Full Speed to Nationals: Cugino and Mintonette Are Unstoppable

This past weekend, Associate Head Coaches David Hunt and Ben Josephson hit the recruiting trail at the Windy City Qualifier in Chicago. Among many other top-end athletes, future Longhorn from the 2026 class DS Emma Cugino was looking sharp. She led her team, Mintonette from Columbus, OH, to a championship in the 17 Open division.

Cugino's club team isn't the most physically dominant team out there, but they win with consistency and ball control. That's where the #1 Libero in the 2026 class comes in, as Cugino excels in serve receive and is able to routinely put her team in a good place to score. Another strength for the 5'8" Libero is on second contacts. She has a unique talent at running a secondary offense with her hands setting, and she even has experience at QB1 in times where her team's starting setter was injured.

Most importantly though, it's clear that Cugino knows how to win. Her team has now won the whole tournament in back-to-back National Qualifiers (Windy City, and Big South a few weeks ago). Mintonette battled through two tight matches in the semifinals and finals, winning the third set 15-12 in both matches on their way to a Gold Bracket victory. This team is rolling like a freight train with no brakes, and they'll be one to watch as Nationals come around at the end of June.

Coach Hunt mentioned an impressive amount of depth and top-level talent at the tournament this weekend. And this depth will be seen back-to-back weekends as the Lone Star Qualifier will attract a lot of the nation's top teams to Dallas this weekend. We're in the last few weeks of peak recruiting season as the June 15th deadline is rapidly approaching. At that point, coaches can officially reach out to contact 2027 recruits for the first time, and many of the top recruits will commit in the first few days after that opens up. Keep an eye out for information on Texas' recruit camps over the summer and what to expect as the deadline approaches.