Forty Acres Insider: April 15

Chris Del Conte head shot 2025

Longhorn Nation,

We're feelin' oh so good my friends after another week packed with victories, thrilling finishes, fan-fueled energy and that patented Texas Fight from the first inning to the final set. It's all gas, no brakes as we've hit mid-April folks! More championship seasons are commencing, and what a WEEK WE'VE GOT IN STORE FOR YOU with a plethora of events right here on the Forty and Easter Weekend on the horizon. No. 6 Women's Golf is in Florida competing for an SEC Championship as we speak, conference titles will be on the line for No. 3 Men's Tennis and No. 14 Women's Tennis later this week, while Baseball, Softball and Beach Volleyball will all be taking to the field and the sand right here in the ATX as the spring seasons continue to heat up. And we've got some Spring Volleyball for you too with the Orange-White scrimmage on Wednesday night (7 p.m. CT) at The Greg as well as all the deets in place for what promises to be a phenomenal Fan Day to celebrate you — the best fans in the land — on Saturday, April 26! So, here's to seeing y'all, getting those Horns up High and hoping everyone has a fantastic family-filled Easter Weekend as well.

what's better than a week spent with the Horns? 🤘#HookEm | @SeatGeek pic.twitter.com/TD3xNttoDS
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) April 14, 2025

As we prepare to stampede ahead, we're here to CELEBRATE ANOTHER GREAT WEEK that was for our Longhorns. What a glorious day on the water we had at Lady Bird Lake on Saturday morning as our No. 1-ranked Rowing squad put the pedal to the medal in rowing past 13th-ranked Michigan. Our crews were sensational, and I can't thank y'all enough for rising and shining with our Horns on what was a beautiful morning with calm waters, perfect racing conditions and lots of cheering for our defending National Champions. From the awesome new Boat House March tradition to sweeping all four races against the Wolverines, Coach O'Neill and our Horns brought their powerful punch and were absolutely in sync with every stroke, defending our home waters in dominant fashion. They'll be home for a final regular season competition in a couple weeks as we host the Longhorn Invite, April 25-26, at Lake Walter E. Long against a stacked field. Mark those calendars and come on out and support this amazing team!

defended our home waters 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/8ntUNIqOf6
— Texas Rowing (@TexasRowing) April 12, 2025

No. 14 Women's Tennis got our weekend off to a fantastic start on a magnificent Longhorn Friday at the Texas Tennis Center with scintillating 4-2 win over the nation's No. 1-ranked team, Georgia. Coach Joffe and the squad that's back at full force followed that up with a 4-1 home victory over No. 21 South Carolina to make it five wins in-a-row and are storming into the postseason on a big-time heater! Coach Berque and the No. 3-ranked men have been steady eddy all season long and they closed out the regular season by splitting a pair of matches on the road. Despite missing three regulars due to injury, our Horns dug deep to first take down Georgia 4-2 on Friday and followed that by coming up just short at No. 17 Tennessee on Sunday. That closed out year one in the league for our SEC regular season outright Champs with a 13-1 record in league play. Now it's on to the postseason and the SEC Championship Tournaments this week with the men in Columbia and women in Auburn. HERE'S TO TAKING DEAD AIM ON SEC TENNIS TITLES!

As we near conference tourney time it's time for some more FUN IN THE SAND AND SUN with No. 8 Beach Volleyball back at home this weekend, closing out the regular season with the Lone Star Invitational at the Wright-Whitaker Sports Complex on Friday and Saturday. What a first, full-fledged season it's been for Coach Metzger and our squad and this weekend's your chance to show them some love as they put in the final tune-ups before traveling to Baton Rouge for the CCSA Championship tourney next weekend. Y'all have brought the juice to our newest and truly exciting sport to watch so let's do this one more time for 2025 my friends. See you at the Beach!

BASEBALL KEPT THE GOOD TIMES ROLLIN'! Coach Schloss and our Horns put their road warrior caps on and notched another SEC series win, making it five-for-five on the year and pushing our record to 13-2 in conference play. And don't look now, but the Longhorns are the consensus NUMERO UNO team in the country this week. That makes it NINE different programs here on the Forty Acres that have earned a No. 1 national ranking at some point during the 2024-25 season! It took a ton of grit and determination to hold off a feisty Kentucky team at home, winning two of three games with the lone loss being a 15-inning heartbreaker on Saturday. The pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas will not be entrusted to the weak or the timid my friends! With a 29-5 overall mark, we're back in the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field this week with UTRGV here tonight (6:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) and No. 8 Auburn on Thursday through Saturday. Meanwhile, Coach White and No. 3 Softball will be looking to bounce back after a hard-fought series loss against No. 5 Tennessee at Red & Charline McCombs Field last weekend. After a 3-0-win Friday night, we dropped a pair of tough ones on Saturday and Sunday but know we'll get up, dust ourselves off and be ready to take on another top-10 team with No. 9 LSU in town for a series this Thursday-Saturday. That's a whole lot of Baseball and Softball on the Forty this weekend and can't wait to see you at the yard!

total team effort 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/CEQxl5kOt3
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) April 13, 2025

WHAT STARTS HERE! And before we get to all the notes, here's to all our Longhorns that were a part of the LOVB Austin Volleyball claiming the first-ever league championship on Sunday. What a thrilling race to the finish it was, and we couldn't be prouder of the Horns in the Pros (count 'em up folks, there was nine Longhorns on this historic title-winning squad)! The Eyes of Texas are Upon Us y'all! So here we go, let's have a great week, wonderful Easter weekend and get those Horns Up and Hook 'Em!

YOUR FIRST EVER LOVB CHAMPIONS 🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/APIBlmQqfm
— LOVB Austin Volleyball (@lovbatx) April 13, 2025

Join us for Football Fan Day on Saturday, April 26!

We can't wait to see Longhorn Nation back at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium for Football Fan Day on Saturday, April 26. It's our day to celebrate YOU, our loyal fans! And we've got so much going on starting with the annual Team Shop Fire Sale at 9 a.m., where you will find our largest collection of gear not previously available to the general public ready for purchase. The day's activities continue at 10 a.m. with the opening of our Texas Football Street Fest on the north end of the stadium, featuring the "greatest hits" of Bevo Blvd, Smokey's Midway, and Hook `Em Hangout with rides, inflatables games, photo ops, and more. You can even get your photos with the Golden Hat and the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown trophies!

Also at 10 a.m., we invite all of our fans inside Gates 8, 14, 16, and 25 to come onto Campbell-Williams Field. We'll have plenty of on-field experiences for kids ages 12 and under such as agility skills, quarterback challenge, 40-yard dash, and "Dress Like A Longhorn." Our Texas Traditions Bevo XV, Smokey the Cannon, Texas Cheer, Texas Pom, and Hook `Em will all be on the field for photo ops beginning at Noon as well.

Coach Sark and our football student-athletes have been hard-at-work this spring and look forward to capping off spring practice with y'all. The players will sign autographs on the field starting at approximately 12:15 p.m., and we ask that all fans interested in autographs line up in designated lines via Gate 8 and Gate 25 respectively. It'll be the first opportunity to get the official 2025 Texas Football schedule poster, and this will be the only item that players will be signing. Coach Sark will also be available for photo ops with the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl trophy on the south end of the field.

It's gonna be an incredible day and FREE for all to attend! I look forward to seeing all the Burnt Orange and White pride back at DKR one last time before the fall.

Fan Day is two weeks away!

Join us Saturday April 26 in DKR 🤘 pic.twitter.com/VtxfixK3GO
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) April 12, 2025

Tailgate with us at the Comal Street Block Party this Saturday

Saturday is a big day for our Softball and Baseball programs as they close out respective SEC series against No. 9 LSU and No. 8 Auburn. Come out early and tailgate with us at the Comal Street Block Party from 9 a.m. until Noon. We'll have Big Beertha serving up the best brews on tap, a food truck, inflatables for kids ages 12 and under and tailgate games. In addition, Bevo will be popping by around 9:45 a.m. for photo ops! It's F-R-E-E to attend so come on out and get the "Texas Fight" going early as we get set for a big day on the Forty Acres!

Baseball wins 11th consecutive conference series, moves up to No. 1!

As we mentioned earlier, there's a new No. 1 team in college baseball! Coach Schloss and the guys continued their incredible season with another series win at Kentucky and improved to 29-5 overall (13-2 SEC)! The Longhorns claimed their 11th consecutive series victory, which marks our longest streak in league play since a stretch that spanned from April 2011 to April 2012. Schloss' crew opened the weekend with some patented Texas Fight on Friday night, as the Longhorns scored five runs across the seventh and eighth innings to rally for their ninth straight SEC win. After totaling a career-best five RBI during last Tuesday's victory over Houston Christian, second baseman Ethan Mendoza drove in four runs while the pitching staff combined to strike out 14 Wildcats in Friday's win. The Longhorns dropped a 15-inning marathon on Saturday in heartbreaking fashion, getting walked off by Kentucky, but our guys punched right back in Sunday's series finale. The Horns fended off a late Wildcat fight to notch a 5-4 series-securing win. With both teams' pitching staffs depleted following the five-hour and 12-minute contest less than 24 hours before, right-handers Ruger Riojas and Grayson Saunier shouldered the load for the Longhorns. We've got four home games this week at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, so plan your calendar and get out to the ballpark. Texas hosts UTRGV on Tuesday (6:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) before playing a three-game set against No. 8 Auburn on Thursday (7 p.m. CT/SEC Network+), Friday (7 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) and Saturday (2 p.m. CT/SEC Network+).

consensus No. 1 📈#HookEm pic.twitter.com/0djnKFWZiG
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) April 14, 2025

Softball looks to bounce back in top-10 home SEC series matchup against LSU

It was a tough weekend at Red & Charline McCombs Field as our Longhorns dropped their first SEC series of the season to No. 5 Tennessee. The three-game series started off well on the right shoulder of Teagan Kavan, as the sophomore limited the Vols offense to just two hits during the 3-0 win on Friday night. But then the timely hits never came for our Longhorns during Saturday and Sunday's games as the Vols picked up 3-1 and 4-1 wins, respectively, to close out the weekend. Like Coach White said, though, the team's destiny is still in front of them and everything they are striving for is still out there for the taking. The No. 3 Longhorns are right back at it against another top-10 opponent in No. 9 LSU for a three-game series at McCombs Field on Thursday (4:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+), Friday (4:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) and Saturday (11 a.m. CT/ESPN2). Longhorn Nation, let's pack McCombs and cheer our ladies on to victory!

there's only one four-year P4 player with ...

2⃣0⃣0⃣+ career hits
1⃣0⃣0⃣ + runs scored
1⃣0⃣0⃣ + career RBI
5⃣0⃣ + career stolen bases#HookEm | @miakscottt pic.twitter.com/TeXtqCqYbe
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) April 12, 2025

Women's Tennis takes down top Dawgs, both programs head to SECs

What a beautiful weekend it was at the Texas Tennis Center as Coach Joffe and our Horns had even better results than the weather with TWO top-25 wins, starting with taking down No. 1 Georgia on Friday! As our fabulous senior Sabina Zeynalova told the media earlier in the week, there's just some magic that happens at the TTC. While I'm on the subject of seniors, let me divert for a second and send a huge THANK YOU and HOOK 'EM to both Sabina and Vivian Ovrootsky for all they've done for our program, including both being a part of the 2022 Natty! Congrats on great careers on the 40, ladies, even though we've got a great shot at hosting more matches in the NCAAs! Back to the action from this weekend, the top-ranked Bulldogs came to town, and both you and the team showed up and showed out and delivered them just their second loss of the season and their first in the SEC. Starting with a doubles point where all three teams for Georgia were ranked, our Horns topped two of them for the point and then tacked on a couple more ranked singles wins on our way to the victory! Not only was it a great win, but it set the stage for a winner-take-all Sunday match against No. 21 South Carolina to determine the 8 seed and oh-so important first-round bye for the SEC Championships in Auburn next week. The Gamecocks slipped by against us in a tightly contested doubles point, but it was one, two, three, four straight-set wins in singles to clinch the weekend sweep and make it five-straight Ws! Now it's on to Auburn where they'll play the winner of that same South Carolina squad and Mississippi State on Thursday (6 p.m. CT)!

For the men, their spot as the top seed in the SEC Championship had already been solidified, and they finished a stretch of four road matches that ended the regular season with trips to Athens and Knoxville. Missing several key injured players for both matches, Coach Berque and the guys showed all of that TEXAS FIGHT in winning one of the two and even had a late path to get both of them before coming up just short against No. 17 Tennessee for their first conference loss on Sunday. However, they had first gone to No. 31 Georgia and combined with the women for a Friday sweep of the Bulldogs. I did this last week, but it bears repeating under the circumstances where I'm sending a special shoutout to Evan Burnett, who stepped into the lineup again due to those injuries and clinched both doubles with Jonah Braswell and the whole shebang, and he came darned close to winning again against the Vols. However, 13-1 in your first season in the SEC is not too shabby, and we're excited for our first SEC tournaments for both programs with the men heading to Columbia, S.C. for theirs. With a double bye, they'll get things going on Friday (2 p.m. CT) against the winner of 8 seed Auburn and 9 seed Kentucky. Let's go get 'em, Longhorn netters!

we 🫶 our seniors! 🤘

#HookEm pic.twitter.com/KjIQAoA0hb
— Texas Women's Tennis (@TexasWTN) April 13, 2025

No. 1 Rowing sweeps Michigan

It was a picture-perfect Saturday on Lady Bird Lake as Coach O'Neill's squad showcased why they're the top team in the land by sweeping No. 13 Michigan in all four races. It started off with a successful boat sendoff from the Texas Boathouse and continued with a boisterous crowd marching from the Boathouse to the Texas Rowing Center to cheer on the Horns. The Texas I Four dazzled and cruised to an open-water victory in 7:04.062 for the first victory of the morning, before the fans saw a commanding performance by the II Eight to win in 6:32.278. The Texas First Varsity Eight joined in on the fun after crossing the finish line in 6:11.924, and In the grand finale, the Texas II Four poured it on to win in 7:06.594. Save the date for the Longhorn Invite on April 25-26 at Lake Walter E. Long, as Texas will tussle with the Canadian National Team, No. 2 Stanford, No. 15 UCF, No. 20 Oklahoma and SMU. It's gonna be epic!

Saturday was picture perfect 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/16RK8SQQNA
— Texas Rowing (@TexasRowing) April 14, 2025

Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte

P.S. — Love this, WHAT A YEAR!

lots to show for this season🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/r13QYmGkdw
— Texas Men's Swimming & Diving (@TexasMSD) April 11, 2025

P.S. — We see ya Maddie!

our @WoodenAward All-American 🤘#HookEm | @CoachVic_UT | @MaddiewitdaB_ pic.twitter.com/ldao9h9jkv
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) April 12, 2025

P.S. — So awesome having Rori BACK!

a message from our PG 🫡🤘#HookEm | @roriiiharmonnn pic.twitter.com/Ad3y9r2P3G
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) April 9, 2025

P.S. — Talkin' Spring Football, see y'all April 26 for a big 'ol Family Reunion on the Forty!

Appreciate Arch Manning and Quintrevion Wisner spending some time talking @TexasFootball with the media after today's spring practice🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/ORDnV0QaY3
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) April 10, 2025

P.S. — SO COOL! Texas Family!!

always great to see some of our Longhorn family having fun out at @TheMasters 😄🤘#HookEm | #TakeDeadAim pic.twitter.com/qBYQPUNpIt
— Texas Men's Golf (@TexasMGolf) April 9, 2025

P.S. — Good luck to our guys in the NBA Playoffs!

good luck y'all 🤝🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/IqNbx98nzC
— Texas Men's Basketball (@TexasMBB) April 14, 2025

P.S. — Your Longhorn Friday was a special one!

A 4️⃣-0️⃣ #LonghornFriday🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻@TexasWTN takes down No. 1 Georgia@TexasMTN remains perfect in SEC play (13-0) with 4-2 win over Georgia@TexasBaseball wins at Kentucky👉🏻9th-straight SEC victory, 12-1 in SEC@TexasSoftball opens weekend series with No. 5 Tennessee with win🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/zzPCi5Ppnw
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) April 12, 2025

P.S. — Spring Volleyball Time! Let's get The Greg fired up!!

ready for more Texas Volleyball? see y'all soon! 🤘🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/SAL35orYOm
— Texas Volleyball (@TexasVolleyball) April 12, 2025

P.S. — Here's to our seniors!

we 🫶 our seniors! 🤘

#HookEm pic.twitter.com/KjIQAoA0hb
— Texas Women's Tennis (@TexasWTN) April 13, 2025

P.S. — What Starts Here — We see ya fellas!

Great to have these Longhorns Legends @Huffy247, @MikeGriff33 & @CoachAkina together again 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/ZJQ5jwGu02
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) April 13, 2025

HEADLINES:

No. 2 Men's Golf in third after opening day at The Ford Collegiate

Women's Basketball signs Breya Cunningham

Women's Basketball signs Lovisa Asbrink Hose

No. 6 Women's Golf tied for fourth after day one of SEC Championship

Video: Steve Sarkisian media availability (April 14)

Eight former Longhorns set for 2025 NBA Playoffs

Sean Miller is ready to write a new chapter at Texas (Hoops HQ)

Men's Golf moves to No. 1 in Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches poll

Video: Dave O'Neill media availability (April 10)

Video: Football players media availability (April 10)

Video: Rooted in Texas