And then Texas simply served Nebraska into oblivion.
The seventh-seeded Longhorns destroyed Nebraska 25-22, 25-14, 25-11 Sunday in the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship title match, putting on a serving display like few others.
Defending-champion Texas (28-4) had a season-high 12 aces — seven in the second set — and made it back to back national titles. Madisen Skinner, who led with 16 kills, had two aces. Setter Ella Swindle had two.
And Asjia O’Neal saved her best match for last with a walk-off ace, her fifth of the match. Her previous best this season was three. She also had four kills with one error in eight attacks, three blocks and three digs and five aces, including the match winner.
After being down 10-7 in the second set, Texas outscored Nebraska 43-15.
“We just put a tremendous amount of pressure on both teams in this tournament,” said Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, whose Longhorns beat Wisconsin in the semifinals. “And ultimately we were able to get them out of system a ton.”
Texas coach Jerritt Elliott gets a confetti shower/@AndyWenstrand
One year ago, Texas ended the title match when Keonilei Akana walked it off with an ace against Louisville. She didn’t have the winner Sunday, but the defensive specialist had two of the 12 Texas aces. Carissa Barnes had the other ace.
“I did think about it for a little bit after we won,” O’Neal said. “But it was really cool because I remember telling K-lei (last year), you’re going to go down in history forever for doing that. It was so iconic of you. I was trying to emulate my friend K-lei. That was just so fun. There’s really no words to explain it.”
In addition to her 16 kills, Skinner, who won a title with Kentucky as a freshman and now has two with Texas, had five digs and a block. Jenna Wenaas had nine kills, two assists, two digs and four blocks. Swindle had five kills, 21 assists, seven digs and a block. Her team hit .264, .481 in the third set.
Bella Bergmark had three kills in six errorless tries, two assists, a dig and four blocks. Molly Phillips struggled in her last match with a kill and two errors in 11 swings but had two blocks. Emma Halter had nine digs and six assists, Barnes had four digs and an assist and Akana had four digs and an assist.
Nebraska (33-2) never could get untracked offensively as the Huskers hit .013, .000 in the third set.
Harper Murray, aced on the last play, had seven kills, both Nebraska aces, five digs and three blocks.
She was one of Nebraska’s highly touted freshmen who had a spectacular first season. There is every reason to think the Huskers will go into 2024 as the team to beat.
“Yeah, I think we’re going to win three national championships the next three years,” Murray declared.
Andi Jackson had four kills and three blocks. Bekka Allick had three kills and the highest Nebraska hitting percentage at .286 to go with a dig and four blocks. Ally Batenhorst had two kills but five errors to go with a dig and a block.
Setter Bergen Reilly had a kill, 17 assists and six digs. Laney Choboy had five digs and superstar libero Lexi Rodriguez was never a factor, finishing with six digs and an assist.
“I would say the toughest thing was they were just able to mix up depths. They were hitting us deep and dropping some short, and they just had lots of movement on it, which made it tough for us passers,” Rodriguez said. “I think when they’re going on a run, we’re just trying to get one side out, just trying to get a ball high in the middle and run our offense from there. But with tough serves like that, it can be tough sometimes.”
“Texas played great,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “They had a level of serving we haven’t seen all year, and it really impacted us and our momentum and our confidence. And then everything just started going their way. And they got all the momentum and we could never get it back. So great job by them. Great job by their players.
“I’m very proud of our team for getting here, and those seniors. And we’ve had a heck of a year. One of the greatest seasons we have ever had at Nebraska this year. So this match isn’t going to define that and what we’ve accomplished this year, but hopefully it will motivate us for another great run and get back here in 2024.”
The crowd of 19,727 was yet another attendance record in a season of attendance and TV-ratings records.
Madisen Skinner of Texas hits against Nebraska/@AndyWenstrand
Nebraska pulled to 6-5 in the first set on a Batenhorst kill, the first point scored by the Huskers because of something they did positively offensively. Neither team could pull away, but with Texas leading 20-17, Wenaas capped a long, spectacular-play-filled rally with a kill, but was called in the net.
Bergmark muscled through a block to make it 21-18, but Allick scored on a slide. The Texas lead went to 22-19 when Phillips stuffed Murray. It was her first positive stat after having an error and no kills in six attacks.
Allick then blocked O’Neal and things got nutty. Texas coach Jerritt Elliott was given a red card after the point for arguing with the down ref. The Texas lead was cut to 22-21 and then Murray had an ace to tie it at 22 and Texas called time.
The Longhorns responded in a big way. O’Neal and Phillips blocked Batenhorst, Skinner had a tremendous kill on an assist from Keonilei Akana, who then aced Batenhorst.
“My first red card of the season. I don’t know, we’re not allowed to speak about the referees, and there was an overlap that was pretty blatant and I was asking her to talk to her about, and got the red card,” Elliott said.
“And luckily my team stuck together. We shanked a pass and then Madi came up with a big out-of-system kill. I was really regretting that but I was really glad we were able to make that happen.”
Texas responded incredibly well to its next timeout. After Nebraska took a 10-7 second-set lead on a Murray back-row attack, Elliott called time. And the way his Longhorns responded, well, they ran a clinic on Nebraska for the next 11 points.
Skinner, mis-timing a back-row attack, hit a flat-footed tip that fell to the floor. Wenaas scored on a tip, and then O’Neal went back to serve.
O’Neal aced, in succession, Beason, Murray — Nebraska called time — Batenhorst and Murray.
She almost had another, but Texas converted with Skinner out of the back row and it was 14-10.
At that point, Nebraska coach John Cook put in Hayden Kubik for Batenhorst. She had three swings in the ensuing rally, one that ended with her getting blocked by Swindle and Bergmark.
“No, I don’t think I’ve ever had a run like that. But my teammates put a lot of confidence in me,” O’Neal said. “And I remember before the game I said I feel kind of weird with my serving today. I don’t know how it’s going to feel.”
Wenaas then blocked Jackson, Wenaas had a kill and Skinner hit another blast from the back row. The 11-0 run was snapped when Swindle’s dump attempt was out of bounds.
Before the set ended, Swindle had two aces, the Longhorns’ sixth and seventh of the set.
Nebraska hit minus .036 (6-7-28) in the second set and was at .017 overall.
Texas was at .172 through two sets.
The Nebraska task was simple: Pull a reverse sweep. The last time that happened in a national-title match was in 2009 when Penn State beat Texas 22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13. That also happened to be in Tampa and it gave Penn State a 38-0 season and its third NCAA title in a row.
After the match, Elliott admitted thinking about that one.
“Yeah, I talked to one of my players that was part of that team. They,” he said, motioning to O’Neal, Skinner, Swindle and Halter at the podium, “probably don’t know but we were up 2-0 and lost 16-14 in the fifth. Probably one of the most epic volleyball matches of all time.”
Skinner led Texas in kills in every match this season except the four when Wenaas had the most kills.
Texas, in the national title match for the 10th time, won the last AIAW national championship in 1981 and then NCAA titles in 1988, 2012 and last year. Texas lost in five other finals.
Nebraska, which was making its 11th appearance in a national semifinal or final, won NCAA titles in 1995, 2000, 2006, 2015 and 2017.
“Volleyball is a game of momentum, and during that run, I just could totally feel the momentum completely shift on our side,” O’Neal said. “I just knew we were playing with so much confidence and joy. I knew that we had the game in the bag. Obviously it’s a long match, and I knew that they were going to want to fight back. But I was just smiling because I was so happy with how we were feeling.
“You just feel it. When you’re an athlete and you’re in a sport, you just feel it. And I felt we were going to win the match.”
All eyes are on Nebraska’s Laney Choboy going all out against Texas @AndyWenstrand
