The No. 1 Longhorns proved that home court advantage didn’t matter as it swept Nebraska 3-0 in Lincoln to punch their ticket to the Final Four. It was the first time the Cornhuskers had been swept at home in 24 years. The Longhorns will face Wisconsin in Seattle on December 18. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]
“It was a great environment to be placed in,” junior outside hitter Haley Eckerman said. “To know that no matter what type of environment we’re in whether we’re at Nebraska with all their fans and them screaming against us, we know that we can play really well together and just trust ourselves.”
The Longhorns easily captured the win in set 1. They jumped out to an early 5-1 lead thanks to three kills. Texas came out of the first timeout firing, not letting the Cornhuskers gain any ground, pushing to a 21-14 leads as a result of several key blocks.
The Huskers scored three straight to bring the set to within four before the Longhorns then went on a 4-1 run to take the set 25-19 thanks to a kill by freshman Chiaka Ogbogu. Ogbogu finished with five kills in the opening set while Eckerman contributed six kills. Nebraska struggled on defense committing nine hitting errors and was blocked five times.
The second and third sets started slowly for the Longhorns. Nebraska jumped to an early, slim lead helped by a few miscues and errors by the Longhorns. Texas battled to a 14-12 lead but the Huskers came back pushing to an 18-16 lead. After a late timeout, the Longhorns came out with a 4-1 rally to go up 20-19 after two key blocks. The Longhorns picked up the 25-22 set two victory thanks to another block, the tenth of the match.
The two teams traded the lead early in the third set before Nebraska jumped to a 10-7 advantage. Errors by the Cornhuskers tied the game at 11-11. The set went back and forth up until match point. With the Cornhuskers keeping the set close, a kill by senior Bailey Webster brought up match point for the Longhorns. A kill by Nebraska brings the score to within one but a service error by Nebraska gave the Longhorns the set and match win with a set three score of 25-23. The win sends the Longhorns to Seattle to face Wisconsin in the Final Four on December 18.
“I’m just so proud of this team. We’re so fortunate to be going on,” Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott said. “It’s a very tough draw. We knew it when it came out. Sometimes you don’t get the draw that you want and you have to be able to deal with some adversity. This team did that. Now we have an opportunity to go back to Seattle and see what we can do.”
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