Earlier this week, both No. 6 Texas volleyball and No. 11 Washington State came back from losing their first set and met the expectations of a challenging match. However, after four sets on Friday night, the Longhorns fell to the Cougars 1-3. 

“This program is not used to losing,” Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott said about the game. “It gives us an opportunity to kind of look at what we’re doing from the staff on down to our players and figure it out.”

Texas won a 3-1 battle against No. 19 Ohio State on Thursday after recovering from several errors in the first set. Similarly, Washington State won 3-1 against No. 18 Baylor on Wednesday in its second away game this season. The Cougars’ first away game against the Louisville Cardinals ended 0-3, their first and only loss so far this season. 

The first set got a little heated when sophomore libero Emma Halter tried to save the ball from hitting the court, striking the ball multiple times as Washington State players blocked at the net. 

The play was called into question and initially ruled in Texas’ favor, but the call was overturned. The point was given to Washington State, with Texas leading 23-21. 

Head coach Jerritt Elliott began a heated argument with one of the referees. While trying to figure out the call, junior Madison Skinner ran back and forth from the head referee and Elliott. The head referee pulled a yellow card out of his pocket when Skinner was over by her coach. 

In an opportunity to win the first set and move past the yellow card, Skinner lobbed the ball across the net. Washington State returned the favor with a resounding smack of the ball. 

However, Halter was ready, keeping her arms steady as the ball spun in the air. Skinner got under the ball and it set up for junior outside hitter Jenna Wenaas, who rocketed it across the court, giving them the first set 25-21.

The second set started in Texas’ favor with the Longhorns getting a nine-point differential. 

With the Cougar blocking team creating a wall at the net, the Longhorns had to find points by tipping the ball over the heads of the blockers. 

However, Texas began to look a little bit rattled with more unfavorable calls by the referees. 

The Longhorns lost their lead and the set when Halter passed the ball a little bit too close to the net. 

“We were rolling, we just have to stay on that way,” senior middle blocker Asija O’Neal said about their lead. “We can’t let people come back into the game.”

The third set was similar to the second: Texas got an early lead, but lost it in the final few points. Washington State figured out Texas’ strategy, a quick set by freshman Ella Swindle to Bella Bergmark, and made Texas pay for it two points in a row. 

Both teams went back and forth in the fourth set, with Skinner and Wenaas hitting their strides and finding the gaps in the court. O’Neal got a season and career high of thirteen blocks against some pretty big hits from Washington. 

But the Longhorns were unable to break the Cougars’ eight game winning streak and the team lost the last three sets with the same score: 22-25. The Longhorns begin conference play next Friday against the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.