- Texas finished the season at 27-2.
- After leading the nation in hitting percentage at .347, Texas hit only .250 against Nebraska.
- Logan Eggleston and Skylar Fields led the way with 20 kills each.
- The Horn committed 14 service errors.
The Texas volleyball team was good enough to dominate the competition for another regular season, but regular seasons don’t guarantee national championships.And once again, theLonghornswill carry the mantle of Next Year’s Team into the offseason.
A few questions out of Saturday night’s Elite Eight gut punch loss to Nebraska that brought a premature ending to the NCAA's No. 2-seeded team's season:
1. What did star hitter Logan Eggleston do to constitute a hitting violation on that crucial fourth-set point that put the Horns down 16-12 instead of 15-13?
2. How did this Nebraska team actually lose seven games this season?
3. What does Texas coach Jerritt Elliott have to do to bring another championship to Austin?
Gregory Gym held up its end as this campus' best fan environment for women’s sports, but the record crowd of 5,080 wasn’t enough to keep the Turk from visiting the home team. Nebraska was taller, cleaner on its serves and defense, and ultimately better than the Longhorns, who were frankly very fortunate to even be in this Elite Eight eliminator after overcoming a two-set deficit against upset-minded Washington in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.
But Texas wasn’t able to pull another Houdini, not against a massive Huskers front line whose main players stood 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3. The Corn Amazons combined for 48 kills and 12 blocks against a seasoned Texas front that played from a step behind for most of the night.
One of those Nebraska front-line players, Madi Kubik, was a major problem with five kills in the fateful final set along with six service points in the 25-19, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21win.
Nebraska learned a thing or two from last season’s regional final loss to Texas, and try as they might, the Horns — beset by poor serves, shoddy defense in the back and a lack of crisp passing — were unable to come up with the goods, much to the consternation of Elliott, who's still in search of another championship to go with that 2012 trophy.
The loss stings even more with the realization that the Horns, despite a great effort to avoid being out-and-out swept by the nation’s No. 10 team, didn’t leave their best volleyball on the floor. They hit .250, far below their NCAA-leading average of .347.
Those struggles aside, the effort was there in spades. Eggleston, the team leader, was as good as advertised with 20 kills, the same as fellow junior Skylar Fields, but the big-hitting duo were under so much pressure to keep their team in it because of inefficient play in other areas, notably behind the service line, where the Horns committed 14errors, a sobering number consideringthey lost those three sets by a combined 12 points.
“Pretty much our whole offense — because of our passing — we just had to live and die with Logan and Skylar, so it was really difficult tonight to get any kind of rhythm,” Elliott said.
That point really hit home in the second set, when it seemed the Horns had come back from the dead after trailing 20-12, but three serving errors — including one by SaigeKa’Aha’Aina-Torres at 23-23 —turned what had been a raucousGregory Gym near-silent after Kayla Caffey’s kill put Texas in an 0-2 hole for the second time in three days.
The rally in the third was assumed because the Horns play with a tremendous amount of belief. With that said, their hopes took a hit when Eggleston's apparent winner that would have cut Nebraska’s fourth-set lead to 15-13 was ruled an attacking error.
“I’ve been doing that the whole season,” Eggleston said, the emotion on her face evident. “I don’t know how that one was much different.”
More:Watch highlights from Texas volleyball's Elite Eight matchup with Nebraska
They eventually fell behind by as many as eight points, but the Longhorns'big hitters kept them in it before Nebraska’s Lindsay Krause ended their hopes with a smash off a nifty backset from setter Nicklin Hames.
And just like that, it wasover.
The Horns, whofinished the season 27-2, were expected to challenge Louisville for the crown but ran headlonginto a battle-tested crew that somehow lost seven games this season. That number is more believable when one glance at the tournamentfield reveals that half the teams in the Elite Eight were fromthe Big Ten. It should be noted that the other three — Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota — combined to go 3-2 against the Huskers this season.
“It’s the toughest conference in the country,” Nebraska coach John Cook said.
As for Texas, Elliott will have a full plate this offseason. The Horns are losing middle blocker Brionne Butler and libero Sydney Peterson but return other big bodies in Eggleston, Fields, Asjia O’Neal and Molly Phillips.
Major improvements will have to be made on the back end, though.
Bohls:Jerritt Elliott's Texas volleyball team isn't bashing or bragging, just winning
Setter Jhenna Gabriel hit a wall in the middle of the second set, and Elliott went with Ka’Aha’Aina-Torres before reinserting his starter midway through the final set. Libero Nalani Iosia had a tough night handling Nebraska’s serves and whiffed on two straight during a critical juncture of the third set with Texas fighting for its tournament life.
Elliott, ever the good recruiter, also will have to grab a shopping cart and visit the transfer portal because the Horns were exposed on the back, not only against Nebraska but also against Washington.
He delivers a great product year in and year out, but he missed out on a wonderful opportunity to take this one home, the back-end deficiencies aside. Texas' core will be back next fall. Eggleston is not only his best player but the total embodiment of a great student-athlete, on and off the court. Fields is an electric athlete who adjusted well to playing full time on the left side.
They will be back, as will a ride-or-die fan base that did it all it could to help pull this one out.
“We’re lucky to have them,” Elliott said. “We’re sorry we’re not moving on because they gave us so much support this weekend.”
