The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#7 Ohio State
No. 2 Volleyball preview: at No. 7 Ohio State
08.24.2022 | Volleyball
The Longhorns open the season with a pair of road matches against the Buckeyes.
No. 2 Texas Volleyball at No. 7 Ohio State
Texas: 0-0 | Ohio State: 0-0
Friday, Aug. 26 – 7 p.m. CT | Saturday, Aug. 27 – 7 p.m. CT
Covelli Center | Columbus, Ohio
THE MATCHUP
Texas and Ohio State meet for the first time since 2002 and the Longhorns hold an 8-1 advantage in the series all-time. The Buckeyes won the first ever meeting between the teams in 1979 but the Longhorns have won the last eight in the series. Texas is 2-0 against Ohio State in Columbus (2002 and 1993).
PRESEASON RANKINGS
Texas begins the 2022 season as the No. 2 ranked team in the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Longhorns appear in the top four of the AVCA preseason poll for the 16th-consecutive season and are ranked in the top two spots for the ninth time in the last 16 seasons. Texas, who was picked first in the Big 12 Coaches' Poll for the 12th consecutive year, is one of three Big 12 teams in the top-25 as Baylor came in at No. 16 and Kansas is ranked No. 23. The Longhorns will open the regular season against a slew of ranked teams – No. 7 Ohio State, No. 5 Minnesota and No. 14 Stanford.
PRESEASON AWARDS
Logan Eggleston was selected as the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year for the second-consecutive season and was joined by Asjia O'Neal, Zoe Fleck and Madisen Skinner on the preseason All-Big 12 team. The Longhorns were picked first in the Big 12 Preseason Poll for the 12th consecutive season and the 15th time in program history.
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).
NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Logan Eggleston was recognized as the 2021 VolleyballMag.com National Player of the Year, marking the fourth time that a Texas player has been named the publication's national player of the year after Destinee Hooker (2009) and Haley Eckerman (2012 and 2013). Eggleston was also 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 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.
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.
RANK AND FILE
UT owns a 129-57 (.694) record against ranked opponents over the last 18 seasons (2004-21) and boasts a 60-13 (.822) home mark against ranked opponents at Gregory Gymnasium (57-13) and the Frank Erwin Center (3-0) during that span. Last season, Texas went 5-2 against ranked opponents with wins over San Diego, Minnesota, Stanford, Baylor and Washington.
CONSISTENT SUCCESS
Texas is the only Division I volleyball program to have ended each of the last 16 seasons ranked in the top 10. 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 16-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.
EFFICIENCY
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. Texas hit .334 in 2020 to finish third in the nation and that mark was the fifth-best in Longhorn history. The 2019 team also led the nation with a .325 hitting percentage, which is the sixth-best in Texas history.
ACE IN THE HOLE
The Longhorn service game was lethal last season, ranking second in the nation with a program record 2.20 aces per set (218 aces in 99 sets). Melanie Parra led the Big 12 and ranked sixth nationally with 60 aces (0.61 per set). Parra's 0.61 aces per set also set a program record. Logan Eggleston added 44 aces last season and Asjia O'Neal finished with 36.
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.
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 in 2021. Last season, Texas ranked fourth nationally and first in the Big 12, with an average attendance of 3,626. The Longhorns also set a single match Gregory Gym attendance record with a crowd of 5,080 for the NCAA Regional Final match against Nebraska. For the season, Texas had six crowds of more than 4,000 at Gregory Gym.
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.
ELLIOTT MAKES TEXAS HISTORY
On Oct. 22, 2021 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 .830 winning percentage is the best in program history.
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.
