The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
18-6,13-3SEC
Ole Miss
17-11,7-9SEC
No. 14 Volleyball wins epic five-setter over Ole Miss
11.30.2024 | Volleyball
The Longhorns rallied from down 13-7 in the fifth set to secure a huge Senior Day win.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 14 Texas Volleyball put together an epic rally to take down Ole Miss in five sets, 26-28, 27-25, 25-23, 21-25, 17-15, in the Senior Day on Saturday at Gregory Gymnasium.
The Longhorns (18-6, 13-3) trailed 13-7 in the fifth set before using an epic rally to complete the comeback and send off the five seniors with a win. Keonilei Akana, Soah Franklin, Reagan Rutherford, Madisen Skinner and Jenna Wenaas played in their final regular season home match on Saturday.
Texas had five players finish with double-digit kills as Averi Carlson spread the offense around. She dished out 58 assists and posted a double-double with 15 digs.
Devin Kahahawai had a career match, starting in Skinner's absence due to illness, finishing with 19 kills and 10 digs with a .312 hitting percentage. Reagan Rutherford posted 16 kills, while Jenna Wenaas finished with 13 kills.
Both middle blockers finished with career highs as well as, Marianna Singletary had a 12 kills and five blocks and Ayden Ames posted 11 kills and added five blocks.
Emma Halter led the back line with 18 digs, while Keonilei Akana had 11 digs.
Ole Miss rallied to win the opening set, 28-26, as the Rebels hit .375 in the set. Both teams were efficient offensively in the set, with Texas hitting .364. Rutherford and Kahahawai both had five kills in the set.
Texas trailed nearly the entire second set, as Ole Miss jumped out to a 17-12 lead before the Longhorns clawed their way back. Singletary did everything she could to help Texas rally, with five kills in the set to help tie it up at 24-all. From there, the Longhorns won it 27-25 to even the match at one set apiece.
The third set went back-and-forth throughout before the Longhorns were able to win it 25-23 and take their first lead of the match.
Texas had a chance to put the match away in the fourth set, leading 21-20. But Ole Miss finished the fourth set on a 4-0 run to send the match into the fifth set.
Ole Miss stormed out to a big lead in the fourth set and led 8-3 early before Texas used a 4-0 run to cut it to 8-7. The Rebels came right back though and grew their lead to 13-7. Texas then completed an epic comeback by closing the match on a 10-3 run, fending off five match points in the process.
Texas with now turn its attention to the NCAA Selection Show to learn their tournament seeding on Sunday at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN.
