Texas won because …

They don’t give up. Although until now, they have had an easy time handling their opponents, the No. 8 Longhorns haven’t forgotten how to win a tough nail-biter. Plus a low team error count and great performances by Haley Eckerman, junior Bailey Webster and senior Sha’Dare McNeal guaranteed the win.

By the Numbers

5: The number of sets it took to defeat Iowa State. This marks the first Big 12 match this season that the Longhorns did not sweep their opponents.

10: Hannah Allison’s ranking in Texas’ record books for career assists. Allison logged 54 assists against the Cyclones bringing her career total to 2,211. 

12: Errors committed by the Longhorns through five sets compared to the Cyclone’s 28. The Longhorns had trouble earlier in the season with errors and have been trying to minimize them.

23: Kills for Eckerman against the Cyclones. Eckerman was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the week last week for the third time this season. This is her 10th career Big 12 award.

36: The number of consecutive Big 12 matches that the Longhorns have won at home, a school record.

Stock Up/Stock Down

Stock Up: McNeal and freshman Molly McCage. Both had a great night against Iowa State. McCage registered five kills while hitting .400 and McNeal contributed 10 kills with a .476 hitting average. Both have seen an increase in playing time over the past few weeks and keep getting better each week.

Stock Down: The Texas defense during the first two sets. The Longhorns got off to a rare slow start against the Cyclones. They allowed the Iowa State offense to hit over .300 in each of the first two sets. However, they did have a comeback, limiting the Iowa State’s offensive production by a large margin in the Longhorn’s come from behind victory.

Up Next for Texas

The Longhorns are off this weekend, but will face Baylor for the second time this season when the Bears travel to Austin on Oct. 24th at 7 p.m. The Longhorns swept the Bears the last time they met at the end of September in Waco. The Longhorns are 70-2 against Baylor. The Bears have an overall record of 15-7 for the season and 2-5 in Big 12 conference play. They will host West Virginia in Waco on Saturday before traveling to Austin.

Printed on Thursday, October 18, 2012 as: Furious rally propels team