Texas falls to Creighton in NCAA volleyball regional semifinals

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas volleyball team lost in four sets to Creighton on Friday, bowing out of the NCAA tournament in the regional semifinals.

Texas made a great comeback to win the first set 26-24 but then dropped the next three 25-19, 25-21, 25-20 at the Penn State Rec Hall in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Creighton, seeded No. 2 in the regional, was tough at the net with 11 blocks and the service line with eight aces. The Longhorns hit .197 with 26 attacking errors while the Bluejays hit .307 with 18 errors.

"I'm super proud of the team by the way they competed," Longhorns head coach Jerritt Elliott said. "It wasn't the result we wanted, but I'm OK with sometimes losing one when the kids gave it everything they had, and they did that the entire season."

The Longhorns, seeded No. 3 in the regional, roared back from a 20-15 deficit in the opening set to tie it at 22-22, but then Creighton scored a couple of quick points to have two set points. Texas then scored the set's final four points with a pair of kills by freshman Ayden Ames, a Creighton attacking error and finally a Madisen Skinner kill.

The Bluejays (32-2) kept the pressure on Texas from the service line all night and the Longhorns committed eight receiving errors.

Skinner finished with a match-high 23 kills with a .194 hitting percentage while middle blocker Marianna Singletary notched 11 kills.

It's the second time in 19 consecutive appearances that Texas has lost in the regional semifinals and the first time in three seasons that the Longhorns won't play for a national championship. They've won the past two national titles, and Skinner's play was a big driver of those. She was emotional after the loss, calling the past three seasons "special."

"I took a risk transferring (after her freshman year at Kentucky) and choosing to trust Jarrett and the staff and the program and invest in them as people," she said. "It's hard to think of one thing I'm most proud of, but I'd say it has been my growth as a person, not just as an athlete, but as a human being. I've been challenged and pushed by the staff in so many ways, and I'm better because of it."

Texas ended the season 20-7 and the Longhorns finished second in their inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference.