Texas volleyball dominates Nebraska to defend national title

No. 5 Texas volleyball stayed hot during this magical run for head coach Jerritt Elliott's squad to repeat as National Champions with a route of the top overall seed Nebraska Cornhuskers in the title match in Tampa on Dec. 17. Texas defeated No. 1 Nebraska three sets to nothing, including a dominant run during the second set to beat the Huskers 25-14.

Junior Madi Skinner and senior Asjia O'Neal led the way for the Longhorns during this dominant three-set sweep of Nebraska in the national championship match on Dec. 17. Skinner was the only player on either squad to tally over 30 attacks and 15 kills.

Madi Skinner leads Texas volleyball to back-to-back National Championships

The former Kentucky transfer Skinner also tallied up five digs and one block in the Longhorns' match win over Nebraska.

O'Neal and Jenna Wenaas also combined for four blocks and double-digit kills in this dominant effort for the Longhorns.

Texas's first set win came by a narrow score of 25-22. The Longhorns had to rally late in the first set after Nebraska took an early lead. Nebraska held a 22-20 lead in the first set before Texas rallied to score five straight to reach 25 points.

The second set was smoother for the Longhorns, after going on an 11-0 run to close out with a 25-14 win. Nebraska was outclassed, while registering a negative hit percentage for the only set in this national championship match in the second set.

Texas continued the momentum from their crazy run, led by Skinner, into the third set. Nebraska was only down 9-7 at one point in the final set. But Texas went on a 12-3 run to essentially put this set away and seal the second straight national title. Texas's 12th ace of the game sealed the deal for the second straight national title for the Longhorns. Texas dominated the third set 25-11.

It was Texas getting a .230-.014 edge in hit percentage and nearly doubling up Nebraska in kills that helped the Longhorns get such a significant edge in the last two matches. Nebraska also didn't have an answer for Texas' service. Texas registered double-digit service aces, while Nebraska only had a couple in this entire match.

Texas handed Nebraska just its second loss of the season. Skinner and O'Neal led this crazy run for the Longhorns to beat the top-three ranked teams in the nation (No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Stanford, and No. 3 Wisconsin) by a combined set margin of 9-2.

This is the fifth National Championship in program history for Texas and the third since 2012. Elliott truly pulled off something special to get back-to-back titles after losing some important players from last year's squad.