Spring Awakening
Texas volleyball begins the road to the three-peat
It has been 75 days since Asjia O’Neal turned a competitive second set in Amalie Arena into the start of a snuff film. Nebraska’s 10-7 lead in the frame would prove to be the final time that the Cornhuskers felt at all in control of the match as the Slide Queen herself ripped off four straight service aces to give Texas the lead and turn the seemingly-even title tilt into a beatdown. The Longhorns would end their 2023 season the same way they ended 2022: with a service ace on championship point to secure the trophy. And in truly poetic fashion, it was sixth-year senior O’Neal who got to deliver the killing blow in her final match in burnt orange.
It was an end to a year that started off anything but ideal for the Longhorns. With O’Neal out with an injury, Texas dropped their opening match on the road in Long Beach, CA to a team that ultimately would fail to make it to the NCAA tournament. Nine days later, they would find themselves at 2-2 on the year after being swept off their own floor by the Stanford Cardinal in the home opener for the team. And just 12 days after that, they would again fail to defend Gregory Gym, falling to Washington State at home in four sets. At only 5-3 through the first three weeks of the season, the idea that Texas would be able to go back-to-back seemed like a far-away fantasy.
But the 2023 Longhorns found a way to turn that early adversity into resolve that would carry them to a 23-1 record the rest of the way (the lone blemish coming on an uncharacteristically sloppy night in the Little Apple in a sweep). Texas put the exclamation point on the season with three consecutive wins over #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament: a payback win over Stanford on their home court in the regional finals, a dominant service performance in four sets over Wisconsin in the national semifinal, and the utter maiming of the rival Huskers to secure the repeat.
So, what’s different in 2024?
The Dearly Departed
The most obvious change on the roster this season is the departure of Asjia O’Neal following the end of her collegiate eligibility. The fiery middle blocker was (appropriately) the heart of the Texas program during her six years in Austin. In five years of participation (thanks, COVID!), O’Neal contributed in 485 sets, delivering 924 kills, 112 service aces, and 601 blocks. She leaves as one of the most storied Longhorns to ever grace the 40 Acres. She’s now terrorizing the Pro Volleyball Federation after being selected with the #1 overall pick in the league’s inaugural collegiate draft.
Asjia’s middle blocking partner, Bella Bergmark, has also moved into the professional world following two productive years in burnt orange after her 2021 transfer from Cal. Bella’s intensity did not go unnoticed in her 161 sets during her Texas career as she added 194 kills and 163 blocks while operating in tandem with O’Neal.
Fan-favorite Molly Phillips has also moved on, exhausting her eligibility indoors and electing to transfer to USC for the beach volleyball season this spring. From the right pin, Molly delivered 773 kills and 387 blocks across her 475 sets played. Her graduation leaves a large hole in the opposite spot for head coach Jerritt Elliott to fill.
The final major contributor during the 2023 campaign to graduate from the program was libero/defensive specialist Carissa Barnes. Following an extremely productive career at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (where she was Southland Conference Libero of the Year three times), Barnes came to Texas and locked down the third back row spot alongside libero Emma Halter and Keonilei Akana. Barnes would appear in 113 sets in 2023, providing 22 service aces to go with 226 digs.
In addition to underclassman Marina Crownover’s transfer to Missouri during the winter, Texas must find a way to replace 504 kills (32.9% of the season total), 372 digs (24.3%), 48 service aces (24.5%), and 388 blocks (62.7%) in production in 2024.
“So how do we plan to do that, exactly?” you may ask.
New Boot Goofin’
To echo the sentiments of The Daily Texan in a recent column: Texas volleyball doesn’t rebuild, it reloads. Head coach Jerritt Elliott and his staff have been doing anything but slacking when it comes to keeping this roster well-stocked with talent. While the loss of experience is notable, it is far from cause for concern due to how the coaches have recruited, both from the high school ranks as well as the portal. Here’s who all is new to the scene for the spring in Austin, TX:
MB Ayden Ames (Prosper High School)
OPP Reagan Rutherford (Kentucky)
S Averi Carlson (Baylor)
OH Whitney Lauenstein (Nebraska)
L Reese Emerick (Westlake High School)
Ayden Ames
Former Prosper (TX) star Ayden Ames heads to Austin as one of the more highly-decorated recruits in recent memory. The 6’4” middle blocker was the #1 recruit in the state of Texas and the #3 recruit nationally per PrepDig.com. She was a 2023 Under Armour All-American as well as a member of Team USA’s U19 squad that won the 2023 FIVB World Championship. She was also the recipient of Gatorade’s national player of the year award for 2023/2024. All this to say: she’s a beast. Coach Elliott tends to redshirt his freshmen middle blockers, but with RS sophomore Marianna Singletary and RS freshman Nya Bunton the only other MBs on the roster, there’s a huge opportunity for the fledgling star to get on the floor in ‘24.
Bonus Points: She was a one-time Nebraska commit during the recruiting process. Eat your heart out, John Cook.
Reagan Rutherford
Rutherford comes to Texas by way of the Kentucky Wildcats. Her final season in Lexington came to a close with a narrow five-set loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks in the NCAA regional semifinal last fall. The lefty opposite was second on the team with 271 kills on the year and third in blocks with 70. She is a lethal replacement for the outgoing Molly Phillips on the right pin and will be instrumental in ensuring unpredictability in Texas’ in-system attack.
Averi Carlson
Averi Carlson’s transfer from Baylor to Texas this season is by far the most intriguing portal development of the season. With Ella Swindle seemingly fully in-control of the offense by the end of 2023, it is more than mildly surprising that Carlson would elect to leave her starting role at Baylor to simply join the Longhorns in a backup role. Carlson was the 2021/2022 Gatorade national player of the year and a highly-productive member of the Baylor team while in Waco.
Her transfer has created a number of questions for Texas fans. Is Ella Swindle’s injury more serious than originally believed? Her participation in the spring would seemingly indicate no. Does Texas intend to play with a 6-2 rotation instead of the 5-1 rotation they’ve been accustomed to for so long? It hasn’t worked for Jerritt Elliott’s teams in the past. How Carlson is deployed will be something to keep a close eye on throughout the 2024 campaign.
Whitney Lauenstein
Even in the offseason, Texas found ways to award Ls to Nebraska. Lauenstein heads to Austin with her fiancé and infant daughter in tow following a productive two years in Lincoln. As a sophomore, Lauenstein played in 107 sets and was second on the team with 297 kills for the Huskers. She was also a machine from the service line, leading the team with 28 aces. She stepped away from volleyball in 2023 to focus on her mental health. It will be interesting to see if she’s in playing shape for 2024 after the year away. If not, Texas will have a secret weapon in Lauenstein in 2025.
Reese Emerick
The local libero from Westlake, Emerick joins a crowd of experience on the back row on campus. Emma Halter is the incumbent starter in the black jersey, and there’s no reason for anyone to believe that will be changing before she graduates. However, with Carissa Barnes graduating and Reilly Heinrich in the transfer portal (still listed on the spring roster, however), there’s a big opportunity for Emerick to take over the 3rd back row spot. Additionally, with the NCAA rule changes allowing for two liberos to dress for each match, there seems to be a clear opportunity for early playing time for Emerick. She impressed in her limited action during Texas’ first spring match against Texas State.
Battle Royale
With the graduation of Asjia O’Neal and Bella Bergmark, it would appear it’ll be a three-way battle of talented youngsters in the front row - only Marianna Singletary has had any live game experience in Austin, recording 23 kills and 17 total blocks in 23 sets last season. As mentioned previously, Jerritt Elliott likes to redshirt freshmen middles, but Ayden Ames played early and often against Texas State in the opening match of the spring schedule. Nya Bunton was out with an apparent injury. This is going to be a battle that rages through the summer.
At setter, this may amount to being simply a battle in name only. Incumbent starter Ella Swindle offers a different dimension to the offense than incoming transfer Averi Carlson. The 4” height difference means Swindle can be more aggressive on offense, but Carlson offers some interesting options defensively. Short of an injury, it’s hard to picture Ella getting benched for Carlson, but the opportunity for Texas to experiment with the 6-2 rotation and deploy both intermittently is certainly on the table for the coaching staff. Early returns against Texas State favored Swindle who got the lion’s share of the playtime to start the spring.
Closing Thoughts
I won’t pretend to be an expert on volleyball. Outside of goofing around with friends and recently playing in a casual rec league, I’ve never played the sport (much less competitively or even competently). What I do know is that the last two years of Texas volleyball’s success has reinvigorated my interest in the sport, and this newfound passion is something I’m excited to share with everyone in this medium (and possibly in a podcast form as well).
One thing I’m very sure of is that I’m excited for the upcoming volleyball season. I was skeptical of Texas’ chances to repeat at this point last year. My friends and I had several conversations about how the team would adapt without Logan Eggleston and Zoe Fleck and what would ultimately constitute a successful season in their abscence. I’m not even close to skeptical this time around. The ladies are loaded for bear and should be a strong favorite for a three-peat. The only glaring hole is how to replace the production in the middle, but Texas isn’t MBU for nothing… Hook ‘em!