NCAA volleyball championship stunner! Texas sweeps Nebraska

TAMPA — No one expected a sweep.

Most figured No. 1 Nebraska would win.

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. 

The defending-champion Longhorns had 12 aces — seven in the second set — and made it back to back. Madisen Skinner, who 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 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 43-18.

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 Texas aces. Carissa Barnes had the other. 

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 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, two aces, five digs and three blocks. 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. 

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.

The crowd of 19,727 was yet another attendance record in a season of attendance and TV-ratings records.

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 slde. 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 card after the point for arguing with the down ref. No explanation was given, but the Texas lead was cut to 22-21. 

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.

Texas responded incredibly well to its next timeout. After Nebraska took a 10-7 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 ell 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.

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’ 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.

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.

 

NCAA volleyball championship stunner! Texas sweeps Nebraska Volleyballmag.com.