The Bears have never won a game against the Longhorns at Gregory Gym. The 50-0 streak was not broken on Friday night. 

After battling No. 20 Baylor to win 3-2 the night before, No. 5 Texas entered the game prepared to fight for the series win. 

“I think it just comes down to fire and playing your heart out,” sophomore libero Emma Halter said. “We wanted to win that in three and that was our goal right when we came in today and when we left last night.”

Baylor might have led most of the first set, but Texas’ fire brought it back. The Longhorns called a timeout when the score was 20-24, before what could have been Baylor’s set point.

“I called the timeout and said ‘Hey look we’ve been here before,’” Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott said. “Let’s trust ourselves. Let’s make sure we make good block moves and get some touches.”

An attacking error by Baylor and a resounding smack of the ball by junior outside hitter Madisen Skinner sent Texas back to the sidelines with a Baylor timeout. 

However, the timeout did not swing the momentum in the Bears’ favor like it did for Texas. On the first point back from the timeout, senior middle blocker Asjia O’Neal blocked a hit from Baylor.

The next point, redshirt senior Carissa Barnes ran backwards to hit the ball in the perfect position for Skinner to get her second kill in a row, spiking the ball across the court to take the lead for the first time since the beginning of the set.

The crowd was on their feet as O’Neal got another block to win the first set 27-25. 

“I think last night going down 0-2 gave us a little extra push tonight to win that first set,” Halter said. 

In the second set, Skinner slammed perfectly placed balls into the court two points in a row, getting them closer to winning the set. 

While Skinner got her sixth double-double of the season and 22 kills in Thursday’s game, she made her 18 kills count. 

“It’s just kind of your mindset from then on out and just how you can continue to talk to yourself and encourage your teammates,” Skinner said. “Definitely not our best performance, but we’re cleaning it up as we go and we have so much more to work on.”

With the third pass in a row from libero Emma Halter, Skinner softly spun the ball over the net into empty space, winning the set 25-19.

“This is the time of the year that’s always a challenge,” Elliot said. “These next three weeks are going to be a big push.”

Texas returns to action next Thursday against West Virginia in Morgantown.