No. 1 Texas Volleyball at Rice
Texas: 8-0 | Rice: 5-4
Wednesday, Sept. 22 – 6 p.m. CT
Tudor Fieldhouse | Houston, Texas
THE MATCHUP
Texas continues its two-match road swing, taking on Rice in Houston. The Longhorns lead the all-time series with Rice 36-2, but the Owls have won the last two meetings. Last season Rice won a five-set match at the Erwin Center and prior to that the Owls won in five at Tudor Fieldhouse in 2019.
RANKINGS
Texas enters the week as the No. 1 ranked team in the 2021 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Poll, returning nearly the entire roster from the team that finished as the NCAA runner-up last season. Texas, who was picked first in the Preseason AVCA Coaches' Poll, is one of two Big 12 teams in the top-25 as Baylor sits at No. 10.
RANK AND FILE
UT owns a 127-55 (.696) record against ranked opponents over the last 18 seasons (2004-21) and boasts a 59-12 (.829) home mark against ranked opponents at Gregory Gymnasium (56-12) and the Frank Erwin Center (3-0) during that span. So far this season, Texas is 3-0 against ranked opponents with wins over San Diego, Minnesota and Stanford
ACE IN THE HOLE
The Longhorn service game has been lethal early this season, currently ranking fourth in the nation with 2.32 aces per set (65 aces in 28 sets). Logan Eggleston leads the way with 17 aces, while Melanie Parra has 16 and Asjia O'Neal has 11. In all, Texas has six players with five or more aces so far this season.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Logan Eggleston and Skylar Fields were the back-to-back recipients of the Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week award, Sept 7 and Sept. 14. Eggleston was awarded on Sept. 7 following wins over No. 10 Minnesota and No. 20 Stanford. She had 30 total kills (4.29 kills per set) and finished with 17 digs, six blocks and one service ace. Fields won the award after wins over Texas State, Arizona and Notre Dame in which she totaled 43 kills and a .380 hitting percentage.
PRESEASON AWARDS
Logan Eggleston was named the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year and teammates Brionne Butler, Jhenna Gabriel, Skylar Fields and Asjia O'Neal joined her on the preseason team. The Longhorns were picked first in the Big 12 Preseason Poll for the 11th consecutive season and the 14th time in program history.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
After clinching the 2020 Big 12 title, the Longhorns have now won 26 conference championships, including 13 Big 12 titles and 13 Southwest Conference Championships. The 2020 title was the fourth-straight Big 12 Championship for the Longhorns, who have won or shared nine of the last 10 league championships and 12 of the previous 14.
FIVE ALL-AMERICANS
Texas returns five players who landed on the AVCA All-American teams in 2020, led by first teamers Logan Eggleston and Brionne Butler. Additionally, Jhenna Gabriel was named to the third team and Skylar Fields and Asjia O'Neal received Honorable Mention All-America accolades. Eggleston and Butler received their third All-American recognition, after being named second team All-Americans in 2019 and receiving honorable mention as freshmen in 2018.
SHARING THE WEALTH
With five attackers hitting at a very high level last season, the Longhorns created a balanced offensive attack. Setter Jhenna Gabriel was a big part of that, leading the Big 12 and ranking 10th nationally with 11.26 assists per set. Twice last season she set a career high with 58 assists in a match.
BLOCK PARTY
Last season the Longhorns finished second in the nation in total blocks and led the Big 12 Conference with a combined 282. Brionne Butler led the nation with 147 total blocks, while Asjia O'Neal (113 blocks) ranked 10th nationally and third in the Big 12 Conference and Molly Phillips (88 blocks) ranked sixth in the conference. Butler led the Big 12 conference and was 11th nationally averaging 1.48 blocks per set. O'Neal was sixth in the conference with a 1.13 blocks per set average and Phillips was 10th with an average of 1.01 blocks per set. As a team, the Longhorns ranked 11th in the nation with 2.76 blocks per set.
EFFICIENCY
As a team in 2020, Texas hit .334 on the season, to finish third nation. That mark was also the fourth-best in Longhorn history. The Longhorns have hit over a .300 clip for the past six seasons, all ranking in the top-10 single season marks in program history. The 2019 team led the nation with a .325 hitting percentage, which is the fifth-best in Texas history. The duo of Brionne Butler and Asjia O'Neal were the top two hitters in the Big 12. Butler hit .430, while O'Neal hit at a .411 clip. Additionally, Molly Phillips hit .347 and Skylar Fields was at .313, while Logan Eggleston hit .321. All five of those players ranked in the top eight in hitting in the Big 12.
