Sept. 6, 2009

Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawai'i - No. 2 Texas lived up to its billing as one of the top teams in the country, shutting down the offense of No. 19 Saint Louis in a 25-17, 25-18, 25-10 decision in the final match of the Hawaiian Airlines Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday evening. The Longhorns (6-0) hit .379 and committed just eight hitting errors, while the Billikens (3-3) suffered their poorest outing of the season hitting .095 with 22 errors.

Megan Boken tied for match-high honors with 12 kills to go with her nine digs. Sammi McCloud added nine kills, while Whitney Roth dished out 28 assists and recorded seven digs. Whitney Behrens turned in a team-high 11 digs. Texas' Juliann Faucette and Destinee Hooker collected 12 kills apiece, while Heather Kisner tallied a match-leading 18 digs.

In the opening set, the teams alternated points before Texas got back-to-back-to-back kills from Rachael Adams, Jennifer Doris and Hooker to seize the lead, which it would never relinquish. Kills from Lydia Blaha and Bridget Fonke and a block by McCloud and Alyssa Deno helped SLU get within one at 9-8. However, the Longhorns responded with a 6-0 run that featured two kills apiece from Faucette and Hooke to put the set out of reach at 15-8. UT mistakes allowed the Bills to get as close as five points on three occasions but they were unable to get any closer as they were out-hit .300 to .077.

Kills from McCloud and Boken helped Saint Louis earn a 2-1 advantage in the early portion of the second set, but three Billiken mistakes cost them the lead for good as Texas captured the 4-2 edge. The Longhorns gradually extended the margin to as many as nine points at 19-10. SLU scored eight of the next 14 points, including three kills from McCloud, but it was not enough as UT got kills from six different players en route to a .344 hitting percentage. The Bills got a set-high seven kills from McCloud but only managed to hit at a .219 clip.

Texas' offense overwhelmed Saint Louis early in set three to race on to victory. Faucette keyed a seven-point run early in the match that put the Longhorns on top 12-3. Faucette recorded four kills and two blocks during the offensive flurry. Boken tried to get the Billikens back into the match with back-to-back kills to make it 12-5, but kills from Faucette, Adams and Hooker's solo block pushed the lead back out to 10 points. Four Billiken errors and kills from Engle and Hooker came together to form a 6-0 run that increased SLU's deficit to 15 points at 22-7. McCloud, Boken and Carly Marcum collected kills to keep Saint Louis alive but once again mistakes cost the Bills as they finished the set with two hitting errors. UT saved its best offensive display for the final set as it hit at a .565 clip with 13 kills and no errors in 23 attempts. Meanwhile, SLU totaled 10 kills and 10 errors in the final stanza.