Back-to-Back! Texas Longhorns Volleyball Claims Second Consecutive National Title
Back-to-back!
Texas Longhorns volleyball delivered a sweep (25-22, 25-14, 25-11) against the No. 1 seed, Nebraska, to claim their second National Championship trophy in two years.
The Longhorns entered the NCAA tournament as underdogs but were able to overcome all doubters and ignore the outside noise to claim the victory.
The first set was a bit too close for comfort for the Longhorns score-wise, but they were luckily able to gain more momentum and a larger gap between Nebraska in the final two sets.
Longhorns Volleyball
Texassports.com
Sunday's matchup was a battle of service - literally.
Not only did the Longhorns total 12 service aces (a season-high) by the conclusion of the game, but the final point the Longhorns scored to secure the victory was a service ace by senior middle blocker Asjia O'Neal who played her final game in a burnt-orange jersey.
O'Neal delivered five of the Longhorns' 12 total service aces.
The National Championship had Texas outside hitter Madisen Skinner's name written all over it, who just claimed the third national title of her career (with Kentucky in 2020 and Texas in 2022/23). Not only was she named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament, but she led the Longhorns' roster with a total of 16 kills that ultimately aided Texas to holding the desired trophy above their heads.
Nebraska not only struggled on serve-receive, but also made careless errors at the net, limiting their productivity to a .013 hitting percentage with a 20-19 kills-errors ratio.
This win marks the Longhorns' fourth national title in Texas volleyball program history and third title under Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott.