Amid a raucous road environment at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin, No. 2 Texas volleyball took on No. 8 Wisconsin, leaving with a huge victory to conclude its sweep at the Opening Spike Classic.

The Longhorns swept the Badgers on the back of stellar performances by freshman outside hitters Cari Spears and Abby Vander Wal, totaling 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Extremely aggressive throughout the match, the two missed very few opportunities, and Vander Wal spiked the kills to finish each set.

Despite the dominant victory, it wasn’t smooth sailing the whole way.

Being up by as many as seven in the first set, Wisconsin climbed back to fight off four set points and was poised to complete a comeback to win the set. With all the momentum going the Badgers’ way, it briefly looked dire.

Wisconsin had its first set point up 26-25 before Spears recorded a ferocious kill to even the score. A second set point was set up soon after before a critical Badger missed serve, one of their 26 errors throughout the match. Texas redshirt sophomore middle blocker Nya Bunton recorded one of her match-leading seven blocks to bring up the Longhorns’ fifth set point before Vander Wal closed the set with a kill.

Save for Spears, however, Texas went on a lull in the middle of the second set, playing less aggressively and failing to capitalize on many attacks. Junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford struggled to close at the net in that set, a contrast to her match-leading 12 kills against Creighton on Friday. 

However, Texas once again bounced back behind a crucial challenge on an attack by Serbian redshirt sophomore outside hitter Una Vajagic. Initially ruled in, the Texas players were in dismay and convinced head coach Jerritt Elliott to challenge, which he won to maintain Texas’ lead at 21-19 before going on to close the set.

The third set was far more clinical. After initially being close at 9-8, senior libero Emma Halter recorded two very impressive digs to save fierce attacks before Spears was set up perfectly to win the point with a kill. This point was the best of an impressive performance by Halter, recording 14 digs. With the help of sloppy late-match play from the Badgers, Texas went on to win 10 of the next 11 points to pull away for good and complete the sweep.

Any questions regarding the new-look Longhorns have been answered after an impressive opening weekend. Losing several seniors in the offseason, including star outside hitter Madisen Skinner, the Longhorns didn’t drop a set in both matchups, looking primed for another strong season.

Texas will take on Rice on Wednesday before a premier matchup against No. 6 Stanford on Sunday afternoon at the Moody Center.