NCAA Ladies
December 10, 2023
If it’s potential for the defending nationwide champions to fly underneath the radar and nonetheless be among the finest groups in ladies’s volleyball, the Texas Longhorns discovered a method to accomplish it.
When the stakes ratcheted up, nonetheless, a proud program was greater than as much as the duty.
The Massive 12-champion Longhorns (26-4) will return to the NCAA Divisioon I Ladies’s Volleyball Championship nationwide semifinals with an opportunity to wrangle back-to-back NCAA titles after taking down host Stanford (29-4) in 4 decidedly totally different units (25-16, 15-25, 25-19, 25-22) Saturday evening within the regional last.
Within the third and fourth units earlier than a crowd of 4,312 at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, California, seventh-seeded Texas rose to championship heights behind two returning stars from its 2022 title staff, exterior hitter Madisen Skinner and center blocker Asjia O’Neal. That adopted a five-set nail-biter two nights earlier than within the spherical of 16 towards Tennessee.
“What an incredible evening for the Texas Longhorns,” coach Jerritt Elliott mentioned. “I’m simply happy with this staff, from the place they began at the start of the yr to get thus far after a tricky Thursday and compete like this tonight.”
The deciding stanza was air-tight, and an ace by setter Kami Miner pulled Stanford even at 22. However Skinner, itching for a shot at a 3rd NCAA title after additionally hoisting the trophy with Kentucky as a freshman in 2021, put the hammer down with two super cross-court kills, the second coming in transition after All-American Kendall Kipp was dug.
O’Neal closed the present with a rejection towards Kipp, the Pac-12 participant of the yr, on a “bother ball” created by a darting floater from serving specialist Keonilei Akana, who had clinched the title final season with an ace on championship level towards Louisville.
The Longhorns will play Wisconsin (29-3) on Thursday evening in Tampa. Wisconsin of the Massive Ten, which gained the 2021 nationwide title, superior by beating Oregon, which completed second within the Pac-12 to Stanford.
Skinner, a high-flying and bodily 6-foot-2 junior, had 24 kills towards six errors on 47 swings for a .383 hitting share.
“She’s a terrific athlete, a terrific participant and she or he has increcible vary,” Stanford coach Kevin Hambly mentioned. “She was hitting pictures in all places and it was laborious to get a beat on her. ”
Skinner served two aces and made six digs. 9 of Skinner’s scoring spikes got here within the fourth set and she or he put the ending touches on the third with two kills. Skinner has recorded 20 or extra kills in all 4 of Texas’s NCAA matches.
O’Neal, a 6-foot-3 senior who performed with the USA ladies’s nationwide staff in Volleyball Nations League final summer time, had 10 kills with one error in 19 assaults (.474), two aces and 5 blocks. The timing of her contributions was extra essential than the numbers. O’Neal assisted on two key blocks within the third set that created 22-18 separation and three kills and block help in crunch time iced a one-sided first set.
Texas had a 12-3 benefit in blocks as Stanford, the second general seed within the NCAA Event, hit .250, .219 and .182 within the units it misplaced.
The Cardinal, the early season favourite to win all of it this season, acquired manufacturing from pin hitters Elia Rubin (17 kills, .333, 9 digs), Kipp (16 kills, eight digs, a block) and Caitie Baird (14 kills, two blocks, 4 digs). However middles Sami Francis and McKenna Vicini, who mixed for eight kills and three blocks.
“They made performs when it mattered and we didn’t,” Hambly mentioned. “Each groups fought actually laborious. I assumed it was unbelievable big-girl volleyball. ”
Stanford, which had six aces however 14 errors, noticed its season finish once more on its dwelling courtroom in a regional last. Final yr, the Cardinal — which gained NCAA titles in 2016, 2018 and 2019 — was upset by San Diego.
“We did a terrific job blocking,” Elliott mentioned. “The primary time we performed them, they tooled us to dying. The important thing this time was going low and tight.”
Added O’Neal, who was thanked by her coach for returning to highschool for an additional season: “In comparison with the place we had been earlier within the season we’ve grown a lot. That was (a cause) why we had been profitable tonight. We knew (Stanford) was going to do nice issues as a result of they’re an unbelievable staff, however we had been capable of simply pat their backs and transfer on.”
How did this star-studded Texas staff fly underneath the radar? It acquired off to a head-scratching begin by shedding in 4 at mid-major Lengthy Seaside State in its season opener, though O’Neal didn’t play. Of their third match of the season, the Longhorns had been swept on their dwelling courtroom by that very same Stanford, with Skinner hitting simply .083.
That tough stretch continued when Washington State handed Texas one other uncommon home-court setback, leaving Elliott’s squad with a 5-3 file coming into Massive 12 Convention. The Longhorns gained their first 13 league matches, however once more appeared weak after they had been swept at 10-loss Kansas State. They had been ranked No. 7 within the last regular-season VolleyballMag.com Tremendous 16 Media Ballot.
However all these tribulations had been mud on the path when Texas notched the ultimate level towards Stanford at 12:02 a.m. Japanese to conclude an 8-hour, 2-minute four-match marathon of regional matches and guide its journey to Tampa.
“I’ve been teaching a very long time and this is perhaps the best transformation of a staff from begin to end,” Elliott mentioned. “We simply talked about staying with the method, trusting one another, and we by no means panicked.”
