The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#15 Washington
No. 2 Volleyball preview: NCAA Regional
12.08.2021 | Volleyball
The Longhorns host No. 15 Washington on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Gregory Gymnasium.
No. 2 Texas Volleyball vs. No. 15 Washington
Texas: 26-1 (15-1) | Washington: 26-4 (17-3)
Thursday, Dec. 9 – 6:30 p.m. CT
Gregory Gymnasium | Austin, Texas
NCAA Regional Schedule
Dec. 9 – 6:30 p.m. – #15 Washington vs. #2 Texas
Dec. 9 – 8:30 p.m. – Illinois vs. #10 Nebraska
Dec. 11 – 9 p.m. – TBD
THE MATCHUP
Texas holds a 4-1 advantage all-time against Washington. The teams have not played since the 2006 season and this is the first postseason meeting between the teams. The Longhorns lost the only match-up in Austin, 3-2, in 2000. Against Illinois, Texas is 7-7 all-time and 2-3 in matches played in Austin. Nebraska leads the all-time series with Texas, 32-24, but the Longhorns hold a 13-10 advantage in Austin and won last season's NCAA Regional Final match-up in Omaha.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TALK
Texas is making its 16th-consecutive NCAA Regional Semifinal ("Sweet 16") appearance, the longest active streak in the country. This is the program's 38th NCAA Tournament appearance and the Longhorns have a 103-35 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament. In 32 previous Regional Semifinal appearances, Texas has advanced to 25 NCAA Regional Finals, 13 NCAA Semifinals and eight National Championship matches. The Longhorns have won a total of three National Championships in program history. UT captured the AIAW National Championship in 1981 and also won NCAA Championships in 1988 and 2012.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
After clinching the 2021 Big 12 title, Texas has won 27 conference championships, including 14 Big 12 titles and 13 Southwest Conference Championships. The 2021 title was the fifth-straight Big 12 Championship for the Longhorns, who have won or shared 10 of the last 11 league championships and 13 of the previous 15.
ATTENDANCE
After a season away from Gregory Gymnasium in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Longhorns were happy to return to one of the best atmospheres in the country. This season, Texas ranks fourth nationally and first in the Big 12, with an average attendance of 3,481. The Longhorns also had one of their largest crowds in program history, with 4,422 in attendance on Nov. 12 against Oklahoma. The crowd was the third largest all-time at Gregory Gym and the seventh largest in program history.
EFFICIENCY
Texas leads the nation with a .347 hitting percentage this season. Brionne Butler leads the Big 12 and ranks second nationally, hitting .474, while Molly Phillips is hitting .398, Asjia O'Neal is at .384, Skylar Fields is hitting .339 and Logan Eggleston is hitting .307. All five 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 this season, currently ranking second in the nation with 2.28 aces per set (205 aces in 90 sets). Melanie Parra leads the Big 12 and ranks fourth nationally with 56 aces (0.62 per set) and Logan Eggleston has 43. Asjia O'Neal has 30 aces and Nalani Iosia is fourth on the team with 26. In all, Texas has six players with 20 or more aces.
BACK-TO-BACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Logan Eggleston is the AVCA Southwest Region Player of the Year for the second-consecutive season. The Longhorns have previously had Chiaka Ogbogu (2017) and Micaya White (2018) win the award. Eggleston is also the first back-to-back recipient of the Big 12 Player of the Year award since Longhorn great Haley Eckerman won the award three-straight seasons from 2012-14. A Texas player has been named the league's Player of the Year in 10 of the last 12 years.
AVCA ALL-REGION
Including Region Player of the Year Logan Eggleston, the Longhorns had six players named to the AVCA All-Region teams. Eggleston, Brionne Butler, Skylar Fields, Jhenna Gabriel, Asjia O'Neal and Molly Phillips were all named to the team, making them eligible for All-America honors. Additionally, head coach Jerritt Elliott was named the AVCA Southwest Region Coach of the Year, his sixth career Region Coach of the Year award.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
A large part of the Longhorns winning 10 of the last 11 Big 12 Championships has come down to winning at home. Texas has won 59-straight home matches in Big 12 play, dating back to the 2014 season. During that streak, the Longhorns have had 46 sweeps and only dropped a total of 16 sets. Over the last 11 seasons, the Longhorns have gone 95-1 in home league matches. The Longhorns' only home Big 12 loss since 2010 came against Oklahoma on Oct. 25, 2014.
BLOCK PARTY
Over the last 14 matches, the Longhorns are averaging 9.0 blocks per match and opponents are averaging 3.25 per match. With this recent block surge, Texas ranks No. 22 nationally with 2.58 blocks per set. The Longhorns are also holding opponents to a .162 hitting percentage this season, which leads the Big 12 and ranks fifth among Power 5 teams.
ALL-BIG 12
Including Big 12 Player of the Year Logan Eggleston, the Longhorns had six players named to the All-Big 12 teams. Brionne Butler, Skylar Fields, Jhenna Gabriel and Asjia O'Neal joined Eggleston on the first team, while Molly Phillips landed on the second team. Additionally, head coach Jerritt Elliott was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the eighth time in his career.
RANK AND FILE
UT owns a 128-56 (.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 4-1 against ranked opponents with wins over San Diego, Minnesota, Stanford and Baylor. The Longhorns have gone 14-1 against RPI Top-50 teams with a pair of Top-50 opponents still on the schedule, in Kansas State and Texas Tech.
ELLIOTT MAKES TEXAS HISTORY
On Oct. 22 at Iowa State, Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott won his 523rd match at Texas, making him the winningest coach in Texas Longhorns Volleyball history. He surpassed Mick Haley, who won 522 matches at Texas from 1980-96. Elliott's career .829 winning percentage is the best in program history.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Longhorns have won 21 of their last 22 road matches dating back to the 2019 season. Since the 2011 season Texas has produced a 102-19 (.843) record in true road matches, with only four of those losses coming to unranked teams. The Longhorns' last two road losses have been against top-10 ranked Baylor.
HONDA INSPIRATION AWARD WINNER
Asjia O'Neal was named the winner of the 2021 Honda Inspiration Award, presented annually by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA). O'Neal recovered from open heart surgery in 2020 to help lead Texas to the runner-up finish at the NCAA Tournament. The heart surgery took place in January 2020 and was her second to repair a leak in her mitral valve, a condition she was born with. The surgery, which lasted more than eight hours, was extremely successful and there was no more leakage. O'Neal worked back to full strength and finished second in the Big 12 Conference with a .411 hitting percentage to go with 222 kills. She was named first team All-Big 12 and first team AVCA All-Region, as well as an Honorable Mention All-American. She also excelled in the classroom, being named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team as a Corporate Communication major.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Capping an incredible year filled with numerous honors, Logan Eggleston was named the 2021 Big 12 Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The award came after Eggleston was already named the Big 12 Conference and AVCA Southwest Region Player of the Year, as a well as a First Team AVCA All-American. A management major, Eggleston has a 3.57 cumulative GPA and is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree.
FIVE RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
Texas returned five players who landed on the AVCA All-American teams in 2020, led by first teamers Logan Eggleston and Brionne Butler. Additionally, Jhenna Gabriel was named to the third team and Skylar Fields and Asjia O'Neal received Honorable Mention All-America accolades. Eggleston and Butler received their third All-American recognition, after being named second team All-Americans in 2019 and receiving honorable mention as freshmen in 2018.
