Upgrading Struggles Into Strengths in the First Two Rounds

For the 20th consecutive season, Texas is one of the final 16 teams in the field set to compete in the regional round, extending the longest such streak in college volleyball. Under the leadership of Jerritt Elliott, it almost feels like the Longhorns get a bye in the first two rounds and this year was no different.

Texas came away with dominant sweeps against both Florida A&M and the defending champions Penn State. Standout performances in the second round came from Torrey Stafford and Ramsey Gary. Stafford posted 21 kills hitting at a .556 clip, once again showing herself to be an elite NPOY-type candidate capable of leading a deep playoff run. Gary locked down the back row with 12 digs, flying everywhere in a way that was reminiscent of some of her non-conference matches. Both of those marks notch a season-high for these players among the 15 three-set matches Texas has played this year.

After the match, Coach Elliott said his team was "very consistent in every facet of the game" and retained their concentration through all three sets. He was not forced to call a single timeout the entire match, and the latest point in any set that Texas didn't hold a lead was 3-3 in the third. Whether that outcome is more an indicator of Texas' season or Penn State's season I'll let you decide, but there were signs pointing towards a deep playoff run for the Horns.

This season, if you had to pick out two weaknesses of the Longhorns, it would be the ability to create service pressure and blocking presence. This past weekend, both of these areas were strengths. Against Penn State, Texas was consistently forcing the Nittany Lions into poor-pass situations, and they struggled to score out of system. The Horns scored on their serve consistently over 50% throughout the match. In both matches, Texas imposed their will at the net with 9 stuff blocks in just three sets, with an even distribution across players.

None of that is a coincidence. Both the coaching staff and players have been spending a lot of time in practice being more intentional about these areas of their game. "They've just been growing and developing." said Coach Elliott. "That's what I like about this group. Every single thing that we've brought to the table, every system, they've really wanted to embrace that."

At the beginning of the season, Coach Elliott said he expected this team to get a lot better throughout the season especially with so many freshmen. They set a high bar in the first couple of weeks of non-conference play, but the team has continued to show that level of development. If they can sustain that production in these facets of their game, Texas is looking like a complete team with the ability to go the distance.