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Texas Volleyball: Blazing a Championship Trail

After a season that saw the Texas Volleyball team win its first Big 12 Conference title in 10 years and make its second straight trip the NCAA Regional finals, the Longhorns are unsatisfied and hungry for more in 2008. Head coach Jerritt Elliott returns as talented a cast of players as any team in the country, returning four All-Americans for the second season in a row, while bringing in another stellar recruiting class.

Elliott, the 2007 Big 12 and AVCA Central Region Coach of the Year has posted 24 or more wins in each of his last four seasons, including a 27-4 mark last year that stands as the best of his seven-year Texas tenure. He has made a habit of collecting the nation’s top recruits during his time on the Forty Acres, recruiting the nation’s second ranked class in 2006 and 2007 and adding two Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 selections in 2008. The Fab 50 selections include No. 3 national recruit Rachael Adams (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Sydney Yogi (Honolulu, Hawaii).

In addition to a group of heralded recruits, Elliott returns 2007 AVCA National Freshman of the Year and first-team AVCA All-American Juliann Faucette, 2007 second-team All-American Destinee Hooker, 2007 third-team All-American Lauren Paolini and 2006 second-team All-American Ashley Engle. The quartet all earned All-Big 12 First Team honors in 2007 after leading UT to a share of the 2008 Big 12 title.

Texas also returns six other letterwinners, including junior defensive specialist Heather Kisner who has seen significant time as a starter during her first two seasons in burnt orange. The nucleus of Texas’ team is young with Paolini and defensive specialist Kiley Hall being the only two seniors on Elliott’s roster.

This past spring served as a spring board for all of Texas’ players as they prepared for the 2008 campaign, but it was especially helpful for Faucette, Hooker and Paolini who were selected to train with the U.S. Volleyball Women’s National Training Team during the spring. All three players accepted their invitations to train and received an Olympic waiver as they missed the spring semester of school.

The remainder of the squad stayed behind and continued to train and it was that training that netted the Horns’ the 2008 Collegiate Beach Nationals Championship. In late April eight players traveled to San Diego, Calif. for the event where UT advanced a pair to the A,B,C and D finals. Texas claimed the overall team championship and the tandem of Engle and Hall clinched the A flight championship.

All of the offseason action has the Longhorns gearing up for another run at the NCAA Championship, which is being held at the Qwest Center Omaha in 2008. However, the road to Omaha, Neb. runs through Gregory Gymnasium where Texas will be hosting its second NCAA Regional in the last three seasons.

Don’t miss out on all the action leading up to the regional. Get your season tickets now for another action-packed season of Texas Volleyball. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 512-471-3333 or 800-982-BEVO or online at www.TexasBoxOffice.com. Season tickets are $100 for adults and $80 for UT Faculty/Staff. Individual match tickets are available for $10 for reserved seats, $7 for adult general admission and $4 for senior citizens and youth general admission tickets.

2008 TEXAS VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
(Schedule as of June 3, 2008 and subject to change; all times listed are Central)

*- Big 12 Conference opponent
all home contests in BOLD CAPS • all times CST
Tickets available online at TexasBoxOffice.com or by calling (512) 471-3333/1-800-982-BEVO