The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Iowa State
No. 1 Volleyball preview: at Iowa State
10.20.2021 | Volleyball
The Longhorns head back on the road to face Iowa State on Thursday and Friday.
No. 1 Texas Volleyball at Iowa State
Texas: 15-0 (6-0) | Iowa State: 12-5 (4-2)
Thursday, Oct. 21 – 6:30 p.m. CT | Friday, Oct. 22 – 7 p.m. CT
Hilton Coliseum | Ames, Iowa
THE MATCHUP
Texas leads the all-time series with Iowa State, 47-5, and holds a 19-5 advantage all-time in Ames. The Longhorns have won eight straight in the series, with the Cyclones' last win in five sets in Ames during the 2016 season. Last season Logan Eggleston was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week after back-to-back sweeps of the Cyclones. She totaled 30 kills and 5.0 kills per set, while hitting .409 in the two matches.
RANKINGS
Texas remains as the No. 1 ranked team in the 2021 AVCA Poll for the eighth-consecutive week. Returning nearly the entire roster from the team that finished as the NCAA runner-up last season, Texas was picked first in the Preseason AVCA Coaches' Poll. The Longhorns are one of two Big 12 teams in the top-25 as Baylor sits at No. 11.
UNDEFEATED
With a 15-0 start to the season, the Longhorns are one of two remaining undefeated teams. Louisville is out to an 18-0 start and sits second in the AVCA poll. Pittsburgh started the season 15-0 before dropping its first match on Oct. 10. Last season, the Longhorns started the season 20-0 before dropping their only regular season match.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
A large part of the Longhorns winning nine of the last 10 Big 12 Championships has come down to winning at home. Texas has won 55-straight home matches in Big 12 play, dating back to the 2014 season. During that streak, the Longhorns have had 42 sweeps and only dropped a total of 16 sets. Over the last 11 seasons, the Longhorns have gone 91-1 in home league matches. The Longhorns' only home Big 12 loss since 2010 came against Oklahoma on Oct. 25, 2014.
EFFICIENCY
Texas ranks third nationally with a .330 hitting percentage this season. Brionne Butler leads the Big 12, hitting .433, while Asjia O'Neal is hitting .409, Molly Phillips is at .368 and Skylar Fields is hitting .332. All four players rank in the top-10 in the Big 12. Last season, Texas hit .334 on the season to finish third in the nation. That mark was also the fourth-best in Longhorn history. The 2019 team led the nation with a .325 hitting percentage, which is the fifth-best in Texas history. The Longhorns hit over a .300 clip in each of the last six seasons from 2015-20, all ranking in the top-10 single season marks in program history.
ACE IN THE HOLE
The Longhorn service game has been lethal early this season, currently ranking third in the nation with 2.20 aces per set (112 aces in 51 sets). Melanie Parra leads the Big 12 with 33 aces and Logan Eggleston has 26. Asjia O'Neal has 18 aces and Nalani Iosia is fourth on the team with 15. In all, Texas has six players with seven or more aces so far this season.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Longhorns have been great on the road too, winning 16-straight road matches dating back to the 2019 season. Since the 2011 season Texas has produced a 97-18 (.843) record in true road matches, with only four of those losses coming to unranked teams. The Longhorns' last road loss was in five-sets at then-No. 3 Baylor in 2019.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Skylar Fields was named the AVCA National Player of the Week and the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week following the back-to-back sweeps of West Virginia. Fields finished with 31 kills and hit .537 over the two matches. Logan Eggleston and Skylar Fields were the back-to-back recipients of the Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week award, Sept 7 and Sept. 14. Eggleston was awarded on Sept. 7 following wins over No. 10 Minnesota and No. 20 Stanford. She had 30 total kills (4.29 kills per set) and finished with 17 digs, six blocks and one service ace. Fields won the award after wins over Texas State, Arizona and Notre Dame in which she totaled 43 kills and a .380 hitting percentage.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
After clinching the 2020 Big 12 title, the Longhorns have now won 26 conference championships, including 13 Big 12 titles and 13 Southwest Conference Championships. The 2020 title was the fourth-straight Big 12 Championship for the Longhorns, who have won or shared nine of the last 10 league championships and 12 of the previous 14.
RANK AND FILE
UT owns a 127-55 (.696) record against ranked opponents over the last 18 seasons (2004-21) and boasts a 59-12 (.829) home mark against ranked opponents at Gregory Gymnasium (56-12) and the Frank Erwin Center (3-0) during that span. So far this season, Texas is 3-0 against ranked opponents with wins over San Diego, Minnesota and Stanford.
