 "Photo: Shelley Neuman, Daily Texan Staff")
The No. 4 Longhorn volleyball team might as well hitch a ride with the fourth-ranked football squad as both teams travel north to take on conference opponents less than 90 miles away from one another in the state of Kansas on Saturday. Following the gridiron battle between Texas and the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon, the Lady ‘Horns will square off against No. 14 Kansas State at 7 p.m.
The Longhorns will look to continue their post-Oklahoma tear when they roll into Manhattan. They have now swept four consecutive opponents since being upset by the Sooners two weeks ago.
With the rematch with Nebraska they have been waiting all season looming on the horizon and a share of the conference title practically in their sights, it would be easy for Texas to peek ahead and fall into the proverbial trap game against the Wildcats. But these Longhorns have learned about that the hard way and should have little problem banishing any thoughts of next week’s match from their minds until after Saturday.
“Since the OU game, we’ve had our eyes opened a lot more,” junior Destinee Hooker said. “We’ve been playing more as a team in practice. Before that, I felt that it was a lot of play hard, play hard. But after the loss, we realized we can play hard but we have to play as a team, not as individuals.”
Even though they managed to sweep Kansas State earlier this season, the Longhorns understand that the Wildcats may not be as easy of an out this time around. The Wildcats have won eight of 10 matches since facing Texas, with their only losses coming on the road to Iowa State and Nebraska. They stand at third in the Big 12 behind the second-place Longhorns with a 12-4 record in conference and have compiled a 22-5 mark overall, good enough for 14th in the nation.
“We’ve got some big tests coming up,” said Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott. “We have a big match against Kansas State on the road coming up. We had a big match at Iowa State [last Saturday] that I thought we responded really well to. But, you need to get yourself in those positions.”
The good news for the Longhorns is that they seem to be getting themselves in positions to respond more often and may be meshing as a unit just in time for the stretch run of the season.
“I feel that we have been improving a lot lately,” senior Lauren Paolini said. “Which is good because coach [Elliott] always talks about peaking at the right time, and I think we’re on our way there. I don’t think we’re at that point yet, but it has kept us focused a lot this season with working on things here and there.”
If the Longhorns truly have managed to finally hit their stride, there is no telling where this season may take them.
“The nice thing is that we have the potential to go all the way to the Sweet 16 or the Elite Eight if we can get that far,” Elliott said. “This is a team that has the potential to reach a Final Four, but they have to go out and earn that. They have to stay united, committed and make some big plays in the clutch.”
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