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No. 12 Volleyball preview: Auburn
10.15.2026 | Volleyball
The Longhorns open a two-match homestand Friday against Auburn at Gregory Gym
Match 15: No. 12 Texas Volleyball vs. Auburn
Texas: 8-6 (4-2) | Auburn: 11-6 (1-4)
Friday, Oct. 16 – 6:30 p.m. CT
Gregory Gymnasium | Austin, Texas
Television: SEC Network+ | Play-by-Play: Lincoln Rose; Analyst: Emma Halter
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 12 Texas Volleyball returns home Friday to host Auburn at 6:30 p.m. CT at Gregory Gymnasium. The Longhorns look to bounce back after dropping a three-set match at Oklahoma on Sunday.
Texas fell to the Sooners, 25-23, 25-18, 30-28. Senior outside hitter Torrey Stafford led the Longhorns with 17 kills while hitting .346. Freshman outside hitter Henley Anderson added 12 kills, eight digs and four blocks, while senior libero Ramsey Gary recorded 18 digs and five assists. Junior setter Rella Binney finished with 30 assists.
Auburn enters Friday's match at 11-6 overall and 1-4 in SEC play after dropping its last four matches. The Tigers most recently fell to Missouri in five sets, 21-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-19, 15-11.
THE MATCHUP
- Friday will be the fourth all-time meeting between Texas and Auburn and the second in Austin. The Longhorns lead the series, 3-0.
- Texas and Auburn last met in Austin on Nov. 19, 2001. The Longhorns have won the last two meetings, sweeping the Tigers in 2024 before earning a five-set victory at Auburn in 2025.
AUBURN AT A GLANCE
- Auburn enters Friday's match with an 11-6 overall record and a 1-4 mark in SEC play. The Tigers have lost four consecutive matches, including a five-set loss at Missouri in their most recent outing.
- Outside hitter Dreves led Auburn with 22 kills and 14 digs against Missouri. Eickenloff recorded 20 assists and 10 digs, while Keiran added a team-high 19 digs. Mansfield contributed seven digs and five blocks.
- Auburn finished the match with 72 digs, 10 blocks and seven service aces.
GARY TAKES THE REINS
- Senior libero Ramsey Gary leads Texas with 196 digs and is averaging 4.00 digs per set entering the Oklahoma match. She recorded 18 digs and five assists against the Sooners on Sunday.
- Gary established the Texas rally-scoring era record with a career-high 34 digs in the Longhorns' four-set win at Arkansas on Oct. 9. Her total was the most by a Longhorn in a four-set match and tied for the most in any match in program history.
STAFFORD'S SENIOR STEP
- Senior outside hitter Torrey Stafford led Texas with 17 kills on .346 hitting at Oklahoma on Sunday.
- Stafford recorded a season-high 29 kills on .348 hitting and added 13 digs in Texas' four-set win at Arkansas on Oct. 9. She reached 1,500 career kills during the match and earned SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 5, the eighth SEC weekly honor of her career.
ANDERSON MAKES HER MARK
- Freshman outside hitter Henley Anderson continues to contribute on both sides of the ball for the Longhorns. She recorded 12 kills, eight digs and four blocks in Sunday's match at Oklahoma.
- Anderson earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Oct. 5, the first weekly honor of her career, after recording double-digit kills against Mississippi State and Alabama.
BINNEY SETS THE TABLE
- Junior setter Rella Binney recorded 30 assists in Sunday's match at Oklahoma. She leads Texas with 475 assists and is averaging 9.69 assists per set entering the match.
- Binney posted a career-high 63 assists and added nine digs in the Longhorns' win at Arkansas on Oct. 9. She was named SEC Player of the Week and Setter of the Week on Oct. 5, earning the first weekly honors of her career.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
- Texas has extended its home sellout streak to 59 matches during its win over Alabama on October 4.
- The Longhorns drew 10,294 fans for the Wisconsin match at Moody Center on Sept. 13, the second-largest crowd in program history. The program record is 10,899 fans for the 2025 match against Stanford at Moody Center.
- Texas ranked fifth nationally and led the SEC in total home attendance in 2025, drawing 67,149 fans across 15 matches and averaging 4,477 fans per match.
EMMA HALTER RETURNS TO GREG
- Former Longhorn Emma Halter will serve as the analyst for Friday's match against Auburn, becoming the second former Texas libero to serve in the role this season. Zoe Jarvis, formerly Zoe Fleck, served as the analyst for the Mississippi State and Alabama matches.
- Halter was the Longhorns' starting libero during the 2023 championship season and was a member of Texas' 2022 NCAA Championship team alongside Jarvis.
- She earned AVCA All-America and All-SEC Second Team honors in 2025.
- Halter was selected by Indy Ignite in the 2025 Major League Volleyball Draft and will begin her second season with the Ignite in January.
ELLIOTT APPROACHES MILESTONES
- Head coach Jerritt Elliott is in his 26th season at Texas and enters Sunday's match with 693 career Division I victories and 643 wins at Texas.
- Elliott is seven wins away from 700 career Division I victories and seven wins away from 650 at Texas. His 693 career wins rank fourth among active Division I coaches, while his 643 victories at Texas rank 21st all time among coaches at a single Division I institution.
Texas Volleyball is Presented by Huntington Bank
