The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#4 Louisville
No. 1 Volleyball preview: NCAA National Championship
12.16.2022 | Volleyball
The Longhorns make their ninth appearance in the national championship match and sixth in the last 14 years.
No. 1 Texas Volleyball vs. No. 4 Louisville
Texas: 27-1 (15-1) | Louisville: 31-2 (17-1)
Saturday, Dec. 17 – 7 p.m. CT
Chi Health Center | Omaha, Nebraska
THE MATCHUP
Texas holds a 3-1 record all-time against Louisville, with the Cardinals winning the last meeting in the 2019 NCAA Regional Semifinal. The two teams also met in the 1994 postseason, with Texas winning the first-round match. Prior to 2019, the Longhorns last played Louisville in 2012 and won in five sets before going on to win the National Championship in Louisville, Ky. Logan Eggleston, Asjia O'Neal and Molly Phillips all played in the 2019 loss to the Cardinals.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TALK
Texas is making its ninth NCAA National Championship match appearance and its sixth in the last 14 seasons. This is the program's 39th NCAA Tournament appearance and the Longhorns have a 109-36 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament. In eight previous NCAA National Championship matches, the Longhorns have won two NCAA Championships in program history in 1988 and 2012. Prior to the NCAA, UT captured the AIAW National Championship in 1981.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCES
No team has made more National Championship match appearances than Texas over the last 14 seasons. The Longhorns under head coach Jerritt Elliott have played in six championship matches since 2009, more than Penn State and Nebraska with four. Texas also made its 10th appearance in the Final Four since 2008, the most over that stretch.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
After clinching the 2022 Big 12 title, Texas has won 28 conference championships, including 15 Big 12 titles and 13 Southwest Conference Championships. The 2022 title is a record sixth-straight Big 12 Championship for the Longhorns, who have won or shared 11 of the last 12 league championships and 14 of the previous 16.
AVCA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
After leading the Longhorns back to the National Championship match, Logan Eggleston has been named the AVCA National Player of the Year. Eggleston is the first Texas player to receive the award, which was first presented in 1985. The Brentwood, Tennessee native has led the Longhorns to a 27-1 record and into the national championship match for the second time in her career. Eggleston leads Texas with 4.22 kills per set, hitting .295 and has a team-high 42 service aces. In the postseason, Eggleston has averaged 3.83 kills per set with a .321 hitting percentage.
AVCA ALL-AMERICANS
Texas landed six players on the AVCA All-American teams, led by first team selections Logan Eggleston, Zoe Fleck and Asjia O'Neal. Madisen Skinner was also named as a third team All-American and Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres and Molly Phillips both received Honorable Mention honors. This marks the first time in program history that Texas has had three players named to the AVCA First Team.
EFFICIENCY
Texas currently leads the country with a .335 hitting percentage, led by Asjia O'Neal, who ranks third nationally with a .436 hitting percentage. Last season Texas tied a program record and led the NCAA with a .343 team hitting percentage. That mark matches the 2007 team for the best in school history. The Longhorns have hit over a .300 clip in each of the last seven seasons from 2015-21, all ranking in the top-10 single season marks in program history.
CONSISTENT SUCCESS
Texas has been the model of consistency for well over a decade now, being the only Division I volleyball program to have ended each of the last 16 seasons ranked in the top 10. The Longhorns have spent each of the last 203 AVCA polls ranked in the top 10, while the last time Texas was not ranked in the top 10 was Oct. 11, 2010. The Longhorns have also finished in the top 5 in 13 of the last 16 seasons, including 11-straight years from 2008-18. Texas also has the nation's longest active streak of NCAA Regional Semifinal ("Sweet 16") appearances with 17-straight. Of the last 16 regional semifinal appearances, the Longhorns have advanced to 15 NCAA Regional Finals, 10 National Semifinals and five National Championship matches.
BIG 12 AWARD WINNERS
Logan Eggleston is the Big 12 Player of the Year for the third-consecutive season, while Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres is the Big 12 Setter of the Year, Zoe Fleck is the league's Libero of the Year and Jerritt Elliott is the Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career. Eggleston joins Longhorn great Haley Eckerman as a three-time Player of the Year, as Eckerman won the award from 2012-14. A Texas player has been named the league's Player of the Year in 12 of the last 14 years. Fleck is also receiving her third-straight Libero of the Year Award after winning the Pac-12's annual award in 2020 and 2021.
THREE-TIME PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Logan Eggleston joined Haley Eckerman as the Longhorns' only three-time Big 12 Players of the Year. Eggleston, who holds the Longhorns career aces record, ranks third all-time at Texas with 1,902 kills, 4,529 attempts and 2,268 career points. Her 1,902 kills also rank eighth in Big 12 history.
ACE QUEEN
Logan Eggleston became the Texas and Big 12 Conference all-time leader in career aces, currently with 208 service aces, surpassing Mira Topic (2001-04) who had 185 service aces in her Texas career. Topic, who played in 432 career sets also holds the program record with 0.43 service aces per set. Eggleston is currently averaging 0.42 aces per set over her 486 career sets played. Eggleston surpassed Baylor's Taylor Barnes (2006-09) for the Big 12 record.
THE FLECK EFFECT
Zoe Fleck has made an instant impact this season, starting every match at libero and averaging 4.41 digs per set. Fleck is the Big 12 Libero of the Year Year after being named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week three times this season. Texas has not had a player average 4-plus digs per set since Cat McCoy set a program record with 4.41 digs per set in 2017. McCoy, the Texas' all-time career digs leader, was named Honorable Mention All-American in 2017 and to the All-Big 12 second team in 2015 and 2017.
QB1
In her first season as the Longhorns' starting setter, Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres has been named the Big 12 Setter of the Year. She quarterbacked the Texas offense to the nation's top hitting percentage at .335, the sixth-most assists per set nationally at 13.51, and the eighth-most kills per set with 14.38. Ka'aha'aina-Torres also leads the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally with 11.31 assists per set. In 2019 at Utah, Ka'aha'aina-Torres averaged 11.33 assists per set and led the Utes to the NCAA Regional Semifinal. She was named an Honorable Mention All-American in both 2019 and 2020.
RANK AND FILE
UT owns a 138-57 (.708) record against ranked opponents over the last 19 seasons (2004-22) and boasts a 64-13 (.831) home mark against ranked opponents at Gregory Gymnasium (61-13) and the Frank Erwin Center (3-0) during that span. The Longhorns are 9-0 this season against ranked opponents.
THE LOSS
The Longhorns were the country's last remaining undefeated team before falling in five sets at Iowa State, snapping a 20-match regular-season winning streak dating back to last season. Texas last lost to Iowa State in 2016 in Ames, before rattling off eight-straight wins to advance to the national championship match and finishing runner up. Prior to that, the Longhorns lost to the Cyclones in 2012 in the regular season finale before going on to win the national championship.
THE ROSTER
Texas returns seven players from the 2021 squad, including three All-Big 12 players, and welcomes one of the nation's best recruiting classes featuring five freshmen and six transfers. The familiar faces of Logan Eggleston, Asjia O'Neal and Molly Phillips all return. Of the freshmen, three are top-50 ranked recruits with Emma Halter and Gatorade State Players of the Year Devin Kahahawai and Marianna Singletary. The group of transfers includes three players who have received All-America recognition, Zoe Fleck (UCLA/UCSB), Madisen Skinner (Kentucky) and Kayla Caffey (Nebraska/Missouri). The other three transfers all played significant roles at their previous schools, Jenna Ewert (Colorado), Bella Bergmark (Cal) and Keonilei Akana (Nebraska).
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
A large part of the Longhorns winning 11 of the last 12 Big 12 Championships has come down to winning at home. Over the last 13 seasons, Texas has produced a 197-12 (.943) record in home matches. In that same span, the Longhorns have gone 105-1 in home league matches. The Longhorns' only home Big 12 loss since 2010 came against Oklahoma on Oct. 25, 2014. Texas has won 66-straight home matches in Big 12 play, dating back to the 2014 season. During that streak, the Longhorns have had 53 sweeps and only dropped a total of 17 sets.
ATTENDANCE
Texas currently ranks fifth nationally and first in the Big 12, with a program record average attendance of 4,364. The Longhorns have had 12-straight sellouts at Gregory Gym and 14 overall this season. In the NCAA Regional Final against Ohio State, Texas set a Gregory Gym attendance record with a crowd of 5,344. Last season Texas ranked fourth nationally, with an average attendance of 3,626. For the season, Texas had six sellouts at Gregory Gym in 2021.
RANKINGS
Texas ended the regular season ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Coaches' Poll and spent 13 total weeks in the top spot this season. The Longhorns began the 2022 season as the No. 2 ranked team in the preseason poll before spending eight-straight weeks ranked No. 1. Texas appeared in the top four of the AVCA preseason poll for the 16th-consecutive season and was ranked in the top two spots for the ninth time in the last 16 seasons. Since 2019 the Longhorns have spent 35 total weeks ranked No. 1. Texas, who was picked first in the Big 12 Coaches' Poll for the 12th consecutive year, is one of two Big 12 teams in the top-25 as Baylor checks in at No. 17.
ALL-BIG 12
For the first time in program history, Texas placed a record six players on the All-Big 12 First Team. The Longhorns' award winners Logan Eggleston, Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres and Zoe Fleck were joined by Asjia O'Neal, Molly Phillips and Madisen Skinner. Eggleston, O'Neal and Skinner were all unanimous selections to the first team.
AVCA ALL-REGION
Including three-time Region Player of the Year Logan Eggleston, the Longhorns had six players named to the AVCA All-Region teams. Eggleston, Zoe Fleck, Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres, Asjia O'Neal, Molly Phillips and Madisen Skinner 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 seventh career Region Coach of the Year award.
