No. 1 Texas Volleyball fell to No. 12 Wisconsin Thursday night in the semifinal round of the NCAA Championship Tournament. The Longhorns (27-3), who were trying for their second straight title, [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] were sent home early from Seattle after the 1-3 loss. The Badgers (28-9) will face No. 2 Penn State in the title match Saturday night – Wisconsin is the lowest seed to advance to the championship match.
The Longhorns struggled throughout the match, going into the intermission down 0-2. They battled back and won set three by a slim margin to force the match into extra sets. After leading most of the fourth set, a late push by Wisconsin overwhelmed the Longhorns sending the Badgers to the finals.
Wisconsin out-killed Texas 60 to 46 while turning in seven service aces to the Longhorns’ two. The Longhorns outhit the Badgers .156 to .131 while committing fewer errors and out blocking the Badgers 19-10. Junior Haley Eckerman led the Longhorns with 17 kills and 14 digs, her 11th double-double of the season. Senior Hannah Allison also had a double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs, her fifth of the season.
Senior Bailey Webster, last year’s tournament most outstanding player, struggled offensively throughout the game, not registering a kill until deep into the second set. Webster finished the night with only seven kills and a hitting clip of .148.
Wisconsin took control early in set one, leading by seven points. The Longhorns battled back to bring the score to 20-19 before the Badgers went on a 5-0 run to win set one 19-25. Texas started slow again in the second set allowing Wisconsin to push to a 5-13 lead. The Badgers went on to cruise to a 18-25 set two victory, the Longhorns unable to get within six.
Texas came out of the intermission firing, building a lead over Wisconsin before allowing the Badgers to push to an 8-9 lead. The two teams traded the leads until the set tied up at 24-all. Wisconsin was at match point before Webster came out with a kill. Eckerman knocked down another to put the Longhorns up 27-26 before a Wisconsin hitting error gave the Longhorns the 28-26 set three victory.
The Longhorns maintained a slim lead over the Badgers in the fourth set playing to a 14-14 tie. A kill by freshman Chiaka Ogbogu and block by junior Khat Bell put Texas up by two before Wisconsin tied the set again at 21-all. The teams traded scores before back-to-back kills by Wisconsin ended the set 23-25 in favor of the Badgers.
The loss ended the Longhorns’ 23-match win streak, tied for the second-longest in school history.
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