The Beat Goes On
Winning is winning. And these Horns keep doing it
One moment you’re hyping up the team for a 7 game sweep streak. The next you’re getting called out for cursing said streak. As if offended by it, the Longhorns then swept another opponent. Such is life when writing about such a dominant group in volleyball.
The Longhorns, now sitting at a sweet 16-0, took care of another pair of SEC opponents last week. Not just any opponents either, but traditional rivals. Texas opened their week a little later with a home match against Arkansas that saw the brooms taken back out of the closet before they could collect any dust, sending the Razorbacks packing with a solid three sets to zero win. Nearly 48 hours later and the Sooners came into Gregory hoping for a repeat of their reverse sweep over Texas in 2024. Happily, the volleyball squad decided to join the football team by forcibly reminding OU to stay north of the Red River.
The OU match was close to being another sweep, but Texas gave up the third set in a fashion that might leave some fans uneasy. It’s admittedly hard to sit here each week and nitpick issues on a team that is undoubtedly at least the second-best in the nation (Nebraska is still benefiting off that preseason number one rank, but also hasn’t shown any signs that they don’t deserve it), and heaven knows there are weeks when I’d love to leave the old red and yellow light sections blank.
But here’s the deal: expectations are high. That’s what happens when you have a championship caliber squad. And no amount of sweeps or tenacious comebacks against top 10 opponents, as impressive as all of that is, will satiate the desire to see this squad go all the way. Not when it’s already shown just how good it can be.
And so we will once again look at some areas where this team could use some improvement. Hint: there’s still a few ugly things that keep poking their heads up during matches that could really hurt the Longhorns down the stretch if they aren’t cleaned up. Like the bottom of the order for the Mariners leaving a bunch of runs stranded. What? I’m not mad. Who said that?
Red Lights
Service Errors
Woah, look what is back for another stay in the red light section. Yes, I agree that those who followed last week’s matches might remember seeing a marked increase in service aces in the Oklahoma match. The Longhorns nabbed 11 aces in that one… to match their 11 errors. That Arkansas match? Saw only 3 aces… against 12 errors.
The problem is, like everyone I want to walk away from the Oklahoma match with my head high thinking that the aggressiveness on serving is finally swinging towards plenty of aces. But it’s one match, not a great data point. It also resulted in a resounding 0 point advantage when you take away the points surrendered from errors. Is it better than being in a -9 hole from the service line like against the Razorbacks? Sure. But double digit service errors are a problem. Period.
Texas got lucky that both Arkansas and Oklahoma were abhorrent from the line themselves. Arkansas managed 1 ace to 10 errors, while the Sooners served 1 ace to an astounding 15 errors. Texas isn’t always going to face teams that do so poorly themselves from the service line, and we’ve already seen close matches that come down to a point in a set here or there. Texas can’t afford to be in massive negative margins on serves come December. Until we see some positive margins in this stat, I’m keeping this as a red light.
Yellow Lights
My Kingdom for Some Blocks
It’s rough to watch Texas finally find some defense at the net against Arkansas by notching a solid 26 blocks only to barely manage 8 two days later against Oklahoma. The match against the Razorbacks felt like it may have been a turning point: we’ve been clamoring for the block game to show up all season. Sadly, against the Sooners it wasn’t until late where a couple of blocks from Devin Kahahawei helped propel Texas into closing out Oklahoma.
Texas has traditionally been called Middle Blocker U, and when Texas started stuffing Tennessee in the fifth set a week prior, we felt like we might be back to being able to proudly flaunt that moniker. Unfortunately it only lasted for one full match before the Longhorns often looked lost trying to defend against the powerful swing of Oklahoma OH Alexis Shelton, who tallied a devastating 22 kills against the Horns. Coach Elliott did state that OU runs one of the fastest offenses in the SEC, which could have contributed to the downturn in blocks in that match.
Backline defense continues to be phenomenal, with Emma Halter and Ramsey Gary showing impressive abilities to pancake some digs and extend volleys with their rapid speed on the court and eye for the ball. But I’ve got to wonder if Texas could relieve some of the pressure on those two and ensure more in-system play if the blocking at the net improved.
Perhaps the telling stat is the compare and contrast between the block being there against Arkansas and it being nearly absent against Oklahoma. The Razorbacks only managed a weak .124 hitting percentage with 31 kills, while the Sooners hit .278 on the match and recorded 48 kills. The Longhorns outplayed both squads on both of those metrics, but that seemingly small difference may be why Oklahoma was able to take Texas to a fourth set. Now adjust these metrics for a team that hits really well. I would love to see Texas find its block consistently.
Green Lights
Torrey Stafford
Torrey might find that she has to start paying property taxes because she essentially lives in our green light section now. I’m certainly not complaining that Texas not only may have landed the top OH transfer in the portal last offseason but also one of the top OH’s overall. And that she has fit so nicely into this Longhorn squad.
Stafford hit a career milestone with her 1000th kill, coming against Arkansas last week. By her standards, she was a bit quiet in that match, just tallying 9 kills, although she followed it up with a monster performance against Oklahoma with 17 kills there.
Torrey seems effortlessly capable of playing from multiple areas on the court, and Ella Swindle seems to have really built a rapport with her. Josh placed Torrey in our green lights section last week, and we’ve had the pin hitters featured here often. I see no reason to take her away now.
Abby Vander Wal had a massively solid week as well, hitting an impressive 28 kills between both matches at the OH2 position. Cari Spears had a down match against Arkansas but picked back up against the Sooners; not all too unexpected from a freshman. If there is one thing Texas can absolutely hang its hat on right now, it is its power offense, and Torrey Stafford is leading the way.
I Mean, We’re 16 and 0
No matter how we slice it, the squad is still undefeated. An impressive mark given the early season non-conference schedule and some tough SEC opponents already faced. Rivalries can get weird at times, and Texas still walked away with a win versus their biggest historic rivals (those who watched the Oklahoma match on ESPN probably got sick of hearing about Sooners that ‘went to Oklahoma just to beat Texas’).
There’s always room for improvement, but this season has been a great showcase of Jerritt Elliott’s ability to recruit and develop. Three freshmen starters are playing at the level of some of the best veterans on other Division 1 volleyball squads, and we are just past the halfway mark of the season. Somehow we took an All-Big 10 First Team libero and fit her in playing defensive specialist opposite our senior libero. And Torrey Stafford has been…Torrey Stafford.
This squad can only get better, and given what they have accomplished and overcome so far, that should be scary news for the rest of the NCAA. Will they go undefeated the whole season? Probably not; it’s a long slog and sometimes shit happens. But this team has shown that they can show up when it matters most and that they have the fight and the tenacity to go against anyone in any environment. I’m not big into betting, but I’d feel comfortable putting money on these Longhorns any given week.
Next Up
Texas gets to swing through some of the Gulf Coast as they face Ole Miss and LSU on the road this weekend.
Ole Miss Rebels (10-9, 12-6, W1) - 7 PM CT on Friday, 10/24 at Gillom Athletics Performance Center in Oxford, MS (SECN)
LSU Tigers (10-9, 3-5, L1) - 1 PM CT on Sunday, 10/26 at Maravich Center in Baton Rouge (SECN+)
Great article.