Texas volleyball advances to NCAA quarterfinals for 11th consecutive season

By Steve Habel, Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — Sometimes, you’ve got to just win a point or make a play when it counts to most.

As simplistic as that notion sounds, the University of Texas volleyball team’s ability to come through in the clutch was the difference — and the tiniest of differences, at that — in the fourth-ranked Longhorns’ 25-23, 25-14, 24-26, 22-25, 16-14 win Friday over 13^th-seeded BYU in the NCAA Austin Regional semifinal inside venerable Gregory Gym.

The Longhorns had this match won, then looked as if they gave it away before finding the combination of “emotional intelligence” and belief in itself to roar past the unrelenting Cougars and earn a berth in the Regional final.

Texas won the first two sets. The first one went back and forth while the second was a near-walkover for UT, before the Cougars answered by winning the third and fourth sets. With momentum clearly on its side, BYU set the pace in the deciding fifth set, winning the first five points, the final two of which came on service aces byMary Lake.

The Cougars led, 12-7, to get within three points of winning  the match, before the Longhorns [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]roared back, winning four straight points on a kill by freshman outside hitter Micaya White, back-to-back slamdowns by junior outside hitter Ebony Nwanebu and a slashing kill from senior outside hitter Prieto-Cerame to bring the Longhorns to within 12-11. Prieto-Cerame then tied the set with another kill, but BYU responded with two straight points to move to match point.

“Most teams would have probably given up when they were down, 12-7, but we are not like most teams,” Nwanebu said. “We always believed we could come back and we took things ball by ball, point by point.”

With their backs firmly to the wall, the Longhorns dug deep and then dug even deeper. First Nwanebu ripped a kill and White added the equalizer with a down-the-line rocket. Now even, the momentum shifted again, this time into UT’s favor.

Another kill by Nwanebu gave Texas the lead at 15-14, before BYU’s Amy Boswell jumped high at the net and pounded an attempted kill that landed just outside the side line, giving the Longhorns the win and setting off a joyous celebration from the team and its fans.

“You know, everybody thought we were down and out, down 12-7, and I give my team a lot of credit for the belief in making plays and executing at the end,” Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said while trying to keep his emotions in check.

“It’s part of this tournament that some games come down to one or two points. But we made those plays, and at the end, to give us an opportunity to advance, and so we live to breathe another day and keep pushing on.”

With the victory, Texas (25-4) earned a berth in college volleyball’s Elite Eight for the 11^th consecutive season and for the 22^nd time in school history. The Longhorns are seeking their fifth straight trip to the Final Four.

The Longhorns will play Creighton at 7 p.m. Saturday; the unseeded Bluejays earned their first NCAA quarterfinals bid with a 24-26, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 15-7 over Michigan. The winner of Saturday’s match will earn a berth in NCAA volleyball’s championship Final Four, to be held Dec. 15 and 17 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

White led the Longhorns with 24 kills, while Nwanebu recorded 19, Prieto-Cerame added 16 and Morgan Johnson had 11 kills. Setter Chloe Collins dished out 70 of UT’s 79 assists, and four players had double-digit digs: libero Cat McCoy (23), White (20), Collins (19) and libero Autumn Rounsaville (14).

McKenna Miller and Whitney Howard paced the Cougars (29-4) with 16 and 15 kills, respectively, with Boswell adding 14, Lacy Haddock garnering 13 and Veronica Jones-Perry with 12 kills for BYU.

The first set was tied at 16 before BYU ran off four of the ensuing five points, the final two on kills by Miller, to take a 20-17 lead and put Texas in dire straits. White responded for the Longhorns with back-to-back-to-back kills that retied the set at 20, but the Cougars understood where their bread was buttered and fed Miller for another kill that pushed them back into the lead.

Jones-Perry ripped a kill down the middle of the Texas defense and Haddock and Howard combined for a block to push BYU’s advantage to 23-21. Just when you thought the Longhorns were at the end of their rope, White reeled off a kill and then an ace to tie the set again. Texas then closed out the first set in style as Prieto-Cerame recorded consecutive kills and a 25-23 Longhorns win.

Losing the first set took any wind out of the Cougars’ sails and Texas’ sharp and confident play made sure BYU stayed in the doldrums while posting a 25-14 win in the second set. The Longhorns rode the continued excellence from White (she had six kills in the set), got some opportunistic swings from Prieto-Cerame and rode the dominance in the middle of the court from Johnson while hitting .412 in the set.

UT’s defense, which at times this season has taken a while to get warmed up, was stellar in the second set, as BYU hit .000 on 20 swings.

BYU regained its stride in the third set, leading throughout until a combo block by Collins and Nwanebu granted the Longhorns a 19-18 lead. Later a swooping, left-handed kill by Collins and another strong hit in the middle by Johnson put Texas on the transom of victory at 24-22 before the Cougars showed their mettle, winning the next four points to capture the third set at 26-24 and avoid the sweep.

“Even though we were down, our team did a really good job at staying in the present and being really calm, and just trusting that if we do the things that we do, eventually the ball will drop our way, because sometimes the ball just doesn’t drop your way,” BYU libero Mary Lake said.

The Cougars’ determination was also on display in the fourth set, as BYU rode the momentum it gathered from the final stages of the win in set three and took it right to the Longhorns. BYU led 20-14 before Texas won got a kill from White and a Cougar attack error to pull within 20-16. The two teams jockeyed for points in the final stages of the set until Boswell slammed down a short-set from the middle to hand BYU a 25-22 fourth-set victory and set the stage for the epic conclusion.
[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [article-offer] [/s2If]