Temple University Athletics
Volleyball Team Falls to No. 13 Texas 3-0
9.2.99 | Women's Volleyball
AUSTIN, Texas (September 2, 1999) -- Senior Erin Aldrich (Dallas, Texas / Lake Highlands) had a match-high 19 kills and 13 digs while leading all performers with a .536 hitting percentage to lead the 13th-ranked University of Texas volleyball team to a 3-0 (15-8, 15-2, 15-12) victory over the Temple Owls in both teams' season openers Wednesday at Gregory Gymnasium. Senior transfer Sandra Reboucas (Orlando, Fla. / Cypress Creek / University of Florida) added 10 kills and 12 digs while hitting .368 in her Longhorn debut as Texas won its fourth straight season opener and 22nd in the last 23 seasons. Temple falls to 0-1 on the year.
Sophomore Austin native Kathy Tilson (Austin, Texas / Westlake) added 11 kills on a .318 hitting percentage to help UT register a .363 team hitting efficiency. Although the Horns produced an uncharacteristically low 8.0 total blocks, they still held the Owls to a .134 hitting efficiency.
"We saw some very good things on the floor tonight," said UT head coach Jim Moore. "I was extremely impressed with Erin (Aldrich), and I thought Kathy (Tilson) shook off some early jitters to have a fine match. We need to produce more in terms of blocking, especially with Stanford coming up Friday night. This was a solid win for us."
Texas got off to a slow start in the match, falling into an 8-3 hole to open game one before scoring 12 unanswered points, including three kills by Reboucas and pair by Aldrich and junior Jill Gremmel (Dubuque, Iowa / Wahlert), to claim the 15-8 victory. The Longhorns hit an eye-opening .419 in the opening frame and received six kills from Reboucas and five by both Aldrich and Tilson.
The Longhorns had no such trouble in game two, jumping out to a 7-1 lead behind two kills and a service ace by Aldrich en route to a 15-2 win. Aldrich finished the frame with five kills in six attempts, and freshman Amy Hultgren (Spencer, Iowa / Spencer) added three kills on four swings. Texas limited Temple to a -.148 hitting percentage in the frame while compiling a .364 hitting efficiency of its own.
Texas seemed poised to end the match quickly by bounding out to an 8-3 lead in game three, before Temple rolled off six straight points, thanks in part to three Longhorn attacking errors, to take a 9-8 advantage. A Reboucas kill tied the game at 11-11, and the Longhorns took the lead for good five series later on an Aldrich kill. Back-to-back Temple hitting errors followed and Texas closed out the match with the 15-12 win.
Temple was led by Enkeleida Shkoza who recorded 15 kils and seven digs, and Alma Kovaci who added 13 and nine, respectively.
Texas returns to action on Friday, Sept. 3, against No. 3 Stanford in Gregory Gym at 8:00 p.m.
Texas Volleyball
Gregory Gym - Austin, Texas
No. 13 Texas 3, Temple 0
1 2 3Notes: Texas has now won 76 consecutive matches when winning games one and two dating back to the 1995 season - with the victory the Longhorns improved to 23-3 all-time in season openers - Reboucas recorded the first double-double of her career.Texas (1-0) 15 15 15
Temple (0-1) 8 2 12
Kills: Texas 52 (Aldrich 19), Temple 39 (Shkoza 15); Digs: Texas 47
(Aldrich 13), Temple 34 (Kovaci 9); Assists: Texas 47 (Gremmel 45), Temple
35 (Lee 22); Blocks: Texas 8.0 (Aldrich 1 solo, 2 assists), Temple 4.0
(Shkoza 1 solo, 1 assist); Hitting Percentage: Texas .363 (Aldrich .363),
Temple .134 (Stone .333).
