Following a thrilling 3-1 victory against rival No. 6 Baylor on Wednesday, the Texas volleyball team made quick work of an overmatched Texas State team in a 3-0 sweep.
In a non-conference tune-up for a Texas team still looking to get back up to speed, Texas State seemed to provide a worthy opponent. The Bobcats, while unranked, put up a noteworthy season in the fall 2020 slate, winning the Sun Belt Conference and earning a spot in this April’s NCAA Tournament. But the Longhorns would not be denied, cruising to an 18-0 record Monday night.
Despite getting off to a fast start with junior middle blocker Brionne Butler and sophomore opposite hitter Skylar Fields getting two kills each, Texas State hung around in the first two sets with solid defensive play.
“They hurt us a little bit early in games 1 and 2 on the right side, but we got it going a little bit and cleaned it up,” head coach Jerritt Elliott said.
After building a six-point lead at the end of the first set, Asjia O’Neal, a redshirt sophomore middle blocker, registered the final kill to put the Longhorns up 1-0. O’Neal’s emergence in the center of the court has overwhelmed their opponents, Elliott said.
“What really separates us is we have really good middle blockers, so teams really have to scheme against us,” Elliott said. “We just kept feeding into the middle, and didn’t really have to overload much.”
Junior outside hitter Logan Eggleston once again enjoyed a stellar night. Eggleston dominated the second set for the Longhorns, registering a block, kill and two service aces to build a 9-3 lead for Texas. At the end of the second set, two kills from Eggleston helped the Longhorns close out a 25-18 set victory.
Needing a spark and on the verge of getting swept, the Bobcats got off to a scorching start in the third set. They found their first lead of the night with some solid offense to set them up at 4-2. Despite taking a surprising lead, Eggleston said Texas’ calm mindset allowed them to bounce back.
“Even though Texas State came out really strong in that third set, we did a really good job of just turning around and saying, ‘That play’s in the past, let’s just move forward,’” Eggleston said.
Fields orchestrated a commanding 6-0 run by putting up four kills. In three total sets, Fields compiled a whopping 13 kills.
Freshman libero Nalani Iosia helped the Longhorns push to their largest lead of the night, as her two consecutive service aces put Texas at a 20-10 advantage. After giving up a 7-1 scoring run to the Bobcats, the Longhorns once again rebounded to force four-straight Texas State errors.
Despite maintaining a perfect record Monday night, Eggleston said the Longhorns are not yet resting on their laurels.
“It feels nice to be 18-0, but that doesn’t really mean anything until we win the national championship,” Eggleston said.
