It was only two weeks ago that Texas volleyball found itself in its worst losing streak of the season, dropping three consecutive matches. Before that three-game stretch, the Longhorns had sat atop the SEC standings and were undefeated in conference play. Now Texas finds themselves on a new streak, having swept Alabama on Sunday and extending a current three-game win streak.
Currently, Texas is tied with Florida in the SEC with a 10-3 conference record. Both teams sit behind a Kentucky team that is 11-2 in the conference. With the victory Texas took today, they not only improved to three straight wins since the team’s latest road trip began, but inched closer to tying or retaking the top spot in the conference.
Similar to the Auburn match on Friday, Texas’ match against Alabama was only ever close in the second set. The two teams remained interlocked for most of set two as Texas managed to pull out a narrow win at the end 25-23.
The first set began close, but as Texas has done throughout the season, they found themselves on a 5-0 run that thrust them towards a first set victory. In the third set, Texas took control and never relinquished, soundly pulling ahead and taking the final set of the match 25-15.
The efforts of two double-double performances from the Longhorn half of the court led to victory. Senior Madisen Skinner, who started off the season slow but found her stride in time for SEC play, finished the match with 14 kills, 10 digs and a 0.314 hitting percentage.
The second double-double performance of the day came from senior Jenna Wenaas with 10 kills and 10 digs. This is Wenaas’s fourth double-double of the season and Skinner’s sixth. Freshman Ayden Ames also continued her impressive rookie campaign, ending the match with eight kills and four blocks.
Texas has been impressive on the road this season, now improving its road record to 8-1 on the season with one final road game remaining against a familiar Red River rival, Oklahoma. Texas has already faced Oklahoma once this season, losing to the Sooners 2-3 in sets. Texas has struggled in matches that go the distance, not having won a game this season that has reached five sets.
Having defeated Alabama, Texas records its tenth sweep of the season and its seventh in conference play. They will travel to Oklahoma Friday to round out the team’s final regular season road trip of the season. The match will take place on SEC Network+ at 6 p.m.
