The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Preview: No. 3 Volleyball Host FAMU in First Round of NCAA Tournament
12.03.2025 | Volleyball
Texas hosts 21st-straight first and second round
THE MATCHUP
This weekend's matches marks the Longhorns 42nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the 22nd-straight under Head Coach Jerritt Elliott. Texas owns a 116-37 (.758) record in the postseason.
The Longhorns welcome Florida A&M, USF and No. 25 Penn State to the Forty Acres for the First and Second Round. Texas will face the Rattlers for just the fourth-ever time and own a 3-0 lead against FAMU. All three matches were sweeps for Texas, including the last matchup in 2014. Should the Longhorns win, they'd face the winner of USF or Penn State. Texas would face USF for just the second time and try and improve to 2-0 against the Bulls.
Penn State owns a 10-9 records against the Longhorns. Texas has one the last two meetups, but the Lions own the 7-3 record in the last 10 matches. The Longhorns traveled to State College last season for the Regional Round and lost its first match against Creighton. The Nittany Lions are the defending NCAA Champions. Saturday's matchup could feature the last three National Champions.
LEADING LONGHORNS
Texas leads the nation in kills per set (14.88) and assists per set (13.93). UT also ranks fourth in the NCAA with a .310 hitting percentage - first in the league.
SEC HEAVY HITTERS
Longhorns' Ayden Ames is fifth in the conference with a .386 hitting percentage this season and Torrey Stafford (.350) ranks 10th overall. Stafford ranks second in kill per set with 4.68 and 11th in the NCAA. Stafford is also 10th in aces per set (0.30). Ella Swindle is ninth in assists per set at 9.10 & Emma Halter ranks 10 in digs per set (3.57).
ELLIOTT'S SUCCESS
Jerritt Elliott is the most successful coach in Texas Volleyball history with an overall record of 632-124, good for an 84% win percentage. And postseason success is no different. Elliott boasts an 82-21 record in postseason matches. Elliott's Longhorns have hosted the First and Second Rounds every year since 2004. 2005 was the last time the Longhorns didn't advance to the Regionals.
CURRENT RANKED WINS
The No. 3 ranked Longhorns owned the toughest non-con schedule in the country. Texas' nine ranked wins (No. 12 Creighton, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 6 Stanford, No. 4 Louisville, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 9 TCU, No. 21 Baylor, No. 21 Missouri, and No. 17 Tennessee) is the most through 14 games in program history and surpassed the number of ranked wins last season (5). After the win over No. 6 Texas A&M at the SEC Championship semifinal match, the Longhorns own 10 ranked wins - six in the top-10. Texas holds the second strongest RPI behind Nebraska.
BEAT THE BLOCK
Texas has improved its blocking in the back half of the season. In its last five matches, the Longhorns have totaled 51.5 blocks, whereas the previous five tallied only 30. In the semifinal match against No. 6 Texas A&M, Ayden Ames recorded a career high eight blocks to help Texas finish the match with its season high 15 total. Ames surpassed her single season record of 88 blocks in the match against Kentucky and now has 90 on the season.
RANKED SUCCESS
UT owns a 168-65 (.721) record against ranked opponents over the last 21 seasons (2004-25) and boasts a 76-16 (.826) home mark against ranked opponents at Gregory Gymnasium and the Frank Erwin Center (3-0) during that span. The Longhorns are now 1-0 against ranked opponents when playing at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. The Longhorns finished 5-3 last season against ranked opponents.
DOUBLE DOUBLE MACHINE
In 26 matches, Torrey Stafford has recorded 11 double doubles in the Burnt Orange uniform. She totaled six during the entire 2024 season and only four her freshman season at Pitt. Ella Swindle is second on the team with six, while Emma Halter and Cari Spears each have one. To compare, Madisen Skinner led the Longhorns last season with eight total.
STAFFORD'S DIFFERENT LEVEL
Torrey Stafford's 454 kills is the most by a Longhorn in a single season since Madisen Skinner's 547 in 2023. Skinner record 463 kills in 28 matches. Stafford has 10 less after 26 matches.
ROAD HORNS
The Longhorns have won 62 of their last 66 road matches dating back to the 2019 season. Texas went on a 13-0 run on the road after two seasons in road conference matches in the SEC before suffering its first loss at Texas A&M (10/31). Before that, the last true road conference loss came against Kansas State (Big 12) on Nov. 8, 2023, marking 14-straight road conference wins for UT. Since the 2011 season Texas has produced a 134-24 (.848) record in true road matches, with only seven of those losses coming to unranked teams.
TWENTY DUBS
Texas has recorded 20 or more wins in 22-straight seasons under Jerritt Elliott. There has been nine seasons under Coach Elliott with just two regular season losses.
SPEARING THE COMPETITION
Freshman Cari Spears has recorded 322 kills, averages 3.32 per set and is hitting .291 in her first 26 collegiate starts. Only Mangelson from Mississippi State has more kills per set in the conference as a freshman. Spears is the first true freshman since Logan Eggleston to record 300 kills since 2018 after 28 matches and 100 sets.
SEARCHING FOR 300
After Cari Spears recorded 300 kills in the win over Texas A&M, Texas now has two Longhorns with 300 or more kills and is the first time since 2023 with Skinner and Wenaas. There has been 10 seasons since 2013 the Longhorns have had at least two players record 300 or more kills in a single season and had nine straight from 2015-2023.
ALL-SEC LONGHORNS
Torrey Stafford and Cari Spears were named to the All-SEC First Team and SEC All-Tournament Team, while Emma Halter was named to the All-SEC Second Team. Spears was also named to the All-Freshman Team and was joined by Taylor Harvey and Abby Vander Wal. The Longhorns earned 20 weekly awards to close out the season:
Emma Halter - Player & Defensive Player
Torrey Stafford - Player of the Week x3
- Offensive Player x4
Cari Spears - Freshman of the Week x5
- Player of the Week x2
Ella Swindle - Setter of the Week x3
Abby Vander Wal - Freshman of the Week
Texas was the lone team in the conference who has won five-straight weeks of freshman of the week (Sept. 8 - Oct. 6) honors. Spears was one of two athletes in the conference this year with five individual weekly honors in the same category. There has only been eight freshmen since 2005 to have five or more honors and just four with more than five.
DOUBLE 'S' WATCH LIST
Torrey Stafford, a 2024 AVCA First Team All-American, was named a 2025 AVCA National Player of the Year Semifinalist. It marks back-to-back years Stafford has been named a semifinalist. Freshman Cari Spears was added to the AVCA Player of the Year watch list after her breakout start to the season with the Horns. She was the first freshman named to the Watch List in two years.
MILESTONES COLLECTED AND TO WATCH
Torrey Stafford recorded a career high with 32 kills in the win at Auburn and has surpassed her 1200th career kill and is 10 digs away from 700 career digs. Stafford set a new single season career high in kills with 412 in the win over Ole Miss. Ella Swindle surpassed 2200 career assists against Kentucky at the SEC Championship. Emma Halter moved into No. 9 on the UT All-Time career digs list with 1,257 - just 10 behind No. 8.
TEXAS DRAW
In the second match of the season, Wisconsin hosted the Longhorns in front of 11,678 fans for a then-fifth highest attended match in Badger history. The fans followed UT when they traveled to Houston and broke Rice's attendance record with 3,017 people. Later in the season, Georgia set its then-season high in attendance at 4,518. Last on the list, Mississippi State set their then-12th highest attended match with 962 fans. Texas continued to draw attention when they won at Ole Miss with the then-season high attendance total of 1,035. Baton Rouge was no different with Texas helping LSU set its third-largest attendance in Tiger history with 2,632 fans. Texas set the LSU attendance record in 2024 with 3,885. All eyes were on the Lone Star State in the Cotton Holdings Showdown when Reed Arena set a new attendance record at 9,801 fans. Texas drew 5,790 fans to Gainesville for the second-largest crowd for the Gators this season.
ABBY VANDER WAL(L)
Freshman Abby Vander Wal has recorded double digit kills in 14 of the 26 matches this season, including a career high 21 on the road at Ole Miss and hit over .400. Against one of the toughest defenses in the NCAA, Vander Wal recorded 19 kills and hit .389 at Texas A&M.
