Penn State learned a valuable lesson in Gregory Gymnasium on Saturday night: don’t let Texas volleyball get on a hot streak in front of a home crowd.
More specifically, don’t let the Longhorns use the energy of their raucous fans to score 11 consecutive points in the pivotal second set of an NCAA tournament matchup.
That being said, by the time the Nittany Lions were able to register the severity of the momentum the Longhorns had established, the damage had already been done. With junior setter Ella Swindle behind the line to serve, the Longhorns created and maintained a rhythm both offensively and defensively.
“(Swindle) was getting them out of system, and then on our side, (we were) doing a good job of getting the ball next for her to get a good set out,” junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford said. “I think everything was flipping for us in that run.”
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, 8-7 turned into 19-7 and Penn State failed to generate enough momentum to keep themselves in the matchup from that point forward.
While the 11-point run served as the most exciting stint of the matchup for fans, head coach Jerritt Elliott was most impressed by the consistency that his team displayed on Saturday.
“I think we followed the game plan, but we’ve had some matches where we played really well on the same kind of level,” Elliott said. “I think what I liked is the concentration throughout the entire match. There were no letdowns.”
Consistency and the ability to close out games with the same intensity that they open them has been somewhat of a tough task for the Longhorns recently. When just two points stood between them and a sweep against Kentucky in the SEC championship a little over a week ago, they ended up losing in a five-set thriller.
As Elliott emphasized, however, a strength of his team is their ability to learn from mistakes.
“When they fail, they’ve come back to the gym and learned and been able to apply that and try to make the next steps to doing that,” Elliott said. “There’s so many good teams right now. The sport continues to grow and continues to be dominant. I told them we don’t need to play perfect, but we need to be good enough to win each night, and so that’s what we did tonight.”
They rallied around a strong team serving performance, as well as a 21-kill night from Stafford. Junior defensive specialist Ramsey Gary also had an impressive night, recording 12 digs and helping lead the team’s defensive effort.
With the Sweet 16 on the horizon, the Longhorns prepare to take on Indiana in the next round of the tournament.
