I felt like writing up the story on Texas’ win against Purdue. Partly because it was another thrill-a-thon. But mostly because it was the last home game for our wonderful seniors. It was just a week ago Saturday. The evening before, the Horns had prevailed in a scintillating 5-set come-from-behind payback victory over Illinois. Heading into the Purdue match Saturday, our seniors wanted the rolling thunder review to continue. The crowd was bigger, and, implausibly, even louder. So we knew we had a great chance for the team and the fans to reinforce each other in another escalating spiral of effort and encouragement, of athleticism and appreciation. In Gregory, with this team, that’s how we roll. We went into action. SET 1 Early on, we got a look at this Boilermaker named Ariel Turner. Girl was stoic but a real baller. At 3-3, she got a kill, then served a ball that made us overpass, then aced us. Hmmmm. At 5-7, we had a sample of their scrappy D. Their libero is a stud named Carly Cramer, and she and Ariel had two stellar ups apiece as Purdue took the first great rally. Double hmmmmm. We could see they were gonna be a handful. This set had a pattern: we’d surge; they’d push back. We had nice plays, like at 10-15 when Rachael brought the high, hard funk. Pow! Carly dodged the ricochet, thinking, “Leather is bad for my complexion.” Would this be the start of a Horns run? No – Ariel riposted with another kill. After more back and forth, their setter tore her hamstring. That was disheartening for all concerned. Her, them, us, the crowd. Nothing for anyone to do but persevere. Hey, that’s been our modus operandi all year. They slotted in a frosh and the fracas resumed. More runs, more retorts. So it went, and they closed out the set 18-25. Would we bow out like the Gators had? No one in burnt orange believed that. Our girls had the mind-set, “It’s alright Ma, I’m only bleeding!” and came back out like Bevo at the rodeo. SET 2 Things were tight at first. Jen Doris hit line to knot it 7-7. Then Faucette blocked. She fist pumped and leg-kicked, Bruce Lee-style. She was on fire and so was the crowd. Unknowable at the time, but this was the pivot point for the set and match. Rachael shone on a series of plays. Spike, punch, tip, she’s got it all, baby. Then at 13-10 she was up top, skimming at cloud level, eyeing a crafty Kocher set that had frozen the blockers at sea floor level. Rachael put on a show. We rolled into the TV time-out up five and the crowd was ape hooey. Then our girls took turns pounding Purdue. Michelle had a nice sequence with a lefty dump and then a solo block. But everybody helped. We steam-rolled to 23-14. Lauren had two nice digs, setting up J for a K, and we now had a boat-load of set points. We got a beauty, too, when Rachael ripped one past a double-block. They say Austin is laid back, but 4,152 fans in Gregory lost their cool! Thankfully, we had a breather now, and rested our lungs for a bit, while the teams plotted. SET 3 Coming out of intermission, hot-foot Hannah set the tone by chasing a ball a country mile. The crowd was like, yep, right back to breath-taking play. Sha’Dare bombed one off Carly’s noggin. Aspirin, please. Liberos went mano-a-mano. Carly made an amazing up, but Sarah had the winning cover. We had a lead and we were gonna keep it. But not without a fight. At 6-3, there was a cardiac-arresting rally, about an hour long. Jen got the kill finally, and wanted some slap! Sarah was stoked, too, and probably spoke Hawaiian and other languages. We saw beautiful sets by Kocher, including a spot-on bump set while running flat out. Then there was a bunch of side-out ball, and at 22-15 Rachael took over. She hit sweeping left angle. Then our 6-5 back row specialist, Jen Doris, dug Ariel, and Rachael paid it off. And then Rachael roofed for the set point capper! We go up 2-1, and the stage was set for a crazy 4th set. In fact, it was one of the wildest of the year in Gregory, and that’s saying a heck of a lot. SET 4 Lo Dickson initiated the action with a romping back row kill. She was low-key about it; “Yep, I did that, no biggie, next point please.” Now the Horns had a magnificent, hair-raising hustle play. Sarah laid out for a one-handed fist dig. Hannah went in chase of the ball, but - yikes! – Rachael had slipped and fallen – and Hannah laid out, flew over Rachael, and made her own fist dig to keep the ball in play! Savvy Lauren then shot it deep for point texas! That play rocked! Bodies were flying. Kinda looked like a bunch of five year olds on a Slip-n-Slide, but with intensity and purpose, if you know what I mean. But Purdue would not lay down. They ran off 6, and Elliott burned two TO’s. Jen was like, “Hey, I’m team-oriented, but gimme the ball!” She killed from the middle and then from the right. She tapped up a tip to set herself, and shot it down! This led to a look of satisfaction, and a Purduian time-out, 8-11. We now saw a concatenation of incredible plays. 9-13: Carly had an awesome dig of an Adams blast, and Ray-A was, like, “Dammit!” and proceeded to roof Ariel to claim the point anyhow. 13-18: Amber went high altitude, like a treetop flyer, out by the left pin, and hit a bee-yoo-ti-ful, extremely sharp right angle ball. Athletic like you wouldn’t believe. Or would. 14-19: a marathon rally that Juliann stoppered with a massive blast, sending the crowd and seismologists mental. Dig that! 15-20: another big-time kill from the back by Lauren - and still she was too focused to effuse. At least one person in Gregory was calm, it sure wasn’t me. 16-20: Hannah with a crunch-time ace. Did I mention how LOUD it was? 17-20: an urgent point, and a Horns dig-fest. Sarah dug, then Juliann, then Lauren, and finally J said, “Time to end this point!” Boom time! Here’s an understatement: Juliann has a way of making points end. Purdue scored some. But Amber made a clutch kill to get us to 22-23. We’re clawing back! Most of Purdue was in uh-oh mode. Not Ariel. She hit her zillionth back row kill. Two set points for Purdue. But Amber was clutch again, off a pro-level Kocher set, and got us to 23-24. Still facing set point, Lo delivered a serve that got us an overpass. But we couldn’t convert, and guess who Purdue set? No kidding, starts with an A, but Sha’Dare was all over her shot, and Faucette terminated for the tie, 24-all. Phew! Now it was like, inside-a-jet-engine loud. Lo stepped back, served again, then dug Ariel’s pipe attack, but we couldn’t convert, and their frosh setter got her one and only kill of the night. Dang it, only our frosh setter has that much guts! Anyhow, they got a 3rd set point. The tension! Faucette fixed it up with an undiggable ball, and then another to swing the advantage back our way, 26-25. Now it was like, inside-an-exploding-jet-engine loud. Dogs were going deaf. It was match point, and we saw a final, riveting rally. Big Jen Doris sent over her serve, and then got low for D. Good thing, too, because the Purdue attack came her way – she dug it! Juliann attacked, and Ariel brought it up. Again the attack came to Jen – and again she dug it! Juliann swung again, and again it came up. Ariel attacked from back, but Rachael and Michelle blocked it! But danged if Carly didn’t make yet another ridiculous cover! They swung again, but finally, finally, Rachael applied the coup de grace! Roof! We win! POST-GAME Celebration ensued. Our heads were collapsing from the noise. Then beautifully, the Eyes of Texas. Bailey and Lauren hugged and smiled the prettiest smiles. They showed Julie and Hannah, and well, there were two more pretty smiles there. But maybe best of all were Juliann’s and Jen’s. The satisfied smiles of two seniors. Four thousand fans felt a surge of pride and happiness for our team. Juliann hoisted a “KC Bound” sign, and, my goodness, the feelings that evoked, after all this team has been through. The girls did a gracious lap for the grateful fans. All-regional awards ensued, with Kocher, Doris, Adams, and Faucette getting the nod. But could you single out individuals? Surely, this group exemplifies the concept of team. Yes, our seniors played like the leaders they are. Juliann doubled up, with 20 kills and 10 digs. Jen had 10 kills with no errors and a ridiculous 7 digs. Lauren cleanly killed, and topped the team with 12 digs. But a more meaningful measure of these girls is the quality of their character. In the words of Bob Dylan, seniors, “You’re gonna make me lonesome when you go.” _____
Very Pride of Texas Volleyball. They show you , how if you stay together as a team regardless of what the team is experiencing or losting a player for the season. Will do for you,if you work hard.And they did! I am so amazed, how they over came all of that and still made it to the Final Four without all of their Top Players. I say the Coaching Staff did a hell of a job coaching.I use to sometime question moves that J.E would make. But this year coaching was outstanding. I look so forward to next year.Fans if you think we were good this year. Wait to you see the team next year. OMG! Hookem'
