After last Friday’s skid in Aggieland, No. 2 Texas entered its matchup against No. 3 Kentucky not with a chance to extend an undefeated record and further prove its Southeastern Conference dominance, but with an opportunity to prevent a 0-2 run late in the season.
Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the team couldn’t prevent its second consecutive SEC defeat.
“We got outperformed in almost every single skillset tonight,” head coach Jerritt Elliott said following the matchup.
The Longhorns have swept 11 of their opponents so far this season, but this game marked the first in which they were on the receiving end of a three-set sweep. While the score didn’t fully reflect the competitive nature of this tight conference showdown, Kentucky’s dominance could be felt in Gregory Gymnasium on Sunday.
Elliott held himself accountable for what has gone down these past two games for the Longhorns.
“The responsibility falls on me first and our coaching staff, and we’ve got to get that organized, and then we need them to kind of reinvest in terms of what we’re being able to do,” Elliott said. “Obviously, we know that we’re not playing our best volleyball right now. It’s hard to play a full season for any sport and peak at the right time.”
Peaking at the right time has been something Texas players and coaches have talked about all season, but they couldn’t start the game in the driver’s seat or find enough rhythm to successfully work towards this goal.
The first set was the second-most lopsided loss in a set this season for the team, and a bevy of miscues caused it. Along with unforced errors on sets and digs, many of the Longhorns’ attacks got blocked and were extremely predictable.
The second two sets were much tighter in nature, but it was Kentucky that claimed both of them with respective scores of 28-26 and 27-25. The Longhorns found themselves out of system on many occasions, with junior setter Ella Swindle taking the first touch and senior libero Emma Halter having to step in to set.
“As the game went on, we got better at things,” Halter said. “We got more discipline. We came back to our systems. We came back to who we were. Yes, it didn’t go how we wanted. That’s not how we wanted to perform, but there are positives that we can take out of it.”
One of these positives came in the form of sophomore middle blocker Ayden Ames.
Despite the Longhorns’ lack of control at the net, Ames recorded six blocks throughout the matchup’s duration, including five in the second set. The team seemed to find life behind her success at the net, and she contributed heavily to the fact that Texas outblocked the Wildcats 8-7 by the end of the game.
Her presence thwarted several Wildcat attacks and helped the Longhorns remain within striking distance through much of the third set. However, Kentucky senior outside hitter Eva Hudson and junior outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye proved to be too much on the attacking front for Texas to defend. The pair was responsible for eight of the Wildcats’ last 10 points in the set.
No team ranked No. 2 in the nation wants to be handed two losses this late in conference season, but the Longhorns have three regular-season matchups and the SEC tournament to reestablish themselves as the team to beat.
“We’re going to take every game as a learning experience,” Halter said. “You don’t learn if you don’t apply, so we’ve got to apply these past two games. We’ve just got to get better at volleyball, and I know this team will. We have awesome culture, awesome girls, so much talent in our gym, and we’ll make a change.”
Texas’ next matchup will take place against the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida, on Nov. 7.
