Off the Mat
#4 Texas volleyball rebounds from the A&M and UK losses with a win in Gainesville
While the timing may seem suspect, I can honestly promise that I did not run off to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico last week as a way of coping with the losses to Texas A&M and Kentucky. I went into that week somewhat envious of Brittany for her getting the honor of writing about our two biggest matches of the SEC schedule, especially after weeks of “Texas beats [unranked SEC school that isn’t aware they have a volleyball program]”. Needless to say, I was not saddened to miss out on having to write about those matches following their results. Props to Brittany for holding it together. My words probably would’ve eliminated any stretch hope of this publication growing into something bigger that was landing on the radar of the university in any sort of positive way.
Instead I write about a much lighter week, both in terms of the fact that Texas returned to their winning ways (avenging the football team’s ugly loss in The Swamp earlier this season, an event I had the misfortune of witnessing live and in-person with a member of our editing team, Gurdy) and in the sense that Texas only had one match last week. Made it a lot easier to disconnect from reality for a little bit (volleyball included) then get back on the horse when returning home (literally last night). I’ve used and abused the parentheses buttons on my keyboard in this paragraph, so let’s stop babbling about me and start babbling about the Florida match.
The biggest storyline of this matchup was undoubtedly the first showdown between Florida OH Jordyn Byrd and the team she spent her freshman and redshirt freshman campaigns on the bench with. The Gators have spent the year yo-yoing in and out of the Top 25, undoubtedly affected greatly by the loss of do-everything first team All American right side pin hitter Kennedy Martin to Penn State. Byrd has been inconsistent during the 2025 season, leading the Gators’ offense in kills by a wide margin but struggling at times with attack errors, leading to her hitting percentage resting only ever-so-slightly above the .200 line. Setter Alexis Stucky has looked the part, fully recovered from the catastrophic knee injury that ended her 2023 season early and clearly impacted her 2024 performance.
The first set against Florida likely did little for most fans to assuage fears that the Horns had learned their lessons against the Aggies or Wildcats the week prior. A messy start to the first frame saw Texas trail by as much as nine points before starting to settle into the game. Late in the first set, Texas trailed 21-13, seemingly sleepwalking their way towards an embarrassing start against the Gators. With the power of a lot of Florida mistakes on their attack - including multiple errors from the aforementioned Jordyn Byrd - Texas was able to claw back into it, staving off four set points to push the match to deuce. Great news for the Longhorns, right? Showing that Texas Fight and figuring out how to win sets that they seemed DOA for? Unfortunately, Texas would not manage to piece together the next point in any of the three set points they carried, ultimately dropping that set 31-29.
Thankfully, the momentum of the recovery in the first set would carry Texas the rest of the way, winning the next three with scorelines of 25-18, 25-19, and 25-19, all with Texas taking firm control around the halfway point and finishing with strong runs. Fans of the burnt orange were also thrilled to finally catch the season debut of Whitney Lauenstein, apparently finally healthy following numerous injuries and other life events which precipitated her transfer away from Nebraska. We’ll discuss more about her impressive performance against Florida in the green lights section.
Finally, today is National Signing Day for the Class of 2026 volleyball recruits. This is not a publication that has the capacity nor the knowledge to closely track recruiting or its impact on the team (not that we wouldn’t like to get there someday), but we do know that people who would know are excited with the incoming recruits including libero Emma Cugino from Galena, OH, outside hitter Henley Anderson of Dripping Springs, TX, and setter Genevieve Harris out of the “Tech Triangle” in Raleigh, NC, all of whom are considered #1 at their respective positions depending on which recruiting service you ask. We may do a deeper dive in an article after the season concludes trying to project how each of these players figures into Texas’ long-term roster outlook, especially as we get a clear picture of who will find their way to campus before spring camp begins.
In wholly unsponsored, unpaid, just for vibes product placement, let’s stare into the Deadlights which power Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the HBO Original Series IT: Welcome to Derry which has new episodes dropping every Sunday at 8 PM CT! Editor’s Note: We really aren’t getting paid for this. Josh just amuses himself at times. We haven’t sold out to the almighty dollar yet.
Red Lights
The Block…Still…
At this point, it is hard to point to anything on this team that seems to be operating as a “speed limiter” of sorts more than the blocking. We’ve talked in a number of previous articles about the coaching staff’s philosophical change regarding blocking as a means to assist back row defense, but following the non-factor that blocking played in the losses to A&M and Kentucky (matches where I hoped the dominant, suffocating block would rise from the ashes), it is clear that this approach has a ceiling. Without Whitney Lauenstein contributing a pair of blocks of her own, Texas would’ve been sitting below 2 blocks per set for the match, a line that has already left us grumbling some this season.
Ayden Ames and Nya Bunton had improved performances against Florida, recording four and three blocks, respectively, following near-absences in the five-setter against A&M, but the team as a whole continues to struggle to put together a consistent block. As a result, A&M hit .310 against Texas while hitting .286 on the year. Kentucky hit .353 in our match despite hitting .288 this season overall. Florida sits at a hitting percentage of .240 for the year, and Texas did hold them to a paltry .164 in last week’s showdown, but this blocking issue is one that could sink Texas against their elite opponents as it did against A&M and Kentucky. Unfortunately, the next shots that Texas will have to show if they’ve found ways to improve the block won’t come until the SEC and national tournaments when it really becomes do-or-die.
Yellow Lights
Slow Starts
Texas has lost the first set in the last three matches it has played between the A&M and Florida tilts. While the mental toughness and recovery against Florida was heartening, it’s a tough ask to expect this young team to be able to rebound every time, especially against high-level opponents like we saw in College Station and against UK. Playing from behind is an uncomfortable task for any team, much less one that has spent this year desperately trying to build experience as quickly as possible with two freshman pin hitters. It goes without saying that Texas should be putting an emphasis on settling into their rhythm and starting faster in the final two regular season matches this week. They’re at their most dangerous when other teams have to play desperate against them, and playing with the lead in the match is the easiest way to put that sort of pressure on their opponent.
Abby Vander Wal
We continue to ride the roller coaster that comes with freshman pin hitting with AVW. While Abby is hitting a respectable season-long .249 (compared to senior Jenna Wenaas last year hitting .209), it remains a feast-or-famine situation for her. Against Kentucky and Florida, Vander Wal managed to only hit .149 total with 13 kills after a five match stretch between Arkansas and Texas A&M where she put up 75 kills while swinging .377. Brittany cautioned several weeks back that freshmen can be prone to inconsistency. Knowing how this season has gone, I fully anticipate a big week from Abby where she finds herself in Brittany’s green lights in our next article.
Ella Swindle
Let’s make one thing very clear yet again: Point Texas is a staunchly pro-Ella Swindle publication. Last year’s team clearly struggled without her fiery passion on the floor. She is a vocal leader for the team and one of their most experienced contributors. Unfortunately, that does mean it is fair for us to ask her for more in terms of how the offense runs and how we can set ourselves up for success.
While I do generally believe that the issues some in the fanbase take with Ella’s setting are overblown, I don’t think it is wildly off-base to say that she can certainly be unsteady at times. Setting is an extremely tough position to play - to this layman’s eye, the toughest - but much like the quarterback in football, it is going to gain a lot of the blame when things aren’t running fluidly and very little of the credit when things do work. Despite all the struggles, real or merely perceived, Texas still has the #2 offense in the country this season, hitting .308 on the year. Reiterating once more that Texas has freshmen playing two of the three primary outside hitting positions, it is simply wildly disingenuous to not give Ella credit for how the offense has continued to produce. Frequently, I’m left to wonder if the fanbase’s expectations are that Ella’s sets should allow Texas’ offense to always overcome the blocking struggles we’ve seen repeatedly this year, an expectation that is frankly absurd to put on one player alone.
As I said before, it is still completely fair to ask for more from the QB1. Part of the value-add that Swindle brings over other setting options is her height, providing her opportunities to be more lethal with her dump plays. I would be among the first to ask for her to be even more opportunistic with her attacks as a way to help keep the opposing defense off-balance and subsequently open up more options for her own hitters. When Texas won the national title in 2023 behind baby freshman Ella, she had 242 total attacks compared to only 84 this year (with only a week left in the regular season!). She also racked up kills at a rate of nearly double this year’s per-set pace (0.84 vs 0.44). And she did that despite having an offense driven primarily by one Madi Skinner in 2023, so don’t tell me that we can’t afford to take opportunities away from Torrey Stafford this time around.
Green Lights
Torrey Stafford, Forever and Always
What else is there to be said about Torrey that hasn’t already been repeated ad nauseam this season? You need points? Torrey will go get you some points. When the chips are down, Torrey is the one this team clearly trusts to go deliver in the clutch moments for the offense. Despite the mess in the last two weeks, Torrey still delivered at least 15 kills in every match and hit in the .340s in each. Even when EVERYONE on the floor knows she’s getting the ball, she delivers. 64 swings against Tennessee earlier this season? Stafford turned in 30 kills and hit .297. She is an absolute machine and is rightfully an AVCA Player of the Year semifinalist as a result. That award will probably end up going to someone in Lincoln, NE (because that’s just the way this year appears to be working out nationally), but the reality is that neither I nor anyone else on this planet would trade Torrey Stafford for another player in the country.
Big Hit Whit
Online Texas volleyball fans the world over have seen undeniable clamoring for Whitney Lauenstein to get an honest shot during a live match. The former Nebraska star has been sidelined for multiple years following a pregnancy and subsequent injuries which have prevented her from seeing time on the floor in Austin. Opportunity finally came knocking this past Friday against the Gators, and “Big Hit Whit” put on a show. While she got some looks as a service sub against Wisconsin and Arizona State earlier in the year, this was the first time that she finally got to take some swings. On 11 total attacks, Lauenstein dropped six kills and zero errors, taking swings from both sides of the net. To boot, she also delivered two blocks in her time rotating on through the front row. Where she ultimately slots in for playing time remains to be seen - does she take rotations away from Devin Kahahawai in the “dub sub” with Rella Binney? Does she spell Abby Vander Wal (not literally) when AVW is having an off night?
The loud subset of Texas fans who asked to see Whitney play were finally rewarded. With the performance they saw against Florida, it’s hard to imagine they’ll be getting quieter anytime soon. It’ll be interesting to see how much the coaching staff agrees moving forward.
Next Up
Texas closes out the regular season with two unranked opponents and Senior Day on Sunday at Gregory Gym! It shouldn’t be the last we see of the Horns at Gregory this year with their opportunity to host early rounds during the national tournament, but still a great time to celebrate our seniors!
Auburn Tigers (16-8, 7-6, L2) - 6 PM CT TONIGHT at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL (SECN+)
South Carolina Gamecocks (9-14, 3-10, L1) - 1 PM CT on Sunday, 11/16 at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, TX (SECN+)