Texas volleyball outlasts Tennessee 3-2 to keep repeat hopes alive

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Tennessee took Texas to the brink of defeat Thursday, but in the end, the Longhorns prevailed.

Behind a 16-14 fifth-set victory, second-seeded Texas outlasted the third-seeded Volunteers 3-2 in the NCAA volleyball regional semifinals at Maples Pavilion on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California.

Texas won the first set 25-19 but the Vols claimed the next two 25-20 and 25-23, and then had match point in the fourth set 24-23 until a 3-0 flurry gave the Longhorns a 26-24 win to even the match.

Madisen Skinner had two of her match-high 26 kills to put the Longhorns up 25-24, and then setter Ella Swindle provided the set-winning kill to push the match to a fifth set.

Jenna Wenaas had 11 kills while Asjia O'Neal had 10 to go with eight blocks. Texas hit .262 with 22 attacking errors for the match while the Vols hit .235 with 30 errors.

Swindle had 40 assists and Emma Halter had 20 digs for the Longhorns. Texas (25-4) will play either fifth-seeded Arizona State or top-seeded Stanford in the regional final.