Don't Mess With Texas
The Longhorns clean up the Lone Star State by sweeping TCU and Baylor
Texas’ (8-0) non-conference run this season was one for the record books. As the Horns wrapped up their final two matches before starting SEC play (first match is tonight!), the team seemed to have shifted to an even higher gear.
Starting with Arizona State the week before, Texas notched together three-straight sweeps of top-25 opponents in Gregory Gymnasium. What might be most impressive over this run has been the development of freshmen in key positions. Middle blocker (MB) Taylor Harvey has continued to provide excellent balanced play, finding success in both blocking and kills. Her play from the middle has been so solid that fellow MB Ayden Ames was able to skip out on the Baylor match, resting up for conference play.
Opposite (OPP) Cari Spears continued her meteoric rise; she notched 10 kills against TCU and another 18 against Baylor. Abby Vander Wal continues to be a rising star from the outside hitter (OH) two position, backing up junior transfer Torrey Stafford who has played as advertised.
It’s hard to not just heap a ton of accolades on this squad - they’ve not only survived the hardest part of their schedule, but for a lot of it, they dominated. In eight matches, they have swept five. All were against ranked opponents.
If SEC teams weren’t circling Texas matches on their calendars before, they are now. It's difficult to see any other teams in the entire NCAA in the same tier as Texas right now besides Nebraska. And even then, there’s a real argument for the Longhorns jumping the Huskers for that number one rank.
Trophy Case
New this week is our trophy case section, tracking the accolades that have been heaped on the Longhorns squad (spoiler: there have been a lot so far in this young season).
Individual
Week 4
Cari Spears (Opp)
AVCA Player of the Week
SEC Player of the Week
SEC Freshman of the Week
Ella Swindle (S)
SEC Setter of the Week
Week 3
Cari Spears (Opp)
SEC Player of the Week
SEC Freshman of the Week
Week 2
Torrey Stafford (OH)
AVCA Player of the Week
SEC Player of the Week
SEC Offensive Player of the Week
Cari Spears (Opp)
SEC Freshman of the Week
Week 1
Emma Halter (L)
SEC Player of the Week
SEC Defensive Player of the Week
Preseason
Torrey Stafford (OH)
Division I Player of the Year Award Watchlist
Preseason All-SEC Team
Emma Halter (L)
Preseason All-SEC Team
*Note: A Texas player has won SEC Player of the Week for all four weeks of the 2025 season so far.
Team
AVCA Ranking (First Place Votes)
Week 4
#2 (4)
Week 3
#2 (3)
Week 2
#2 (0)
Week 1
#2 (0)
Preseason
#5 (0)
Red Lights
No time for red lights when we’ve got the pedal on the floor.
Yellow Lights
It was such a good week that we saw improvements across the board, and many of our yellow lights from last week have sorted themselves out for now. Texas is still far from perfect, but each week they seem to grow and fix issues that popped up the prior one. So I’m about to be a bit nit-picky in this week’s version.
You
Yes you. Well, us. It’s easy to get up for a match against Stanford in the Moody Center. Every fanbase has the tendency to take the foot of the gas some when the going gets smooth; in a weird reversal of typical trends the Longhorns’ schedule actually gets easier across the board as they enter conference play. That’s how Jerritt schedules things, no true cupcakes in the nonconference schedule for Texas. That’s a good thing.
But when a team like Vanderbilt comes to Gregory tonight fielding a volleyball team for the first time in 45 years, it’s still majorly important that the fanbase shows up and stays loud. Yes, Vandy is an abysmal 4-5 right now, but to me that just means a scrappy team with nothing to lose is coming to Austin with eyes set on playing spoiler.
So come out and stay feisty. Keep chanting for Emma Halter when she’s up to serve. Stay through The Eyes. This is Texas. Let’s make sure all of the SEC remembers that.
Green Lights
If You’re Gonna Play in Texas, You Gotta Have a Swindle in the Band
We’ve been nothing short of at least skeptical with junior setter (S) Ella Swindle this season, and for good reason. The timing on her sets hasn’t always been the sharpest, particularly to the middles. But as Texas has shored up the passing game over recent weeks (I had listed passing as one of our red lights just two articles ago!) Ella has seemed to find her groove.
Some of the early issues are no doubt attributable to the team often playing out of system. Averaging at or below .200 for passing average across our starters limits how much of the offensive playbook the setter has to work with. Texas has markedly improved its serve receive game since what will probably stand as the season low against Stanford (something Stanford is becoming known for: they may just be really really good at the service line), and Ella has been able to pull more tricks out of her bag.
Ella was able to notch over 30 assists in each of those matches against TCU and Baylor. There’s been great chemistry developing between her and MB Taylor Harvey as the latter has taken over the starting MB2 role from Nya Bunton. She posted at least one service ace in each of the two matches last week. Oh, and Ella has developed an amazing dump play that has nearly been indefensible. What I love with this little trick is not only how good she is at disguising it - it’s that in her third year of play Ella understands how to not overplay her hand. She uses the dump just sparingly enough to keep opponents off-guard.
There’s a reason Ella picked up the SEC Setter of the Week honors for last week. Perhaps we are witnessing Ella’s return to form from her freshman campaign where she was the AVCA Southwest Region Freshman of the Year. If so I have one word for SEC opponents: scary.
Speared Through the Heart
This marks Cari Spears second week in a row of making our green lights section. That’s what happens when you might be developing into one of the SEC’s top players. As a freshman.
Cari recorded another 10 kills and 3 blocks against TCU before adding 18 kills, an ace, and another 3 blocks against Baylor. Those 18 kills set a new career-best for her after having just done so a week before with 16 against Louisville. Oh, and across both matches she managed to tally 9 digs.
Cari seems more than capable at handling both the offensive playbook and the bright lights. Winning SEC Player of the Week for two weeks straight while playing four top-25 teams would be impressive for a seasoned senior. Again, Cari is a freshman. She’s earning all of the praise and attention she’s been getting on ESPN (it helps when your dad Marcus is a former NFL great and commentator on the network) and her earning AVCA Player of the Week recognitions is another sign that she could be in contention for all of volleyball’s top awards by season’s end.
Really makes someone wonder what they’re putting in the water in Frisco.
Sorry Not Sorry
In Texas’ closest set against TCU - set 2 which had a total of 10 ties and three lead changes - Texas ran away with it in the end, closing on an 11-3 run. After letting Baylor back in on set one after an impressive 17-10 lead, Texas punched out that set led by Spears’ six kills (and still won by a comfortable 7 points). In both cases, that’s as close as it would ever get either night.
Texas’ average margin of victory in sets against TCU was 9.33 points. For Baylor it was an even more impressive 10.66. The Longhorns didn’t just sweep these two teams, they dominated them. Again, these weren’t cupcakes either.
Texas feels miles away in terms of how improved it is handling business this year as compared to their 2024 campaign. Between finding ways to close out five-set matches to taking care of business when they clearly outmatch an opponent, this team just has a winner’s mentality that was sorely lacking this time last year. What I love the most is that they don’t apologize for it either. Watch this team even with a two-set lead: they still play angry.
There’s nothing greater than an undefeated team playing like the whole world doubts them and has been throwing shade at them. I don’t know what kind of bulletin board material Jerritt Elliott has been feeding them over the past few weeks (my hope is he hasn’t been feeding them any, that this is just who they are) but if this team can keep this attitude going forward, it’s gonna take them deep into December. And to that I bestow them five Hook-Ems (oh look I brought this back!)
Next Up
It just means more or something. Texas starts SEC play this week.
Vanderbilt Commodores (4-5, 0-0, W2) - 8 PM CT TONIGHT at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, TX (SEC Network)
#21 Missouri Tigers (8-3, 0-0, W3) - 8 PM CT on Friday, 9/26 at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, TX (SECN+)