AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns volleyball team ran away with their seventh consecutive Big 12 Conference championship this season with a 17-1 record, and now they’ll host the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament as defending national champions.
The field was announced Sunday on ESPN and the Longhorns, 23-4 overall this season, received a No. 2 seed in the Stanford Quarter and will open the tournament at 6 p.m., Nov. 30, against the Texas A&M Aggies at Gregory Gym. It’ll be an all-Texas opening round with Texas State taking on No. 7-seeded SMU in the other match at 4 p.m.
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The winners of those matches will play at 7 p.m., Dec. 1 in the second round.
Tennessee is the No. 3 seed in the quarter, Big 12 newcomer BYU is No. 4 and Arizona State is the 5-seed. Western Kentucky is No. 6 and Houston rounds out the seeded teams in the quarter at No. 8.
Wisconsin, Pitt and Nebraska along with Stanford received No. 1 seeds in their respective quarters.
Texas’ front line has been strong all season with 2.95 blocks per set, tied with Pitt for No. 2 in the country. It’s led by senior Asjia O’Neal who is No. 2 in the country with 1.59 blocks per set. She’s also No. 36 in the country with a .381 hitting percentage. Junior Madisen Skinner is No. 10 in points per set, averaging 5.31 over 91 sets.
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