Texas Longhorns capture back-to-back NCAA volleyball titles, beat Nebraska 3-0

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns are the NCAA volleyball champions again.

The Longhorns (28-4) repeated as national champions with a dominant 3-0 win Sunday over top-ranked Nebraska (33-2) at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, thanks to some great serving in the second set.

After winning the first set 25-22, the Longhorns trailed the Cornhuskers 10-7 until Asjia O’Neal stepped to the service line. She helped spark an 11-0 run with four aces to take control of the set. Texas had seven aces in the set, two from freshman setter Ella Swindle and another by Keonilei Akana, to win the set 25-14. Texas finished the match with a title match record 12 aces to Nebraska’s two.

“We were on the struggle bus at 5-3 earlier in the season, and we asked the kids to stick with it,” Longhorns head coach Jerritt Elliott said. “The kids trusted it, put in the work and were on the mission to do this. The confidence they showed from the service line was tremendous.”

Texas claimed the third set 25-11 for its second consecutive championship sweep after beating the Louisville Cardinals 3-0 in last year’s final. O’Neal served an ace on championship point to clinch the title for Texas.

“Texas had a level of serving that we haven’t seen all year,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “They got the momentum and we could never get it back.”

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Madisen Skinner capped a tremendous season with 16 kills to lead all attackers. Jenna Wenaas continued her outstanding tournament with nine kills and four blocks while O’Neal had four kills and three blocks to go with five aces. Swindle finished with 21 assists, seven digs and five kills in the first national championship match of her career. Emma Halter chipped in nine digs and six assists.

Texas hit .264 for the match with 38 kills and 14 errors in 91 attacks while Nebraska barely hit above the even line with 20 kills and 19 errors in 79 attacks for a .013 average. The Longhorns hit .481 in the third set with 17 kills and four errors.

“We go against the best players in the country every single day in practice,” Swindle said. “Me as a setter, to set these girls, and they’ll put the ball away.”

It’s the fifth national championship in program history for the Longhorns and fourth as part of the NCAA. Texas won the AIAW national title in 1981 and NCAA titles in 1988, 2012 and 2022. It was the seventh national championship match the Longhorns have played in the past 15 years, the most by any school in that span.

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Nebraska was one of the best teams in the county all season with just one loss coming into the match. The Cornhuskers don’t have any seniors on the team, so barring anyone transferring, they’ll return everybody.

Cook pointed out that after Texas narrowly beat Tennessee in the regional semifinals, that was a turning point in the tournament and seemed to propel the Longhorns the rest of the way. The Volunteers had the Longhorns at match point in the fourth set, and then Texas rattled off three consecutive kills to extend the match to a fifth set which the Longhorns ended up winning.

“That’s the kind of stuff that makes you feel invincible,” Cook said.

Skinner said that moment was a huge confidence builder, a lot like what Cook pointed out.

“I feel it just built our confidence and showed us how resilient we could be,” she said. “We fought off two match points and that’s very, very hard to do especially against a great Tennessee team. So just gave us a lot of confidence in knowing we could accomplish great things.”

Elliott said the way the team came together after the rocky start to the season was one of the most rewarding experiences he’s had coaching volleyball.

“The expectations at Texas are to win championships. We did that today and we did it with our backs against the wall all season,” he said. “This is what sports are about. It’s so joyful.”

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