Volleyball game between the Texas Longhorns and Mississippi State Bulldogs at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Texas on October 2, 2026. (Photo: Ralph Arvesen)
Texas Volleyball returned to Gregory Gym after a month away and immediately looked more comfortable on its home floor. The No. 8 Longhorns swept the Mississippi State Bulldogs 25-16, 25-21, 25-19 in their first home SEC match of the season, improving to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Mississippi State entered Austin at 11-1 and riding a nine-match winning streak, but Texas controlled the match with its most efficient offensive performance of the season.
The first set remained relatively close through the opening exchanges before Texas began to create distance. With the Longhorns ahead 8-7, they scored six of the next seven points to move in front 14-8. Torrey Stafford supplied three kills during the run, helping turn a one-point advantage into the first meaningful separation of the night.
Texas did not allow Mississippi State to make a serious run back into the set. The Longhorns attacked with only one error in the frame, finishing with 15 kills on 31 swings for a .452 hitting percentage. Mississippi State managed eight kills and committed six attack errors, hitting .067. Cari Spears closed the set with a kill for the 25-16 victory.
The second set was more competitive. Texas again built an early advantage, moving ahead 13-8 behind three kills from Stafford, but Mississippi State began to settle into its offense. The Bulldogs hit .325 in the set and gradually cut the deficit, eventually pulling within three points at 21-18.
Texas never let the margin disappear. The Longhorns continued to side out efficiently and won four of the final seven points, with Henley Anderson providing the closing kill for a 25-21 win. Texas recorded 19 kills in the set and hit .357, giving the Longhorns a 2-0 lead despite Mississippi State producing its best offensive stretch of the match.
The third set presented a different challenge. Mississippi State took its first lead of the night and stayed close through much of the frame, forcing Texas to play through a series of tighter exchanges. The Longhorns held a 16-14 advantage before gradually stretching the lead to 19-16, but the Bulldogs were still close enough that the match had not yet become comfortable.
Texas answered with its best offensive set of the night. Taylor Harvey and Stafford helped the Longhorns maintain control during the closing stretch, with Stafford recording three kills over the final eight points. Texas finished the third hitting .531, producing 19 kills with only two errors on 32 attacks, and completed the sweep 25-19.
The offensive efficiency was the clearest difference in the match. Texas finished with 53 kills and only seven attack errors on 105 swings, good for a season-high .438 hitting percentage. Mississippi State was respectable at .245, but the Bulldogs finished with 34 kills, giving Texas a substantial advantage in total offensive production.
Stafford led all players with 20 kills while hitting a season-best .419. She added 13 digs for her fifth double-double of the season, providing both the most productive attacking performance and a steady presence in the back row. Her ability to score without piling up errors was particularly important in a match where Texas rarely allowed Mississippi State to string together enough points to change the direction of a set.
Anderson added 12 kills and hit a career-best .400, giving Texas another reliable option on the outside. Spears finished with nine kills and a service ace, while Harvey was exceptionally efficient in the middle with six kills on nine attempts and no errors, finishing at a career-best .667 hitting percentage. The balance made it difficult for Mississippi State to key on any one attacker.
Setter Rella Binney finished with 39 assists, extending her streak to five consecutive matches with at least 30. Texas recorded 49 assists on 53 kills, a reflection of how consistently the Longhorns were able to get into their offense. The team also finished with 46 digs, while Mississippi State recorded 40.
Mississippi State's best offensive option was Lindsey Mangelson, who finished with 14 kills while hitting .343. No other Bulldog reached double figures. Noella Obi and Bernardita Aguilar each added five kills, while setter Erin Kline recorded 18 assists. McKenna Yates led Mississippi State with nine digs.
The Bulldogs entered the night with considerable momentum. They had won nine consecutive matches and opened conference play with a five-set victory over LSU. Texas was also the first opponent to beat Mississippi State on the road this season, making the straight-set result more significant than the records alone might suggest.
It was also the first meeting between the two programs, adding a new matchup to Texas' still relatively young history in the SEC. Mississippi State had never played inside Gregory Gym before, while Texas was playing there for the first time since its home opener against USC. The 30-day gap between regular-season matches at Gregory was the longest of the Jerritt Elliott era.
A crowd of 3,933 filled the gym for the return, and Texas gave it a much cleaner performance than the season record might have suggested. The Longhorns had already played an unusually difficult schedule, facing a long list of ranked opponents before getting deep into conference play. That early stretch produced some uneven results, but it also left Texas with little mystery about the level required to compete against quality teams.
Against Mississippi State, the Longhorns did not need a comeback or a dramatic fifth set. They simply played efficient volleyball for three consecutive frames. Texas hit above .350 in every set, limited itself to seven attack errors for the entire match and never allowed the Bulldogs to establish enough momentum to force a fourth.
The sweep moved Texas to 3-0 at home and provided a straightforward conference victory after a difficult road swing through Tennessee and Kentucky. More importantly, the offense looked balanced and controlled from beginning to end. After spending much of the opening month navigating ranked opponents and tight matches, the Longhorns returned to Gregory Gym and produced one of their cleanest nights of the season.
University of Texas Volleyball
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