courtesy UT Media Relations

AUSTIN, Texas -- The seventh-ranked Texas Volleyball team used a pair of 23-kill performances by sophomore outside hitter Destinee Hooker and freshman outside hitter Juliann Faucette to claim a 3-1 (30-24, 28-30, 30-23, 31-29) victory over Pepperdine, Friday night in the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational at Gregory Gymnasium.

The victory moved the Horns to 4-2 on the year, while the Waves fell to 5-4. Texas out-hit Pepperdine in the match .346-to-.221, riding career performances by a trio of players. Hooker registered her first career kill/dig double-double, tallying 23 kills and 16 digs and Faucette set new career highs with 23 kills and a .375 attack mark. Senior libero Alyson Jennings added to the record-setting night, tallying a career-best 26 digs against the Waves.

In game one, Texas leapt out to an early 4-0 lead on an ace by Faucette and avoided a small Pepperdine rally that moved the score to 15-13. The Longhorns answered the rally with a pair of 3-0 runs and then stretched the margin to 25-20 behind a game-sealing 5-0 run. Five different Longhorns connected for consecutive kills during the run and Texas eventually closed out the game on a Brandy Magee kill that lifted UT to a 30-24 win.

The Longhorns led for most of the second stanza, but a 5-0 run by the Waves at the 23-20 mark handed Pepperdine a 25-23 lead. Texas narrowed the margin to one at the 29-28 mark, but the Waves lead would hold and Pepperdine claimed the second game 30-28.

Texas answered in game three, using a 6-0 run in the early going to take a 7-2 advantage and the Horns would never look back. Hooker and Faucette widened the gap to six, hammering out back-to-back kills to hand UT a 14-8 lead. Pepperdine rallied briefly, but two of Faucette's eight game-three kills pushed the lead to seven and sealed the game for the Horns. Faucette added another kill at the 29-23 mark and a miscue by the Waves closed out the game with the Longhorns on top, 30-23.

Pepperdine was strong from the start in the final game, jumping out to a 4-1 lead and holding the advantage until a solo block by freshman middle blocker Jennifer Doris at the 19-18 mark gave the Horns their first lead of the game. The Waves rallied to reclaim the lead at 21-20, however, it would be short-lived. Hooker took control of the UT offense down the stretch, tallying a pair of kills, while junior opposite hitter Lauren Paolini connected for a kill to close the match at 31-29.

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