-
MA ForpelESPN.com
OMAHA, Nebraska — The 10-year quest for a third NCAA title ended Saturday with celebrations after Texas beat Louisville 3-0 to win the Women’s Volleyball National Championship.
The big-hitting Longhorns were too much for the Cardinals, winning 25-22, 25-14, 26-24. Texas had his AVCA National Player of the Year Logan Eggleston. Logan Eggleston was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament as he had 19 kills and 7 digs.
The No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Texas ranked No. 2 in the August preseason poll, but was in the top spot for all but one week of the regular season. The Longhorns lost 3-2 to Iowa State on October 19, their only loss of the season, which dropped him to second place, but returned to the top the following week.
In fact, this was the Longhorns’ season, almost from wire to wire. This program earned him NCAA titles in 1988 and 2012. Both swept Hawaii and then Oregon.
“I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to come back after five years,” Eggleston said.
The Longhorns won at CHI Health Center on Saturday, but have faced deep disappointments before. They lost their national championship games here in Nebraska in 2015 and against Kentucky in 2021 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took place in the spring of 2021, but officially he won the 2020 was the title of ).
That Kentucky victory gave the SEC its first volleyball title, and Louisville was looking to do the same for the ACC on Saturday. The team defeated Pittsburgh, 3-2.
As a volleyball player (2006) and assistant coach (2015), the arena brought national prominence to coach Dani Basboom-Kelly, who won Nebraska championships during his six seasons in Louisville. As head coach she became the first woman to win an NCAA Division I volleyball title and was on the verge of giving Louisville its first national championship in a sport other than men’s basketball.
After Texas dominated the second set, Louisville had a chance to extend the match with two set points in the third to take a 24-22 lead. But Texas won the title with kills from Aszia O’Neill and Eggleston, Louisville’s misses on offense and an ace from Keonirei Akana to secure the final four points.
“Felt like if we reached [the fourth set] Basboom Kelly, who finished the season with a 31-3 Cardinals record, said. But being in that position is also quite amazing and something we will learn.
“These opportunities are very difficult to come by. But we will look back on this season and be grateful for many things. We changed the programme, the city and the fans.”
The Longhorns were in their 14th NCAA Final Four and 8th NCAA Finals. He did not participate in his first NCAA Tournament in 1981. This is because Texas chose to compete in his final AIAW tournament of the school year, winning his final AIAW title in volleyball.
The Longhorns’ 1988 NCAA title is due to coach Mick Haley, who coached Texas from 1980-1996. Jim Moore coached the Longhorns from 1997 to 2000. However, after Texas’ first and still only losing season in 2000, Moore was replaced by then-USC interim head coach Jerrit Elliott.
The Longhorns have played in the NCAA Tournament every year, but once under Elliott, they have won at least 23 in 20 of 22 seasons. This year, Texas finished 28-1, the best record in school history. Elliott’s 2012 championship team was 29-4. Since then, the program has had numerous chances to add another NCAA trophy to him until he did so on Saturday.
Elliott has had some heartbreaks, including Texas’ 2-0 win over Pennsylvania State in the 2009 NCAA Finals, but lost 3-2, but Saturday’s game was the one he wanted the most. said it was a tough match.
“Thanks to the two women who sat next to me,” he said, referring to Eggleston and O’Neal. Managing a team as a coach sometimes you have a lot of problems and with this team you didn’t have one for the entire season everyone gave they did commit to the process .
“The reason this was important to me is because this was a life lesson. To be leaders in their communities one day and to remember what they gave to each other…that’s what they did.”
Eggleston said the Longhorns’ first loss this season (a 3-2 loss to Iowa State in October) really helped.
“I learned a lot about myself as a player and as a team through it,” Eggleston said. “We were committed to getting better. If we hadn’t lost that match, I don’t know if the conversations we had and the areas we improved would have materialized.”
Texas continues to be a powerhouse. But the sport’s growth shown by programs such as Louisville are making it more difficult to reach the region, let alone a best-of-four. This year, Texas swept Fairleigh Dickinson and Georgia in his first two rounds before he went 3-1 against Marquette and Ohio State. The Longhorns also defeated San Diego in Thursday’s national semifinals, where he went 3-1.
Sports have come a long way in terms of athleticism and jumping ability. Elliott noted coaching her first Final 4 on the women’s team in 2000, when she was at USC.
“My two outside hitters were 9-foot-10 and 9-11. Quite small if not 10-3, 10-4,” he said. “So the game has changed, coaching has evolved. There is so much science behind it, so much numbers and analysis behind it. People study the game, they manage the game. You can, we have a lot more information than 10. 15 years ago.”
And of Eggleston, who shared the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament award alongside former Longhorn Bailey-Webster (2012), Elliott paid the ultimate tribute to the outside hitter.
“To be great in any sport, you have to win a championship.” And Logan has done it now. , to make use of all the resources possible, what she gave in every way… At some point, we will build a statue on campus for her.
