Texas Longhorns Volleyball Advances to Final Four in NCAA Tournament
The Texas Longhorns volleyball team is moving on to the Final Four of the NCAA Championship Tournament after upsetting No. 1 Stanford on Saturday in the regional final.
"What an amazing night for the Texas Longhorns," Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott said in his postgame press conference. "I'm just so proud of where this team started at the beginning of the year and the process of sticking together. This is why I coach, and this is why our players come to Texas: to compete in Final Fours."
Overall, the Longhorns are 26-4 the entire season and have now reached their 15th Final Four in Texas volleyball program history.
As reigning national champions from last season, there are quite a bit of expectations for the Longhorns, but outside hitter Madisen Skinner explained that the team confidence and trust in one another is what ultimately brought them to victory.
Texas middle blocker Asjia O'Neal (7) reacts after scoring a point following a hit during the NCAA game against Texas A&M at Gregory Gymnasium on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023
© Mikala Compton, Austin American-Statesman
"Everyone was bought in," Skinner said. "Every single person from the core to the bench to the staff, we had confidence in one another and we trust one another."
The Longhorns claimed victory in four sets on Saturday night in Palo Alto, Calif., 25-16, 15-25, 25-19 and 25-22.
Skinner, who transferred to Texas at the beginning of the 2022 season, was a standout and earned the Stanford Regional's Most Outstanding Player award, totaling 24 kills while hitting 38.3 percent.
Stanford claimed victory over the Longhorns earlier in the season, but Texas secured its revenge in a game that mattered most, the regional final.
On Thursday, the defending champions will match up against Wisconsin in an NCAA semifinal round in Tampa, Fla.