Late Season Gauntlet
November Matches Against Kentucky and Florida
Welcome back to the second-to-last edition of our 2025 season previews! We’ve nearly made it through a look-ahead at the entire regular season schedule and are nearing the first serve of the fall with every passing day. In fact, as this post goes live we will be about one hour into Texas’ friendly scrimmage against Utah in Gregory. It’s just the Orange and White match and then we are off to the races!
This summer saw plenty of action for us to follow between former Longhorns playing in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) and current Longhorns lining up for Team USA in the Pan American games. We’ve recapped a lot of that action here - but it is nice to know that many of the ladies that’ll be playing in burnt orange this fall got some very useful reps under their belts.
For those (me included) who are champing at the bit for any other volleyball news they can get their hands on before the Creighton match, we did get some substantial news regarding League One Volleyball (LOVB) Austin and several of our former Longhorns players this past week. Final rosters for season 2 of the US-based pro league were announced, which means we did see some significant movement.
The good news for those of use in the Austin area is that we managed to keep seven of the nine Longhorns that played on that season 1 Finals championship team in the 512. Asjia O’Neal, Madisen Skinner, Molly McCage, Logan Eggleston, Zoey Jarvis, Khat Bell, and Juliann Faucette will all be playing in ATX purple again.
Unfortunately this means that two-time Olympic medalist and one of the three founding athletes for LOVB Austin, Chiaka Ogbogu, has departed the team. The 2025 Middle Blocker of the Year recipient for all of LOVB’s departure is a bit of a shock for the fan base, although there were whispers in online volleyball circles that she may be leaving the team earlier this summer. While there hasn’t been an official announcement regarding her next playing location, most speculate she may be returning to an international league. Either way, recent interviews seem clear that she is continuing to work towards playing in her third Olympics in 2028.
As for the other former Longhorn-turned-former LOVB Austin player, the team also said goodbye to Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres. Affectionately known as SKT by much of the fanbase, the setter (S) who had played her final two seasons of NCAA volleyball at Texas - winning a national championship in 2022 - had a productive season for LOVB Austin, but will now be suiting up for the Grand Rapids Rise of Major League Volleyball (MLV) this upcoming pro season.
But the pros also giveth when they taketh, and Texas fans may be delighted to know that another former Texas player is making a long awaited return to Austin. Two-time NCAA champion (2022 and 2023) middle blocker (MB) Bella Bergmark has signed with LOVB Austin for the 2026 season. While losing Ogbogu stings, Bergmark certainly is a suitable fit for filling in the hole left at the net.
Not much else to report regarding Texas volleyball at this time, we’ll have updates regarding how things looked at the Utah scrimmage next week. For now, let’s knock out two of the last four match previews for the 2025 season. As the name of this article suggests, they aren’t expected to be easy - but we believe in the Longhorns. Hook ‘em!
Kentucky Wildcats
Match Date: November 2, 2025
Match Location: Gregory Gymnasium - Austin, TX
2024 Record: 23-8 (14-2, Southeastern)
NCAA Tournament: #3 Seed, Lost to #1 Pittsburgh in Elite Eight
Postseason Rank: #7
Result v Texas: L, 0-3 (21-25, 19-25, 17-25)
Well here it is. The preseason favorite to win the SEC, the Kentucky Wildcats, come in to Gregory for a pivotal matchup in early November that will no doubt have playoff seeding implications hanging in the balance. Kentucky just edged out Texas on taking preseason #1 in the SEC with nine first place votes versus Texas’s six, as conference coaches feel pretty good about the returning production and transfer pickups for both of these squads.
Texas had a great stop in Lexington last year, helped by some stagnant play by the Wildcats (23 errors in three sets) while the Longhorns had solid efforts from Skinner, Devin Kahahawai, and Averi Carlson. Don’t expect this year’s contest to go over so easy, especially with a revenge-hungry squad in blue that won eleven-straight SEC matches after their loss to Texas last year (they never lost again until falling to Pittsburgh in the tournament).
Four Wildcats were named to the All-SEC preseason team: MB Brooke Bultema, outside hitter (OH) Brooklyn DeLeye, OH Eva Hudson, and libero (L) Molly Tuozzo. That’s the most of any team - by comparison, Emma Halter and Torrey Stafford are the only Texas players with the honor.
Let’s start off with the pin-hitters, DeLeye and Hudson. DeLeye managed twelve kills in last year’s matchup against Texas, far and away the best attacker for Kentucky that day. The junior from Topeka, Kansas took in a swath of awards last season that would take up half the page to list, but most importantly, she was the 2024 SEC Player of the Year. Scary production from that one. Hudson transferred in from Purdue this offseason; she was the 2024 Big 10 leader in kills per set at 4.81. More scary production. By early November these two should be working well together in the rotation. It's going to be a tough attacking offense to defend against both at the net and in the back court.
MB Bultema offers her own dangers for our front court. Last year was her redshirt freshman year, where she made the All-SEC freshman team. She led the team in blocks that year at 1.02 per set, while still averaging over two kills per set herself. That versatility mixed with the attack capabilities of the OHs creates an absolute wall for opponents.
Finally, joining Halter as one of three liberos on the preseason All-SEC team, 5’7” Tuozzo adds her own flair on the backcourt defense for Kentucky. She went to my high school rival (Woodland HS) and then decided to take that talent out of the state of Texas - not sure what they are teaching at the Woodlands - where she has averaged over 11 digs per match last season.
That’s just the four with preseason honors. Kentucky sports a solid roster from top-to-bottom and has the depth to make another late tournament run. Expect them to come into Gregory like Little Caesars: hot and ready (for revenge). If we are lucky and preseason expectations play out as predicted, this may be the match of the year in the SEC and the true battle for the regular season conference championship.
Florida Gators
Match Date: November 7, 2025
Match Location: Exactech Arena - Gainesville, FL
2024 Record: 23-8 (11-5, Southeastern)
NCAA Tournament: #6 Seed, Lost to #2 Stanford in Sweet Sixteen
Postseason Rank: #16
Result v Texas: L, 0-3 (23-25, 18-25, 14-25)
Like with Kentucky, looking at last season’s box score may give one hope that this is going to be another one in the bag for Texas, but that’d be an awful miscalculation. Like with Kentucky, last season’s result was more about a really good squad coming in flat against the Longhorns than it was any indication of a true delta between the levels of talent between the two schools.
With LSU, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Florida matches all in a row, Texas faces the preseason SEC coaches poll numbers 8, 3, 1, and 5 during this late-October/early-November slate. That’s four really good squads from the top-half of the conference. It could be a great confidence booster before the final two easier matchups leading into the SEC tournament, or it could be a back-breaker. This is Texas - we expect it to be a chance for us to polish our record for postseason seeding - but that doesn’t mean we should expect it to be easy.
MB Jaela Auguste, who hails from Spring, TX (also near my hometown…what the hell guys?), should be a considerable threat at the net for the Gators. The 2024 All-SEC freshman team player started in 29 matches, averaging nearly two kills and over one block per set. She’s joined in the middle by senior Amaya Thomas, who is a solid blocker herself.
OH Kira Hutson declared a medical redshirt last season after an injury in her fourth match, but she looked good on the attack and played solid defense - including 14 digs in a match against Penn State - prior to the injury. Joining her as a pin-hitter is Aniya Madkin, a redshirt-sophomore transfer from Arkansas who made the All-SEC freshman team last season with the Razorbacks.
Most notable at that position - at least for Texas fans - may be transfer OH Jordyn Byrd. The two-time Gatorade Player of the Year hit the portal this past offseason and chose the Gators as her landing spot. Her move to Gainesville was certainly to be closer to home (she hails from Bradenton, FL) but still stings a bit for the Longhorn faithful who enjoyed seeing her in burnt orange.
Seniors Emerson Hoyle and Emily Canaan will continue to lead the backcourt for the Gators at the L/DS position. Florida has some promising young replacements in Ella Vogel and Bella Lee they will no doubt be working into the rotation at those spots to build experience up. Don’t be surprised if either of these two have worked their way up to earning some starts by the point in the season Florida plays Texas.
Finally, I really like redshirt junior S Alexis Stucky for the Gators. If you want to track her play this year, just look for the fiery red hair. She’s a high volleyball-IQ player who provides a lot of the on-court leadership for this squad while also racking up 452 assists in her 2024 campaign. Her captaining capabilities had her earn a spot as an assistant coach on the All- 2025 Under Armor Next All-American Team Icon - which is a mouthful - but it means she got some actual coaching experience for essentially the high school equivalent of an all-star or pro-bowl team.
Florida will be tough, but it’s also a chance for Texas to secure great seeding for the SEC tournament, and ultimately, the NCAA postseason tournament. If Texas can survive this late-season gauntlet they will be truly in a position to make another formative postseason run.