No. 2 Texas volleyball knocks off UCSB in five sets, advances to Regional Semifinal

By James Schleicher
Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — In a barnburner of a match, some timely intense hits by middle blocker Brionne Butler and the call-in from the bench by head coach Jerritt Elliott of Autumn Rounsaville at libero served as the firing pins to ignite the Texas volleyball team’s fourth-set resurgence from a 2-1 deficit to storm to a five-set win over UC Santa Barbara Friday night. Texas won the match, 25-22, 19-25, 18-25, 25-18, 15-10, in front of a crowd of 3,767 to advance to the third round of the NCAA Championship.

“I’m just really proud of us,” outside hitter Logan Eggleston said. “I’m proud of the way we came together and battled at the end and forgot about those two sets that we lost. We kind of refocused and came out on top.”

After losing the second and third sets to fall behind[s2If current_used_can(access_s2member_level2)], 2-1, in the match, all of the momentum seemed to be flowing away from the Longhorns. Elliott said he felt like he had tried just about everything to revive his team.

“We had a lot of glassy-eyed looks and we were kind of down and out,” Elliott said, “and then I went for it.”

In a last-ditch effort, Elliott switched his lineup scheme away from the strategic matchups he thought would work best at the net, and also made a change at libero, from Sydney Peterson to Rounsaville.

“We knew it was just time to make a change, and you could just see the energy shift and it was just ‘Go, go, go, go’ at that point,” Butler said.

The Texas crowd got excited and back into the action when Texas took a 3-1 lead early in the fourth set. A few points later, Butler ignited her team with some stellar hitting when she got well above the net and hit balls which UCSB had little to no chance of returning.

“Whenever Bri does something amazing, it just hypes everyone up,” Eggleston said. “So her just coming in and doing what she does helps create even more energy for us.”

Rounsaville echoed the sentiment.

“She makes these big plays, but it’s her celebration afterwards that make so that everyone is like ‘OK, let’s go!’” Rounsaville said.

Texas looked like a team with new life in the fourth set and led by as much as six points. A combination block by Butler and Eggleston capped the 25-18 fourth set win.

Texas outhit UCSB, .462-.214, in the fourth set. Butler had five kills in the set and helped on four blocks. While Eggleston had seven kills and two block assists, Elliott said bringing in Rounsaville was the key as a stronger passing game lead to a higher hitting percentage.

“We’ve been giving her some looks in practice, and she’s been performing at a really good level,” Elliott said. “She’s matured a lot — we know that she can play. What’s so cool about this coaching stuff — obviously the wins and losses are what you’re evaluated on — but Autumn will never forget this moment.”

Donning the libero’s black jersey for the first time in a match for the Longhorns, Rounsaville said playing a pivotal role in this match meant a lot to her.

“This team has such great chemistry and I wanted to play with them again,” Rounsaville said. “Next week I’m ready to ball-out with them again. Tonight was a pretty special moment.”

With the score tied at 2-2, it all came down to the fifth set. The Gauchos jumped out to a 2-0 lead but Texas quickly tied it thanks to another Butler block. The squads then went point-for-point on points 3-7. Texas finally broke a lead at 9-7, and then expanded it to 10-7 with a White service ace. Down the stretch Texas outhit UCSB and a kill by Skylar Fields finished off the Gauchos at 15-10. Texas outhit UCSB .400-.136 in the fifth set.

On the night, Eggleston led the Longhorns in kills with 22, while outside hitter Micaya White had 17 kills. Butler posted her first career double-double with 14 kills and a career-high 11 blocks. The middle hit .522 for the match.

Elliott said he watched a team grow in front of his eyes in the match.

“They’re as good as they want to be,” Elliott said. “I wish I could say I had some sort of magic potion, but we got pretty firm with them, we got pretty relaxed with them, and none of that magic was working. Then they took it upon themselves and started creating that synergy amongst themselves. I give them all of the credit, it wasn’t anything that we did.”

The Longhorns will try to recreate that energy when they return to the friendly confines of Gregory Gym next Friday for the Regional Semifinal of the NCAA Championship when they will face Louisville, who upset No. 15-seed Western Kentucky, 3-2.
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