The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UCF
No. 5 Volleyball preview: at UCF
11.16.2023 | Volleyball
The Longhorns head to Orlando, Fla. for their final Big 12 road match.
No. 5 Texas Volleyball at UCF
Texas: 20-4 (15-1 Big 12) | UCF: 17-9 (8-7 Big 12)
Saturday, Nov. 18 – 1 p.m. CT
The Venue at UCF | Orlando, Fla.
THE MATCHUP
Texas leads the all-time series with UCF, 3-0, with all three meetings in Austin. This will be the first match in Orlando, Fla. and the first time the teams have played since the 2014 season. This match also marks the Longhorns' final ever road Big 12 match.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
After clinching the 2023 Big 12 title with two regular season matches left, Texas has won 29 conference championships, including 16 Big 12 titles and 13 Southwest Conference Championships. The 2023 title is a record seventh-straight Big 12 Championship for the Longhorns, who have won or shared 12 of the last 13 league championships and 15 of the previous 17. Texas departs the Big 12 Conference following the season, having won more league championships than any other program.
REIGNING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
The Longhorns entered the season as the reigning National Champions after defeating Louisville in straight sets to win the 2022 national title. Texas returns five starters from the title-winning team, including first team All-Big 12 players Asjia O'Neal, Molly Phillips and Madisen Skinner. The 2022 National Championship was the program's fourth after winning the AIAW title in 1981 and NCAA titles in 1988 and 2012.
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 17 seasons ranked in the top 10. The Longhorns have spent each of the last 217 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 14 of the last 17 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 17 regional semifinal appearances, the Longhorns have advanced to 16 NCAA Regional Finals, 11 National Semifinals and six National Championship matches.
TEXAS BLOCK QUEEN
Asjia O'Neal now holds the all-time Texas program record with 551 career blocks, surpassing Chiaka Ogbogu (2013-17) who compiled 537 total blocks in her career. O'Neal has averaged 1.20 blocks per set for her career but is having the best blocking season of her career in 2023 with 114 total blocks and 1.52 blocks per set. O'Neal has also been a part of six-consecutive Big 12 Championship teams, having red-shirted in 2018 and also utilizing the extra season due to the COVID year.
BLOCK PARTY
The Longhorns lead the Big 12 and rank fourth nationally with 2.94 blocks per set, led by Asjia O'Neal who ranks sixth nationally with 1.52 blocks per set. Texas has had double-digit blocks in 16 of the 24 matches this season. In addition to O'Neal, Bella Bergmark, Molly Phillips and Ella Swindle have been extremely effective blockers. The last time that Texas averaged over 3.00 blocks per set in a season was in 2017, led by Chiaka Ogbogu. The 1995 team holds the program record, averaging 3.66 blocks per set.
RANKINGS
Texas began the 2023 season as the No. 1 ranked team in the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Poll for the fourth time (2023, 2021, 2017, 2013). The Longhorns appeared in the top four of the AVCA preseason poll for the 17th-consecutive season and were ranked in the top two spots for the 10th time in the last 17 seasons. Texas has a 10-2 record against ranked opponents this season.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
A large part of the Longhorns winning 12 of the last 13 Big 12 Championships has come down to winning at home. Over the last 14 seasons, Texas has produced a 208-14 (.937) record in home matches. In that same span, the Longhorns have gone 113-1 in home league matches. The Longhorns' only home Big 12 loss since 2010 came against Oklahoma on Oct. 25, 2014. Texas has won 75-straight home matches in Big 12 play, dating back to the 2014 season. During that streak, the Longhorns have had 57 sweeps and only dropped a total of 23 sets.
ATTENDANCE
Texas will lead the Big 12 in attendance for the 13th-consecutive season with a current average attendance of 4,546 through 13 home matches this season. The Longhorns have also extended their sell-out streak to 25-straight matches dating back to last season. Texas finished last season with 12-straight sellouts at Gregory Gym and 14 overall. In the 2022 NCAA Regional Final against Ohio State, Texas set a Gregory Gym attendance record with a crowd of 5,344.
SKINNER HEATING UP
Madisen Skinner was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for back-to-back weeks after huge matches against nationally ranked Kansas and Houston. Since the start of Big 12 Conference play, Skinner has averaged 4.75 kills per set with a .306 hitting percentage in the 16 league matches. For the full season, Skinner ranks 10th nationally with 4.56 kills per set and with 5.26 points per set. Skinner also leads the team with 30 service aces this season and is second on the team with 178 digs.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Longhorns have won 38 of their last 42 road matches dating back to the 2019 season. Since the 2011 season Texas has produced a 119-22 (.844) record in true road matches, with only seven of those losses coming to unranked teams.
FIFTY SEASONS OF TEXAS VOLLEYBALL
The 2023 season for Texas Volleyball marks the 50th varsity season after the program began competing in 1974. The Longhorns competed in the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) from 1974-81 and won the AIAW National Championship in 1981. After transitioning to the NCAA, Texas became the first program east of California to win an NCAA title in 1988. In 49 seasons of volleyball, Texas ranks fifth nationally with 1,342 overall wins and is seventh nationally with a .772 winning percentage.
RANK AND FILE
UT owns a 149-59 (.716) record against ranked opponents over the last 20 seasons (2004-23) and boasts a 71-15 (.826) home mark against ranked opponents at Gregory Gymnasium (68-15) and the Frank Erwin Center (3-0) during that span. The Longhorns went 10-0 last season against ranked opponents.
PRESEASON AWARDS
Madisen Skinner was selected as the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year and was joined by Asjia O'Neal, Molly Phillips and Jenna Wenaas on the preseason All-Big 12 team. Skinner makes it the fifth time in the last six seasons a Longhorn has been picked as the preseason player of the year and marks the 16th overall time a Texas player has received the honor.
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
Texas landed six players on the AVCA All-American teams last season and returns three of those players for the 2023 season. Asjia O'Neal, who landed on the first team, is joined by third-team selection Madisen Skinner and Honorable Mention All-American Molly Phillips. Logan Eggleston (first team), Zoe Fleck (first team) and Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres (HM) also received All-America recognition last season.
USA VOLLEYBALL HALL OF FAME
Jerritt Elliott, the winningest coach in Texas Volleyball history, joined USA Volleyball's Hall of Fame in 2023. Elliott received USA Volleyball's All-Time Great Coach Award, which recognizes individuals for success and excellence in volleyball coaching over an extended period. With 561 wins at Texas, Elliott surpassed Mick Haley as the winningest coach in Longhorns' history. Elliott also picked up his 600th career win last season and entered the 2023 season with a career record of 611-122.
SPEAKING OF USA VOLLEYBALL...
Asjia O'Neal donned the red, white and blue over the summer, making her senior national team debut in the 2023 Volleyball Nations League. O'Neal, along with Chiaka Ogbogu, helped lead USA to a fourth-place finish at the tournament. Former Longhorns Logan Eggleston and Zoe Fleck also played for the national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2023 NORCECA Women's Pan American Cup. Eggleston and Fleck were also joined by new Longhorn assistant coach Cursty Le Roux, who served as an assistant coach for Team USA.
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.
