Longhorns head to OKC with a chance for a title

Record (27-2)

The Texas volleyball team travelled to Minneapolis, MN for the NCAA Championships

Regional Semifinal and Final rounds. The last time the Longhorns were in Minneapolis for the

NCAA Tournament was 1988, the year Texas won its second National Championship with a 3-0

sweep over Hawaii under coach Mick Haley. This year in the Twin Cities, the Longhorns earned

a berth in the Semifinal match in Oklahoma City after a pair of victories over Colorado State and

North Carolina.

Butting heads-

The Longhorns notched their ninth consecutive trip to the Regional Final match with a sweep of

Colorado State. Texas is the only team to make it to the Regional Final or “Elite Eight” in the

NCAA the last nine years.

Texas made it a habit of jumping out on the Rams early in sets. In the first, the Longhorns took

six of the first seven points to steal a 6-1 lead led by senior Haley Eckerman, who nailed three

kills. The Rams closed within one of Texas, down 11-10. But, the Longhorns went on a 6-2 run

to widen the gap to 17-12 as the other Texas senior, Khat Bell executed two volleyballs to the

floor. Colorado State narrowed the deficit to two points at 21-19. But four straight Texas points,

including two Nicole Dalton service aces closed the opening set for the Longhorns 25-19.

Chloe Collins set up two Paulina Prieto Cerame kills to get the second set started with two Texas

points. The Longhorns roared to a 5-2 lead before committing four straight errors, allowing the

rams to take their first lead of the match. The teams alternated scoring until the set tied at 10. The

Longhorns then reeled off three straight points, two from Eckerman, and they wouldn’t trail

again. Texas eventually led by six at 18-13, then by seven at 22-15. Eckerman ended the second

set the way she’s ended so many Texas points, sets and matches over her four-year career, with

an emphatic kill that sent her teammates soaring into the air knowing they staked a 2-0 lead in

the match after a 25-18 win.

The third set largely mirrored the second. Texas surged to another 5-2 early lead. But, the Rams,

who had one of their best seasons in program history, and were ranked in the top 10 throughout

the season, fought back to tie the set at six, and then took an 8-6 lead. Two Bell kills and a Cat

McCoy service ace shot Texas on a 4-0 run and a 10-8 lead. The Longhorns never looked back

from there, as the Longhorns’ depth took over. Eckerman, Bell, Chiaka Ogbogu, Molly McCage

and Amy Neal all relegated balls back to the turf as Texas won the final set 25-17 and earned a

3-0 match sweep.

Five Texas players hit over the .333 in the match. Eckerman led the Longhorns with 16 kills,

while Cerame added eight. Defensively, Neal and McCoy led the charge and finished with 26

combined digs.

The last time Texas swept its first three matches of the NCAA Tournament was 2009, when it

finished runner up to Penn State in the NCAA Championship match.

Sweet Carolina-

Another ranked opponent, and another win for Texas. The Longhorns advanced to their third-

straight NCAA Semifinal and their sixth in the last seven years with a 3-1 victory Saturday over

a tremendously talented North Carolina team.

For the third straight set in the Tournament, this time in the opener against the Tar Heels, the

Longhorns marched to a 5-2 lead. North Carolina proved they wouldn’t falter easily. Neither

team was able to gain true separation, until Texas ground out a five point lead at 17-12. Carolina

fought back within three twice, however two Eckerman kills ended the set 25-21 in favor of

burnt orange.

For the first time during the entire Tournament, Texas looked completely out of sorts in the

second set. UNC drilled the first five points of the match. The Longhorns closed within two

points eight different times, but the Tar Heels pulled back away to counter every run. Down 17-

19, any hopes of a Texas comeback ended with a 6-1 Tar Heel finishing run. Texas lost its first

set of the Tournament, 25-18. The Longhorns hit a low .156 in the set as they only amassed nine

kills.

“Our serve receive struggled for a stretch there,” Coach Jerritt Elliott said following the match.

“I just said in the locker room actually how proud I was of Amy because they had her on her

heels for a little bit, but she took a deep breath and she got herself back into it. We didn’t manage

our game that well in that set, and we couldn’t put balls away. At this level, if you don’t execute

for short windows, it’s going to be tough.”

Following the break, Texas reversed the script in the third. The Longhorns won the first three

points and never trailed in the set. They slowly pulled away, fending off several UNC runs,

eventually leading by five at 15-10 and 17-12. The Tar Heels closed within one point at 21-20.

But Texas won the final four points, the final two on Chaniel Nelson attack errors to take a 2-1

lead after a 25-20 win.

The fourth set was arguably the best set of the NCAA Tournament. In an all-out battle, the

largest lead either team had was Texas at 15-11. Eventually, the foes tied the set at 19, before

UNC took a 23-21 lead. Texas faced match point three times but managed to recover and take a

26-25 lead. The Longhorns finally put an end to the set 31-29 and won the match 3-1.

 “Only one team gets to move forward,” Elliott said. “Toward the end of that match in set four,

we played with a lot of heart, we were very steady and we made big plays. For the sport of

volleyball – if that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what I can do for you. We were able to

stay emotionally tough, which is something we’ve talked about from the very beginning of the

season.”

 

The Longhorns advanced to their third straight Semifinal, and Elliott notches the success up to

family.

“The day before this match specifically is always the worst 24 hours as a coach because there’s

so much riding on it,” Elliott said. “I went for a walk after last night’s match and reflected on the

players before that helped create this. It’s remarkable. It’s a tribute to the young women that we

have in here. We’ve got a family atmosphere here and I’m very proud of it.”

Eckerman and Bell paced Texas with 14 and 12 kills. While Ogbogu joined the double-digit kill

brigade with 10, and added six blocks.

“Chiaka is a major threat for us,” Elliott said. “She’s really come on lately and has been big

offensively for us. Khat Bell was exceptional tonight. Her numbers were good, but emotionally

she was very stable for us. For Khat to be that emotional for us was big, especially as a senior to

take that lead. That’s what we needed tonight.”

Neal managed her fourth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 15 digs, and commented

on the intensity of the fourth set.

“Whenever it was back and forth we looked at each other and said ‘One ball, just focus on one

ball at a time’ and people were running all over the place it was crazy,” Neal said. “But I think

we also stayed calm and knew that we still had to manage our game and still make good swings

and decisions and it worked out in the end.”

Honors continue to reign down on Texas-

The AVCA All-America honors were released Wednesday. Five Longhorns made the list.

Eckerman and Ogbogu earned first team awards. Bell received second team, McCage third and

Neal an honorable mention. This is the ninth straight season Texas has placed at least two

players on the list. Eckerman is the second player in Longhorn history to earn the award all four

seasons.

Semifinal and Final match preview-

The Longhorns will face BYU Thursday night at 6 p.m. at the Chesapeake Bay Arena in

Oklahoma City, Okla. If they beat BYU, they will face the winner of the Stanford/Penn State

match Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

BYU is the Cinderella story of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. They finished 12th in the final

regular season AVCA Coaches Poll, but didn’t earn a national seed for the Tournament. They

have knocked off three straight nationally seeded teams, beginning with no. 11 Arizona (3-1),

then no. 6 Florida State (3-1), and then no. 14 Nebraska (3-0).

BYU actually has the all-time advantage in wins over Texas (9-8). Although, their last meeting

was in 2008.

Texas will have to deal with three Cougars in particular. Jennifer Hamson, Alexa Gray and Amy

Boswell also received All-America honors Wednesday. Hamson is to BYU what Eckerman is to

Texas. She was named First-Team All-American and leads the Cougars with 3.75 kills, 1.35

blocks and 1.46 digs per set. Opposite from her, Gray attributes 3.63 kills and .081 blocks per

set. Boswell is the biggest threat to Texas’ offense. She clogs the middle of the court with 1.67

blocks per set, a mark that puts her second in the nation. She’s surprisingly second in the nation

to her teammate, Whitney Young who averages 1.92 blocks per set.

As a team, BYU hits .278. But led by Young and Boswell, BYU leads the nation with 3.87

blocks per set. North Carolina is second, while the Longhorns are tied with Hawaii for sixth.

Texas will have to rely on some defense of its own, because it may not be able to throttle down

and hammer as high of a hitting percentage as they’re accustomed to. BYU lost early in the

season to Washington and Colorado State, both of which were nation seeds for the Tournament.

BYU has won 11 consecutive matches to reach the Semifinals, including a sweep of a good

Nebraska team that pushed Texas earlier in the season. Texas lost at this point in the Tournament

one year ago, and will need to continue its crisp style of volleyball so far in the Tournament.

Outside of the second set loss to UNC, the Longhorns have taken early leads and beaten down

their opponents late to survive and advance. They’ll need to continue that formula to have a

chance at their fourth National Title.

The two powers-

I heavily emphasize the word IF before writing this. But because my next column will be next

week, here are some notes on each one of Texas’ possible opponents IF they advance past BYU

on Thursday night.

Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. following the Texas and BYU match, the top two volleyball powers

will face off for a chance to go to the title game.

Stanford-

The Cardinal leads the all-time series with Texas 18-8, although the Longhorns took the most

recent meeting 3-1 at the start of the 2013 season.

Stanford earned the number one overall seed in the Tournament for a reason. Six different

players earned All-American honors. Madi Bugg sets the table for the outside hitters and leads

the nation in assists per set with 12.11. Merete Lutz leads the Cardinal in hitting percentage with

a .455 mark that stands third in the nation. As their premier middle blocker, she presents of

problem for middle of the floor attacks as well. Stanford is also third in the nation in hitting

percentage and in kills per set.

Stanford dropped one set each in their wins over Michigan State and Oregon State in the second

and third rounds, but swept Florida, who beat Texas 3-2 in the final match of the regular season.

The Cardinal only lost one game in the regular season through a rigorous PAC 12 schedule to

Washington, who was the third overall seed in the Tournament. Stanford doesn’t usually beat

itself with critical errors, Penn State, along with possibly Texas, will have to earn a victory and

attack point-for-point with the Cardinal.

Penn State-

Penn State also holds the advantage in the all-time series over Texas 11-8. The Longhorns

similarly defeated the Nitanny Lions at the start of the 2013 season. However, Penn State ended

the 2009 and 2010 Tournament runs for Texas.

The defending champs were slated as the number five overall seed, and could have been higher

had they not lost to Stanford 3-2 earlier this season. Penn State is tremendous behind the serving

line and lead the nation in aces per set with 1.96. They also lead the NCAA in hitting percentage

at .348. Defensively, they’re fourth in the nation and hold their opponents to a .144 percentage,

which is a better mark than Texas or Stanford claims.

With 1,159 career wins, head coach Russ Rose is presently in sole possession of first place on

the DI NCAA all-time wins list. Stanford and Penn State are the only teams in history to make

every single NCAA Tournament since its inception in 1981. Stanford and Penn State are 8-8 all-

time against each other. Something has to give.

What’s in a name?

Stanford and Penn State are without question the top two programs in the country. Stanford holds

six National Championships to its name, and lost in the Championship game eight times.

Meanwhile, Penn State has hoisted six National Championship trophies itself, including five in

the past seven seasons. Who is the third best program in NCAA Volleyball? Arguably Texas.

Texas, Nebraska, Hawaii, and USC all have three title banners hanging from their gym, while

UCLA boasts four. The Longhorns have had more recent success, especially in the Tournament

under Elliott. If Texas was able to advance to the title game against the Nitanny Lions or the

Cardinal and was able to beat them, it would go a long way nationally to show the type of

powerhouse Texas is. The Longhorns are a top tier program, and UT has become largely a

volleyball school, but if they want to toss their name in the argument for the best program,

they’ll need a pair of wins this weekend.