Back in August, Texas volleyball earned its second win of the 2025 season against the then-No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers on the road.
This early game helped build the foundation for a remarkable regular season, one in which Texas embraced one of the hardest non-conference schedules in the country and accumulated 11 sweeps on its way to a 21–2 record.
However, what the Longhorns couldn’t have known in August was that the Badgers would be the ones to terminate their season in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament.
“They served incredible, they hit incredible, blocked really well, passed really well,” senior libero Emma Halter said following the matchup in Gregory Gymnasium on Sunday. “They just had an amazing game, and they played better than us.”
The Badgers found success in reading the Longhorns’ defense, finding holes to target in their attack. Dropping just one set to Texas, Wisconsin spent much of the matchup making it look easy to predict Texas’s next move.
Wisconsin senior outside hitter Mimi Colyer finished the game with 23 kills, achieving a level of control on the court that no Texas player came close to on Sunday.
However, being outperformed at the individual level probably isn’t what the Longhorns recognize as the most painful part of the loss. Junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford identified what hurt her the most after the matchup.
“Losing sucks, but I think what sucks most is not being able to wake up tomorrow [and play],” Stafford said. “We had a phenomenal group of girls and players, and I think the hardest part is not being able to continue.”
Multiple seniors have officially wrapped up their careers in burnt orange, including Halter, who the team has relied on in a variety of ways throughout this year — and throughout her career at large.
“It’s hard to replace her,” head coach Jerritt Elliott said. “I don’t know how, not just as a player, but as a person. She’s someone that means a lot to me in this program, and (I’m) just crushed that I can’t get her to the Final Four right now.”
While the Badgers were the ones to emerge from this matchup with the opportunity to advance, what Halter, Stafford and other Texas players cultivated this season has the potential to make a lasting impact. Multiple freshmen earned significant minutes all season long, including against the Badgers in the Elite Eight.
“(The freshmen) came in incredible, so I feel the best thing that I could’ve given to them was just being a good mentor and being a good leader for them and giving them positive encouragement,” Halter said. “When you come in as a freshman, especially in this program, and you’re starting, that’s a lot of pressure. So, just kind of being the person to lift them up is something that they can carry with them for their next three years.”
Fans will have to wait until August to watch this team take the court again.
But when the time comes, they will be ready to fill the stands at Greg just as they did on Sunday.
