Orange crushed: Stanford outlasts Texas in four sets to win NCAA volleyball title

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Texas volleyball team forged a berth in this year’s national championship match by improving by leaps and bounds throughout the season and by just being more physically talented than its first five opponents in the NCAA tournament.

But the dream of winning it all died on the vine when the Longhorns ran into Stanford, an opponent that was just too tough to handle. The Cardinal, riding the 18 kills of Amanda Plummer and a redwood-like line of defense, beat Texas, 25-21, 25-19, 18-25, 25-21 at Nationwide Arena to win its record-tying seventh title and first in 12 years.

The Longhorns, who fought valiantly, came up short [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]in the final match for the second straight season. Many were surprised that Texas even got this far, but the Longhorns expected to win, especially after dominating top-ranked (and nemesis) Nebraska Thursday in a three-set sweep.

“We didn’t take care of first contacts early on and our setting locations were really off in the first game,” Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott said. “It was difficult for us to get going, so we had to change some things up. We just became a lot more predictable.

“I’m so proud of the way this group fought. In late October, I don’t think anyone would have thought we would be in the finals, so we did a lot that was unexpected to get here.”

Inky Ajanaku (who was voted the tournament’s most valuable player) and Audriana Fitzmorris added 16 and 10 kills, respectively, for the Cardinal (27-7), while Jenna Gray distributed 51 assists and Morgan Hentz pulled up 27 digs.

Texas (27-5) was led by outside hitter Micaya White’s 17 kills. Ebony Nwanebu added 16 kills and Yasmin Bedart-Ghani had 11 while playing half of the match out of position. Setting Chloe Collins directed 46 assists and libero Autumn Rounsaville paced the Longhorns with 18 digs. White and Nwanebu earned NCAA all-tournament honors.

“We tried to hit high hands against their blocks and make them move around some and we had some success, but not enough,” White said. “This was an up-and-down season, but we came together and got stronger as we went on. Now we need to go back to work and find a way to take the next step forward.”

Texas led early, 9-4, but Stanford responded with a run of its own to surge to the front at 14-12. The Longhorns then scored three straight points, the final two on kills by White and Nwanebu, to take a 15-14 lead. Texas eventually assumed a 19-17 lead but the Cardinal rushed back, forging a 6-2 run and then won the first set, 25-21, as Ajanaku had two kills and a combo block with Ivana Vanjak.

Stanford outhit Texas .216-182 in the first set. After having just eight hitting errors in the semifinal win over top-ranked Nebraska, the Longhorns had six in the first set against Stanford, all by the usually reliable Paulina Prieto Cerame.

Texas fought back from a 12-7 deficit in the second set to take a 15-14 lead on the strength of three kills and a block from White and two kills from Nwanebu. A service error by White and a kill attempt by Morgan Johnson that never made it over the net allowed Stanford to tie the set, and the Cardinal continued on to win the next five points as part of a 7-0 run to take control. Fitzmorris and Plummer each had three kills on the spurt.

When the Longhorns were called for a net violation on set point, Stanford won 25-19 and went to intermission with a 2-0 lead in sets. The Cardinal held a .366-.206 advantage on hitting in the second set and a .295-.192 hitting edge in the first two sets combined.

The Longhorns, desperate to turn the tide to start the third set, inserted freshman Orie Agbaji to the outside hitter position and moved Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani to the outside left from her normal spot at middle blocker. The change forced the Cardinal to adjust, and it did (it is Stanford, after all) and the score eventually was knotted 6-6.

Texas was energized by the change and the thought of being swept, and built a 16-10 lead. That advantage grew to 21-13 on a kill from the middle of the court my White and another by Nwanebu. Stanford cut the lead to 21-16 before Elliott called a timeout try to ebb the Cardinal’s run, and it worked as Bedart-Ghani set the Longhorns back on course with a kill. Two kills by Nwanebu garnered Texas a 25-18 third-set victory.

Whatever flame of hope the Longhorns gained from the third set was reduced to a flicker by Stanford when it won the first six points of the fourth set. Texas fought back to within 13-8 on a kill by Morgan Johnson but 6-foot-8 defensive specialist Merete Lutz ripped a kill on a severe angle to put the Cardinal back in control.

The Longhorns would not go away, cutting the Stanford lead to 20-16, but two straight points but the Cardinal out Texas into dire straits. At set point at 24-19, Texas made one last run; Plummer’s 18th kill of the night bounced off two Longhorns blockers and out of bounds granting the Cardinal the national championship.

“After winning the way we did in the third set, we kind of let up a little bit in the fourth set and they took advantage of it,” Nwanebu said. “We never panicked, but we just got too far behind. I will be hungry to do whatever I can do for us to win a championship next year — it’s my last chance.”

So what will it take to get that one more win that has eluded the Longhorns the past two years? Elliott said he thinks the pieces will be in place … and said he’s sick of finishing second.

“I’m devastated that we didn’t win this match because we came in here believing that we could get it done,” Elliott said. “It just stinks always going home with the silver medal or bronze medal. We are ready to take the next step forward and we have the talent to do that.”

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