Texas Volleyball sweeps Rice but will be tested as they host ranked teams later this week

Photo: Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK

Tonight’s match against Rice marks the beginning of an important week for the Texas Volleyball program as they welcome two ranked teams to the Forty Acres later this week before starting conference play. The #6 Longhorns, which moved up one slot in the rankings this week, swept Rice on home turf but Texas was offensively inconsistent over the course of the three sets and will need to find cohesion to be a championship contender this December.

Tonight’s first set was led by Madisen Skinner (OH) with seven kills and a team hitting average of 0.292, better than their 2023 season average (0.227), but was quickly followed by a sluggish second set of only 0.188. The Longhorns regained their steam in the third with a high 0.412 in offensive efficiency ending the night at an average 0.283 – still lower than their national championship season of 0.336. Skinner finished the night with a season high total of 19 kills, demonstrating she is instrumental to the success of this offense.

Also key to the Longhorn win was middle blocker Bella Bergmark who earned seven kills and the highest percent for her team (0.778). Bergmark, along with Asjia O’Neal (MB), earned two blocks each and O’Neal led her team at the service line. Texas limited their service errors to six, an improvement over their last match (13 errors) but in order to be competitive against top teams they will need to continue to focus on this critical but fundamental component.

Texas now has a few days to review films and prepare for #19 Ohio State on Thursday and #11 Washington State on Friday at the Greg. Then they will kick off Big 12 games against Oklahoma in Norman on Friday, September 22.