Long live the queens! Texas sweeps past Nebraska to repeat as volleyball’s national champions

Now it can be declared without a question mark – Long live the queens! Texas has returned to its college volleyball throne and did so with a rush of dominance and talent and togetherness and self-belief.

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Volleyball is a game of streaks and momentum and No. 2 Texas turned both of those aspects into a stunning display of power and accuracy while sweeping to a 25-22, 25-14, 25-11 victory over top-ranked Nebraska on Sunday afternoon to capture the title in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship in Tampa.

The Longhorns peaked at the right time, repeating as champions by dominating a Nebraska team that lost just once all season before the title match. Texas got 16 kills from Madisen Skinner and nine from Jenna Wenaas while Asjia O’Neal added five service aces and four blocks. Ella Swindle distributed 21 assists. 

“We had all the confidence in the world,” Skinner explained. “I’ll say it till I die, but we just are peaking right now. We have so much trust and we just believed in one another and it was literally like me right now screaming. It’s just how much we invest in one another – it all paid off. I feel so great.”

The Longhorns won their fifth national title after making their 10th championship match appearance and seventh in the last 15 seasons. Texas is the first school to repeat as champions since Stanford in 2018 and 2019.

This wasn’t supposed to be the Longhorns’ year. They began the season with a loss and were 2-2 after four matches. Texas was on the brink of elimination in the Palo Alto Regional, facing a pair of match points in the fourth set against Tennessee before rallying and win in five. 

Then Texas had to beat three No. 1 seeds – Stanford, Wisconsin and, ultimately, Nebraska – to win the title.

“I give all the credit to my team, my gosh, the support and just the belief that we have together,” said Skinner, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. “I mean, ever since I stepped on campus, I just knew as a place to be, I felt like I’m part of a family and something bigger than myself and to just the people surrounding me made this all possible.”

The Cornhuskers were playing in their 11th all-time NCAA Final and for the fifth in the past nine seasons. Nebraska has captured championships five times, most recently in 2017.

Texas (28-4) held the Cornhuskers to just .013 hitting, forcing Nebraska into 19 hitting errors. Harper Murray led the Cornhuskers (33-2) with seven kills while Bergen Reilly had 17 assists.

The Longhorns were ready from the opening serve, reeling off the match’s first four points as Skinner ripped off two kills. Nebraska quickly regrouped and forged a 6-2 run to tie the set.

Texas was up 9-8 when the Cornhuskers put together a three-point run capped by a kill from Bella Bergmark to take their first lead of the match at 11-8. The Longhorns answered, tied the set at 11 and at 13 and then put together a run keyed by a combined block by O’Neal and Wenaas and an ace by Skinner to go up 17-14.

Texas led 20-16 after a kill by Wenaas and 22-19 when Molly Phillips had a block. Nebraska answered with three straight points, the second of which was recorded when Elliott was assessed a red card for the Longhorns being out of rotation. Texas was undeterred by the gaffe, reeling off the set’s final three points on a dual block by O’Neal and Phillips, a kill by Skinner and an ace by Keonilei Akana to win the set at 25-22.

In the second set the teams traded early runs that led to the Cornhuskers taking a 10-7 advantage. Texas got a kill from Skinner to get O’Neal to the service line and she responded with four aces during an 11-point run that also featured two kills each by Wenaas and Skinner and resulted in an 18-10 Longhorns advantage.

That run was just too much for Nebraska to overcome, as two kills by Wenaas and a pair of aces by Ella Swindle set the table for a final attack error by the Cornhuskers and clinched a dominating 25-14 second set win for Texas. The Longhorns had seven aces in the set and went to the third set on a major roll.

Texas carried that momentum into the third set, bursting away from a 7-5 advantage via a 7-4 run capped by a kill by Phillips. Nebraska got a kill by Merritt Beason to pull within 14-10 but that only riled up the Longhorns, who scored 11 of the last 12 points – including the final six – of the match. 

Texas finished off the Cornhuskers with an ace by O’Neal as the Longhorns won the third set 25-11.

Afterward, she gave credit to the Longhorns’ culture, an aspect that brought O’Neal back for her sixth year on the 40 Acres.

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“Our coaches do an incredible job of putting the right girls here who love each other and care for one another,” O’Neal said. “We didn’t have the fastest start to our season – it was a little rocky – but we really trusted the process. Because of our love for one another we’re able to continue to get better and peak at the right time.”