Texas volleyball took down another No. 1 seed; how the Longhorns did it | our takeaways
TAMPA, Fla. — A week ago, the Texas women’s volleyball team was one point from elimination from the NCAA tournament in a Sweet 16 match. The second-seeded Longhorns not only survived that match, they also have convincingly defeated two No. 1 seeds to reach the national championship match for a second consecutive season.
Last weekend, they defeated Stanford in four sets. On Thursday night at Amalie Arena, before a record crowd of 19,598, they also defeated Wisconsin in four sets — but the last two were overwhelming. After scores of 25-22 and 20-25, Texas won by 25-13 and 25-16.
Those kinds of scores simply don’t happen against Wisconsin, and they really weren’t as close as the final tallies indicated. In the third set, Texas led 15-3, 18-5 and 20-6. In the fourth, the Longhorns led 11-4 and 15-5.
Here’s how Texas did it:
Sophomore libero Emma Halter led the way
Halter finished with 19 digs, two off her season best. And it wasn’t just the number of digs, it was who she was stopping, the types of shots she was stopping and then what Texas did in a number of instances after her stops.
Numerous spike attempts by 6-foot-9 Anna Smrek and 6-foot-4 Sarah Franklin — Wisconsin's second- and first-team All-Americans, respectively — that would normally hit the floor, didn’t get there. And in several instances Halter’s plays extended rallies that ended with Texas scoring.
Asked if she was “in the zone,” Halter replied: “Oh, I would definitely say it was one of those moments for me and for this team. We train so hard for these moments and this is the time to trust your training. ... And yes, I do think I was in the zone today.”
She credited advance work by associate head coach Erik Sullivan for giving her an edge in knowing where Wisconsin players were likely to send the ball in certain situations.
Madisen Skinner's night at the service line, not the net
Skinner, the Big 12 player of the year, is best known for her spectacular hitting kills. And she certainly had some of those among her match-high 18 kills. But her serving was the engine for an 11-0 run in the third set that made the score 15-3 and for a 6-0 spurt in the fourth set that made it 11-4. In the latter, Skinner had three aces in a five-serve span.
More: Madisen Skinner and Adonai Mitchell: two transfers that really paid off for Texas | Golden
For the match she was credited with six aces. That was double her previous career best. Last year, she had 10 for the entire season. She entered Thursday night’s match with 25.
“We had scouted them pretty well and we kind of knew kind of their weaknesses and individual players we wanted to serve,” Skinner said. “And then just changing up (how deep into Wisconsin’s side of the court to put the ball) and working on my pace of the ball. … That was that.”
Said Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield: “With some players, when they start getting two and three serves, their serves get better. … And once (Skinner) starts getting her mojo and confidence back there and a little bit of rhythm, it just makes it tough for everybody.”
Texas took advantage of several Wisconsin errors
The Badgers didn’t come into this match with a 30-3 record by accident. But they didn’t play like a 30-3 team. They made hitting errors. They made serving errors. They made errors receiving serves. They even erred in deciding when to challenge officiating calls, using their allotment of two losing video reviews in a little more than two sets.
Errors gave Texas five of their first 14 points in the first set. It the third set, it was five of Texas’ first 10 points and seven of their first 18.
“We didn't play our best volleyball — that's not a secret,” Sheffield said. “But I would say most of it had to do with how (the Longhorns) were playing. I thought we were prepared to play. You know, it was — it was their night.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas volleyball beats Wisconsin to advance to NCAA championship match
