Over the past seven games, it has been very easy to forget that Khat Bell and Haley Eckerman are just freshmen and that Bailey Webster was injured all last season.

But it’s true.

These three players are continuing to improve individually, but the entire team is improving with them and the chemistry on the Longhorn offense is thriving. The numbers don’t lie — Texas out-hit Iowa State .390-to-.179 last Friday.

“Bailey Webster is really starting to believe in terms of her skill level that she can perform at a high level day in and day out,” said head coach Jerritt Elliott.

Bell, who was named Big 12 rookie of the week after her 13-kill, six-block performance against Iowa State, recently moved to middle. This has aided the team in its seven-game winning streak.

“When you’re having not only Bailey, but Haley Eckerman playing at the level that they’re playing, it’s a great one-two punch on the left side,” Elliott said.

He said Webster is a lot farther along in her play than he would have expected at this point in the season. But, he said the Longhorns do have areas to improve on.

“On Friday night we felt like we had some opportunities to go on some big runs and we just didn’t execute in certain areas that we’ve actually been practicing on,” Elliott said.

The No. 9 Longhorns (17-4 overall, 8-1 Big 12) have taken sole possession of first place in the Big 12 and are ready to take on Kansas in Lawrence on Saturday. The teams met earlier this year and the Longhorns swept the Jayhawks.

Published on November 4, 2011 as: Freshman continue to produce results