Texas Sweeps Florida A&M, Prepares For Reigning National Champions

Texas did exactly what most people expected them to do in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a dominant sweep over Florida A&M, and it was Emma Halter's day from beginning to end. Apparently, she just woke up on the right side of the bed, saying "I felt really good from earlier today in warmups, I was just like I've got a feeling today. It's tournament time, it's live or die, so I'm trying to get every ball off the floor that I can."

Halter posted an astounding 25 digs, a Texas program record for number of digs in a three-set match. Texas has the dominating physical presence at the net, but after the match, Florida A&M was actually more complimentary of the Texas back row defense and how they were consistently going all-out to get balls up off the floor. The star performance brings Halter up to the 8th most digs all-time in program history, and she continues to be on record watch going forward:

     5. Dagmara Szyszczak (1987-90) - 1370

     6. Sarah Palmer (2010-13) - 1333

     7. Heather Kisner (2006-09) - 1323

     8. Emma Halter (2022-25) - 1268

With up to five matches remaining in her career as a Longhorn, Halter is 65 digs away from 6th all-time and 102 digs away from 5th all-time in Texas history. Just another storyline to keep an eye on this December. If she can continue waking up on the right side of the bed, there may be something special brewing here.

Heading into bracket play, there was a certain nervous excitement among the team that you only get from this "live or die" volleyball where the NCAA comes in and rolls out the Taraflex. But Torrey Stafford says "I feel like we play really well when we have nerves." It showed on the court, as the Horns maintained their focus and consistency throughout the night regardless of score. After the match, Emma Halter says the team kept reminding themselves in the huddle to have "more urgency" to stay focused and maintain the leads they had built.

Playing with the lead allowed a bunch of faces to see the court. Anja Kujundzic and Kenna Miller came in as serving subs. Taylor Harvey hit .333 playing in the third set. And Whitney Lauenstein subbed in as both an OPP and an OH, getting 5 kills on 7 swings and being involved in 4 of Texas' 9 blocks on the night. On her development this season, Coach Elliott said "I think she's gotten a lot more consistent with the game, I think her energy at practices has been really good... she's obviously a very good blocker for us, and she's getting a lot more comfortable out there."

The win sets up a second-round match against the defending national champions, Penn State. They have two players that are among the best in the country at their respective positions in OPP Kennedy Martin and L Gillian Grimes. Although everyone knows their season hasn't gone the way they hoped, Katie Schumacher-Cawley and the Nittany Lions have a proven track record of knowing how to win in December.

Texas was busy during the first match of round one scouting Penn State vs South Florida, and Coach Elliott reports "We didn't see anything different from what we've seen on film, and they're gonna see the same thing they've seen with us. So tomorrow's about execution." Execution and slowing down Kennedy Martin, that is. Coach Elliott highlighted how Penn State uses her everywhere on the court, saying "She's got great versatility, she swings one rotation on the left and is very good in that rotation. She's really good out of the backcourt, and she's also very diverse from the right side... She can hurt you in a lot of different areas."

The Longhorns will have to make sure they are locked in and ready to go in round two. Fortunately, the team has recent experience playing on consecutive days in the SEC tournament, so they are prepared for the moment. Emma Halter added that the hardest part of playing back to back days is the mental aspect and "staying locked in for every single set," so that is priority #1 for the Horns in the round of 32.