After putting together a 23-3 record and finishing as the Southeastern Conference runner-up, No. 3 Texas volleyball earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.

As a result, the Longhorns will host NCAA Tournament games at Gregory Gymnasium all the way up to the Final Four, which is scheduled to start on Dec. 18.

“I think the three (overall) seed was a very fair spot for us,” head coach Jerritt Elliott said. “That’s where I had us kind of marked based on our preseason and what we’ve done throughout the rest of the year.”

Texas’ seeding was greatly aided by having one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, in which the team went undefeated, beating programs such as No. 5 Stanford, No. 7 Louisville and No. 9 Arizona State.

Despite the favorable seed, the Longhorns face a very tough draw. They may face the defending national champions and No. 8 seed Penn State as early as the second round. Meanwhile, teams like Stanford and No. 10 Wisconsin sit on the other side of the regional bracket and, while Texas has defeated them this season, will still serve as a test en route to a potential Final Four.

Elliott believes a draw like this can inspire more aggressive play from his team.

“If you look back at some of our successes in the NCAA Tournament, we played some of our best tournaments when we had tough competition,” Elliott said. “I think playing big names has always helped us in terms of going after and being aggressive in what we’re doing.”

The Longhorns will open their postseason campaign on Friday against Florida A&M as they seek their sixth national title in program history.