By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — There’s little if any room for error in the upper echelon of college volleyball, a fact that Texas coach Jerritt Elliott understands far too well.
Just take a look at the Longhorns’ non-Big 12 schedule and its string of powerhouse opponents, and it’s easy to see the importance of scheduling opponents who add credibility when it comes time to determine seedings for the NCAA playoffs come December.
The third-ranked Longhorns[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] are doing their part in the first week of the 2019 campaign. The most recent example is UT’s scintillating 25-22, 29-27, 35-33 win Wednesday over No. 8 Minnesota at Gregory Gym.
The difference in the match? Seven points over three sets, two of which were extended. That’s how close things were, and an example of the limited margin of error at the top of the college game.
“[It is] so great to get tested like that in the early season,” Elliott said. “You think you have a special group and it sometimes just takes the test of time and I thought tonight we proved a lot. We made some huge plays. The team just battled and stayed steady. They were calm throughout.
“Obviously a huge win for us and the way we did it couldn’t have been any better.
Texas went 23-5 last year, with three of its losses coming against highly ranked programs in its first eight matches. Those early-season defeats, and a loss at Kansas in the Big 12 season, relegated the Longhorns to a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Championship, and denied them the chance to host a regional. Instead, they were forced to play at Brigham Young, the fourth-seeded team, and fell short of the volleyball version of the Final Four with a loss to the Cougars.
No one said that formula is fair, especially with teams usually being stronger at the end of the season than at the beginning, but Elliott is playing the odds. If the Longhorns (3-0) play and beat strong teams before they move into conference, the tough schedule has to carry an impact when the playoffs come around.
So far, so good. Before knocking off the Golden Gophers Wednesday, Texas beat Northern Iowa, which received votes in the AVCA preseason coaches’ poll, in four sets in its season opener and then repeated the 3-1 victory Sunday over No. 14 USC.
The victory Wednesday was UT’s first at home against a top-10 non-conference opponent since a Sept. 4, 2015, win over then-No. 4 Nebraska. The Longhorns’ most recent home win over a team ranked in the top 10 was Sept. 24, 2016 against Big 12 rival Kansas, then ranked eighth in the nation.
Micaya White led the Horns Wednesday with 16 kills, 14 of the them in the final two sets, while Logan Eggleston added 15 kills and freshman Skylar Fields nailed 10. Jhenna Gabriel distributed 46 assists while Sydney Peterson recorded 17 digs and Asjia O’Neal paced Texas with seven block assists.
“This showed how we are going to battle for each other,” White said. “We needed to be pushed and we responded. This was a good confidence booster for us. We saw that we can be down and fight back and win.”
The Longhorns fought back from a 19-17 deficit in the first set, winning eight of the final 11 points to prevail, 25-22. An ace by White capped the comeback victory, was also aided by seven Minnesota errors. Eggleston led the way with for Texas with five kills on eight swings in the game and added a pair of aces and two digs.
Set 2 was about as exciting as they come, with the Longhorns again fighting from behind, this time from 24-20, to outlast the Golden Gophers, 29-27. Minnesota had a set point and the serve but the Longhorns reeled off four straight points on White’s serve, surviving thanks to a reversed call at 24-23 and tying the set on a Gophers’ error.
After Minnesota (1-2) moved to 25-24 on a kill by outside hitter Adanna Rollins, Texas won the next two points and never trailed again in the set, winning on back-to-back kills by Eggleston and White.
“We all had a belief in each other and there was this calm vibe,” O’Neal said.
As good as the second set was, the third set was even better. The Longhorns trailed by as many as four points early on and eventually staved off nine set points, refusing to relent to Minnesota and winning, 35-33, to sweep the match.
The early-season gauntlet for Texas continues Sunday when it plays at top-ranked and defending national champion Stanford. The Longhorns then square off Sept. 13 against 13th-ranked Brigham Young University — the team that dispatched them last season in the NCAA quarterfinals — in Wichita, Kansas.
UT’s next home match is Sept. 20 against Texas A&M.
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