VOLLEYBALL: Texas Women Wins 2012 National Championship

Texas sweeps Oregon to win first national championship since 1988

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Texas Longhorns Women, competing in their fourth semifinals in the last five years, finally broke through to capture the championship after some narrow misses. It is the Longhorns second NCAA title, and first since 1988. Texas also played in the 1995 and 2009 championship matches, losing to Nebraska and Penn State, respectively.

Junior two-time All-America outside hitter Bailey Webster recorded 14 kills Saturday while hitting .500 (14-1-26) as the Texas Longhorns won the 2012 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball national championship with a 3-0 sweep over the Oregon Ducks (25-11, 26-24, 25-19). The Longhorns won their third national championship for women’s volleyball and second NCAA title (1988).  With the win, the University of Texas now has 47 NCAA all-time championships and 50 overall titles.

Bailey Webster

Texas (29-4) earned the championship after rallying from a 2-1 deficit on Thursday against Michigan to advance to tonight’s title match in front of 16,448 fans, the second-largest crowd for a championship match in tournament history.

The Longhorns hit .438 as a team with only four errors against 43 kills. Texas out-blocked Oregon by a 15-1 margin, holding the Ducks to a negative .083 in the first set. Haley Eckerman had 12 kills, five digs and one block while hitting .400 for Texas while senior Sha’Dare McNeal had eight kills with no errors, hitting .471. Molly McCage tied a season-high with eight blocks while Khat Bell chipped in six blocks. Junior setter Hannah Allison guided the offense with 35 assists and five blocks.

Liz Brenner and Katherine Fischer had 13 kills each for Oregon (30-5). Alaina Bergsma, who was named 2012 AVCA National Player of the Year yesterday, was held to a .000 hitting night with nine kills and nine errors. Lauren Plum had 41 assists and six digs for the Ducks, who finished with a .202 hitting percentage.

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NCAA Volleyball national semifinal post-match interview [Dec. 13, 2012]