Lady Longhorns Come Home as NCAA Champions

January, 2023

By Naomi Gomez and Erik Gonzalez, Staff Reporters

After 10 years, #1 Texas girls’ volleyball team sweeps the floor against #4 Louisville at the NCAA championship December 18, 2022 at 11:30 AM. By winning all three sets, they ended their season with a score of 28 wins and 1 loss with a set score of 3 – 0. This left head coach Jerrit Elliot with his second national championship win of his entire coaching career.

The NCAA championship game was no miracle because of how consistent and determined the Longhorns have been throughout the entire season, sweeping the floor with other teams like rank #3 San Diego and rank #10 Ohio State. All having similar results in score with UT (winning almost all of their games with a 3 set lead) made it challenging for teams to come out victorious during the competitions with the one exception being against Iowa State as the team’s only loss, having the final score be 3 – 2. 

Not only was the NCAA game an amazing site and a day to remember, but so was the performance of the game leaders having spectacular statistics carrying the team to the win like #33 Logan Eggloston with the highest amount of  19 kills – 3 blocks and ending her year with a National champion title. #6 Madisen Skinner with a total of 12 kills – 1 ace – 3 blocks earning her second National championship as a player. #7 O’Neal Asjia ended the game with a total of 9 kills – 1 ace – 3 blocks. #15 Molly Phillips having a total of 6 kills – 2 blocks. And with some honorable mentions like #9 Saige Ka Aha Aina – Torrez with a whopping 37 assists and giving the team a kill.

With a determined team hungry for a victory, they kicked off the first set winning it by 3 points setting the first set score 25 – 22, having #33 Logan Eggloston make 10 of those points. Even though they had a close call, in the first set, the second set was completely different, having UT win the set 25 – 14, being an easier set for the Texans to be able to secure a 2 – 0 lead in the championship on the final set. Louisville made the Longhorns run for their money, making it a challenging set having it go back and forth for a while, but having the Texans come out victorious ending the final set with a score of 26 – 24.