who threw it back in her face. We saw that happen several times over the night. At the next point, Destinee crushed one into the body of the poor setter. I’m thinking, bruises for that poor kid.

Mid-set Amber Roberson came in and displayed her skills. She put up a sweet set for Faucette, who knew what to do with it, point texas. And on the very next play Amber was rewarded with a set of her own, which she promptly put down, point texas.

At 19-15 K-State’s setter tried a tip but Faucette read it like a book.

At 22-19, the Russian got blocked again, this time by Jen Doris. In a little bit, Jen shot a ball to the deep corner, and I thought, jeez, Ashley’s been giving these girls lessons.

And lastly, Michelle Kocher executed an extremely difficult set, I was seriously impressed, and Ashley pounded it down for set point.

The girls took a break, and no doubt gave themselves a few very high fives, as only volleygirls can do.

UT opened the 3rd set with a couple service errors and an attack error, and everyone knew the reserves would soon be running a couple horses. Sure enough, after another error Elliott called a meeting in the Gregory conference room and said girls, let’s nip this in the bud.

So the girls signed off on that, and ran off this skein of points: block by Jen and Ashley. Ace by Destinee. Kill by Engle. So then K-State TO’s, and the Horns re-huddle and say, “That what you had in mind, Coach?” And he’s like, “Yep, lemme see some more of that.”

So they soon got two more blocks and K-State tried their 2nd timeout. But Faucette said “Jinx, K-State” and blocked on the very next point. Then Faucette showed us her power twice for Longhorns kills and Ashley said “I’m with ya, kid” and powered one of her own. Faucette aced!

At 13-8, Pao roofed the Russian again. So then Korobkova tried dinking again, and Destinee bounced it back again!! Ruskie slow learner.

At 19-11 Jen & Juliann roofed the Russian one more time for good measure, so she wouldn’t soon forget this visit to Gregory.

Wrapping up, the Horns were tired of blocking the Russian, so Michelle and Pao hung one on the Hungarian, Liliom. So Liliom next chose to boot one out of bounds and this teed up match point. Kocher said, “It’s show time, Destinee” who said “Just one more? OK!” Bam!

Congratulations, Horns. And as a fan, I thank you. One doesn’t often get to see the kind of athleticism we saw tonight.
 
Way to go Horns!
Those in Austin let's support these Ladies at the home games when you can. We got a great team.

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