Texas Volleyball Defeats A&M In Conference Opener

And it's goodbye to A&M in the first SEC matchup for the Longhorns.

Texas Longhorns Keonilei Akana serves the ball against Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in the NCAA volleyball game at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. / Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Who else would back-to-back national champion Texas volleyball face in its Southeastern Conference debut if not Lone Star State rivals Texas A&M?

While the Longhorns didn't show the best performance of their careers, it was enough to defeat the unranked Aggies 3-1 in College Station.

No. 8 Texas went into the game coming out of a 3-1 win over Hawaii, but the Longhorns had a rocky start to its season with three defeats, including a home loss to Miami and a sweep from Stanford.

Jerritt Elliot's team started with a dominating first set against the Aggies, finishing it up with a 25-16 score. But the hosts responded in the second set leaving the national champions to a 25-14 loss. From then on, it was anyone's game.

Texas and Texas A&M fought hard in the next two sets but it turned out to be a better night for the Longhorns, which took sets three and four home with 25-23 and 25-20 wins.

The team's star, Madisen Skinner, fired 11 kills, yet had 10 errors, spending more time on the bench than usual due to a pre-match shoulder harness. Skinner had the help of Reagan Rutherford and Devin Kahahawai, each matching the star up with 11 kills, Jenna Wenaas with eight, and redshirt sophomore Marianna Singletary, who recorded seven kills and a team-high four blocks.

The in-state rivals set a new Texas record for NCAA regular season match attendance with a crowd of 9,236.

The fire of Skinner and Singletary in the net were enough to secure Texas' first SEC win, and against the renewed rivalry of Texas A&M. But the team must make improvements going into the season for a chance in its maiden SEC championship.