Six sets played; six sets won.
No. 9 Texas opened its Big 12 play on the road against the Oklahoma Sooners with back-to-back sweeps. The Sooners were no pushover, with several set points in the first matchup, but the Longhorns prevailed and open their conference record at 2-0 while improving to 7-3 overall.
In Friday’s match, Texas won in straight sets, 28-26, 25-18 and 30-28, but not without a fight from Oklahoma. The Longhorns were tested throughout the match, forcing late set comebacks and going deep into extra points to secure the sweep win.
On Saturday, the second match looked like Texas was in for another battle after another close first set win of 25-22, but they cruised the rest of the way, winning the second and third sets 25-13 and 25-12 to complete the second sweep of the weekend.
Texas hit over .300 in both matches against the Sooners, bouncing back from one of its worst-hitting performances of the season in its recent loss to Washington State. Texas’ three stars of the weekend were senior Asjia O’Neal, junior Madisen Skinner and freshman Ella Swindle.
O’Neal showed why she is the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, totaling seven blocks over the weekend. O’Neal leads the Longhorns in blocks and is a huge reason Texas leads the country in blocks per set. She also tacked on nine kills over the weekend.
Skinner and Swindle continue to develop their chemistry on the court, and the results are beginning to show. Both lead the offense, with Skinner as the Longhorn’s primary outside hitter and Swindle facilitating the offense as the setter. Skinner racked up 30 kills, hitting .338, with Swindle dishing out 58 assists cumulatively over the matches.
In its first five games, Texas started 3-2 with Skinner averaging a hitting percentage of .160 and Swindle averaging 28 assists per match. In the last five games, Skinner has more than doubled her hitting percentage at just over .330, and Swindle has increased to 34 assists per match in the same amount of sets played leading Texas to a 4-1 record in their last five.
Their partnership and Swindle’s development in the “QB1” role will continue to be a critical aspect of the Longhorns offense.
The Longhorns head back home to Gregory Gymnasium for another two-game series, looking to continue their hot start to conference play. Texas hosts No.10 BYU on Thursday at 8 p.m. and Friday at 7 p.m.
