Who are the best players to ever go through Texas? Well — let's take a look.
I put this together this list by focusing on AVCA All-America selection, AVCA national players of the year/freshman of the year, national championships, and all-time records at Texas.
And from that, this is what I compiled. Here is the all-time starting lineup for Texas volleyball:
Destinee Hooker | Outside hitter, 2006-2009
Hooker led the Longhorns to the 2009 National Championship, and even though they fell in that match to Penn State, she was still named the Most Outstanding Player.
She ranks third all-time at Texas in career kills and points, and was a Volleyball Magazine Co-National Player of the Year, Big 12 Player of the Year and All-American. Hooker went on to play for the U.S. national team. Her first tournament was the 2010 World Grand Prix, where she helped the U.S. win the gold medal by averaging 4.76 points and 2.46 digs. In 2011, Hooker was named the Most Valuable Player of the FIVB World Grand Prix. She also was named the Best Spiker in the World Cup with a 49.53 kill percent and .419 hitting efficiency.
Hooker played in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and won a silver medal.
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Demetria Sance |Outside hitter 1995-1998
Sance earned AVCA National Freshman of the Year, and was among one of the most prolific players at Texas. During her time, she set 21 records at UT, including career kills, attacks and digs. She is now second on the all-time career kills (2,013), attacks (4,783), and digs (1,614) list.
Sance was named to the All-Conference and NCAA Regional All-Tournament honors during all four years at Texas. She was inducted into the Texas Hall of Honor in 2007.
She went on to play on the U.S National team and in the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Haley Eckerman | Outside hitter 2011-2014
Eckerman led the 2012 Texas volleyball team to its second national championship and first championship in over 20 years. She was a three-time Big 12 Player of the Year. In comparison, Sance and Hooker were just Player of the Year once. Her freshman year when she didn’t Big 12 Player of the Year, she was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and AVCA National Freshman of the Year. She also was 2012 and 2013 Volleyball Magazine player of the year.
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Chiaka Ogbogu | Middle Blocker 2013-2017
The four-time AVCA All-American (first team in 2014, 2015, 2017, second team in 2013) is the Texas all-time blocks leader, and she became Texas’ all-time block assist leader on Saturday, Nov .4, passing Molly McCage’s record set in 2015. She is also second on the all-time hitting percentage list. She once posted a career-high .917 hitting percentage versus Fairfield in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Ogbogu also earned Big 12 Player of the Year and went on to play for the U.S. National team. At one time she led the U.S. in hitting efficiency (.463) and kill percent (56 percent) during 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Dawn Davenport | Middle blocker 1985-1988
Davenport was the star player on the 1988 national championship team. She was the ASICS Tiger National Player of the Year, and was inducted into the Texas Hall of Honor in 2000. She led the team in kills in the 1988 Championship season, and is 8th at Texas in all-time career points. She led the Longhorns to their first-ever national championship.
Michelle Moriarty | Setter 2004-2007
Moriarty is the all-time assists leader at Texas and assists per set leader with 13.63. She started and played all four years at Texas, and was an All-American. She then went on to play professionally
Cat McCoy | Libero 2014-2017
McCoy was a highly successful libero at Texas, breaking multiple defensive records. She led the backcourt defense in both years that Texas made it to the national championship in 2015 and 2016. She became Texas’ all-time career digs leader on November 1, 2017, breaking Demetria Sance’s record set in 1998.
