Texas volleyball team rolls past Wisconsin in national semifinals, sets sights on repeat championship

Long live the queens? Don’t try to tell the Texas volleyball team that it’s a longshot to repeat as national champions – not after the Longhorns rolled to a 25-22, 22-25, 25-13, 25-16 victory over Wisconsin in the semifinals of the NCAA Volleyball Championships on Thursday in Tampa.

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The Longhorns were supposed to be in rebuilding mode after capturing their fourth all-time title last season. And Texas wasn’t seeded high enough to host a regional after winning its 12^th consecutive Big 12 Conference championship and was forced to beat Stanford in Palo Alto to advance to the Final Four. 

Standing in the way was mighty Wisconsin, the nation’s best blocking team. But the Longhorns rode its star player Madisen Skinner, its heart and soul Asjia O’Neal and the cat-quick defense of Emma Halter to roar into the final match with a repeat in its sights.

Skinner finished with 18 kills and a career-high six service aces to lead Texas, while O’Neal added 11 kills and four blocks, and Jenna Wenaas and Molly Phillips produced 10 kills each. Ella Swindle distributed 46 assists and Halter had a game-high 18 digs for the Longhorns in the win.

About that underdog role? Skinner is not buying it.

“Yeah, we don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Skinner said afterward. “We know how good we are. And it doesn’t matter what people say on social media or online – like it’s all just a bunch of crap. We’re gonna play Texas volleyball and compete with one another and have so much fun doing it and just trust one another – and just have so much fun. 

“So yeah, I’m super proud with the way that we performed and so excited for Sunday.”

The Longhorns (27-4) will face top-seeded Nebraska (33-1) on Sunday afternoon to decide the championship. The Cornhuskers dismantled Pittsburgh 25-20, 25-23, 25-17 in the first semifinal match on Thursday. 

The Longhorns never trailed in the first set, but the game was tied at 12-12 before Texas reeled off five straight points to take charge. The run started with a service error by the Badgers’ Izzy Ashburn, and continued with kills by Wenaas, Swindle and Skinner and was capped by a Wisconsin attack error that made it 17-12.

The Badgers clawed back to within 19-16 after a kill by Anna Smrek and then tied the set at 20 when Texas made back-to-back errors. But the Longhorns swung back, winning four of the next six points and then capturing the first set at 25-22 on a kill by O’Neal.

It was just the fourth time all season that Wisconsin dropped the opening set of a match. Skinner had six kills in the first set and Wenaas had five as Texas outhit the Badgers .300 to .206. 

Wisconsin’s tall front line ruled the early portions of the second set, with the Badgers jumping to the front and then running off seven straight points to build a 15-7 lead. Texas responded with a four-point run to close to within 15-11 and later four consecutive points, capped by an ace by Halter, to pull to 16-15.

The Badgers immediately re-asserted themselves and finished the set strong. They won four of the final six points and closed out the game when Phillips couldn’t get a kill through the block of two Wisconsin players at set point, with the Badgers winning 25-20 to even the match.

The third set belonged to the Longhorns from the start. Texas was up 6-3 after a Badgers’ service error and that’s when Skinner took charge, serving throughout a nine-point run for the Longhorns that gave them a 15-5 edge. Skinner had three aces and a kill in the surge, O’Neal added two kills and a block assist and Wenaas racked up a kill and a block assist.

Texas eventually went up by 14 points, at 20-6, when Skinner pounded out another pair of kills. Wisconsin closed to 24-13 but that was all just window dressing for the final score; Skinner found the floor again with a final swing that handed the Longhorns a 25-13 win and a 2-sets-to-1 lead.

That domination in the third set took a lot out of Wisconsin, who never regained its stride in the fourth. Texas burst away from a 5-4 lead via a six-point run that was highlighted by three aces by Skinner and two kills by O’Neal. The Longhorns pushed their advantage to 15-5 on an ace by O’Neal and Texas’ win was, by that time, all but in the bag.

The end came, perhaps fittingly, on a kill by Wenaas, with the Longhorns taking the fourth set at 25-16.

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Texas will attempt to win is fifth overall title and become the first school to repeat as champions since Stanford in 2018 and 2019. Sunday’s match will mark the eighth time in school history that the Longhorns will play in the final match and the fifth time in the past nine years.