Volleyball game between the Texas Longhorns and Rice Owls at Gregory Gym in Austin, Texas on August 14, 2026. (Photo: Ralph Arvesen)
Texas Volleyball opened SEC play with one of its most difficult road tests of the season, and the No. 7 Longhorns needed all five sets to escape Knoxville. Texas rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat the No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers 21-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-22, 15-11 at Food City Center, completing its first reverse sweep in nearly three years.
The setting added to the challenge. Tennessee drew 9,226 fans, a program home attendance record, and entered the night with a 9-1 record after winning at No. 9 Penn State less than a week earlier. Texas arrived at 4-4 after navigating one of the most difficult opening schedules in the country, with eight of its first nine matches coming against top-20 opponents.
Tennessee immediately took advantage of the home court. The Volunteers jumped ahead 13-6 in the opening set and forced Texas to spend most of the frame trying to recover. The Longhorns eventually narrowed the gap, but Tennessee had created too much separation and closed the set 25-21 while hitting .278.
The second set followed a very different path. Texas started quickly and built an 11-5 advantage, appearing ready to even the match. Tennessee methodically worked its way back, however, tying the score at 19-19 before the teams settled into a point-for-point finish. Neither side could create lasting separation, and the score eventually reached 24-24. Consecutive Texas errors gave Tennessee the final two points and a 26-24 win, leaving the Longhorns down two sets on the road.
At that point, the margin for another mistake had disappeared. Texas had hit only .108 in the second set and was one lost frame away from a sweep. Instead, the Longhorns finally began to change the direction of the match midway through the third.
The teams remained even through a 13-13 tie before Texas put together the run it had been missing. Kills from Nya Bunton, Taylor Harvey and Torrey Stafford pushed the Longhorns ahead 16-13, and Stafford added two more kills as the lead grew. Cari Spears contributed another attack, while service aces from Stafford and Callie Krueger helped Texas take control late in the frame.
Tennessee committed consecutive attack errors to finish the set, giving Texas a 25-18 win. The result did more than keep the match alive. It ended Tennessee's 18-set home winning streak and provided the first sustained shift in momentum of the night.
The fourth set demanded another comeback. Tennessee built a 17-13 advantage and appeared to be closing in on the match before Texas responded behind Stafford. The Longhorns erased the four-point deficit and moved ahead 21-19, forcing Tennessee to play from behind for the first time during the closing portion of a set.
Tennessee pulled within one, but Texas remained composed through the final rallies. Stafford continued to provide the most reliable attack, and her 18th kill of the night helped the Longhorns close out a 25-22 victory. After more than three hours of momentum swings, the match had been reduced to a 15-point sprint.
Texas carried its energy directly into the deciding set. The Longhorns scored the first three points and quickly stretched the lead to 6-2. Stafford was at her best when the match reached its most important stage, recording six kills in the fifth set as Texas pushed the advantage to 10-4.
Tennessee did not disappear. The Volunteers cut the deficit to 12-10, putting pressure back on the Longhorns and giving the record crowd another reason to become involved. Texas answered without allowing the set to return to even terms. A kill from Spears and a Tennessee service error moved the score to match point at 14-10. After the Volunteers extended the match with one more kill, Stafford delivered her 28th and final kill to finish the reverse sweep 15-11.
Stafford produced the biggest offensive performance of the night, finishing with a season and match-high 28 kills. She also contributed 12 digs, four blocks and two service aces, recording her fourth double-double of the season. Her six kills in the deciding set were especially important after Tennessee had threatened to cut into the early Texas lead.
Bunton added a career-high 14 kills and four blocks, giving Texas another dependable option through the middle. Spears recorded 12 kills and 12 digs for her first double-double of the season, while Henley Anderson finished with seven kills, three blocks and an ace.
Setter Rella Binney directed the offense with a career-high 54 assists and added 14 digs. It was her third consecutive match with at least 40 assists, her third straight double-double and fifth of the season. Ramsey Gary led Texas defensively with 21 digs, while Emma Cugino collected 10 digs in her collegiate debut.
Tennessee countered with three players reaching double figures in kills. Kennedi Rogers led the Volunteers with 16 kills and added a career-high 12 digs. Maggie Dostic finished with 13 kills and 10 digs for her first career double-double, while Chelsea Sutton recorded 12 kills and a career-high nine blocks.
Setter Caroline Kerr finished with 45 assists and 16 digs, while Raegan Burns and Jalyn Stout each added 13 digs. Tennessee's defense produced 70 digs and 11 blocks, both important reasons the Longhorns had to work through so many extended rallies before taking control late.
Texas finished with 68 kills compared with 54 for Tennessee and held a .191 to .156 advantage in hitting percentage. The Longhorns also recorded 78 digs, 64 assists and six service aces. Tennessee held the advantage at the net with 11 blocks to Texas' nine, but the Longhorns became more efficient as the match progressed, hitting .292 in the fifth set.
The match featured 29 ties and 11 lead changes, appropriate numbers for a night when neither team could comfortably hold momentum. Texas had opportunities to make the evening easier, particularly after leading 11-5 in the second set, but the value of the result came from what happened after that opportunity disappeared.
This was Texas' first reverse sweep since defeating Baylor at Gregory Gym in 2023. It also extended the Longhorns' winning streak over Tennessee to 12 matches and marked their second consecutive victory in Knoxville. Before the current stretch, Texas' only previous match in Tennessee had come more than four decades earlier.
The 5-4 record still reflected an uneven beginning to the season, but the context continued to matter. Texas had already faced ranked opponents including Arizona State, TCU, Nebraska, USC, Louisville, SMU and Wisconsin before beginning conference play. The Longhorns had experienced sweeps in both directions, a five-set road loss and several matches where one extended run changed the outcome.
Against Tennessee, Texas finally had to win after nearly everything had gone wrong early. The Longhorns lost the first two sets, surrendered a six-point lead in the second and faced another four-point deficit in the fourth. Rather than allowing one of those stretches to determine the match, they gradually became the more effective team as the night progressed.
The result gave Texas a 1-0 start in SEC play, but the way it happened mattered just as much. A straightforward road victory would have been valuable. Recovering from two sets down in front of the largest home crowd Tennessee had ever drawn required a different kind of performance, particularly with another top-three opponent waiting two days later at Kentucky.
University of Texas Volleyball
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