No. 3 Texas fell to No. 2 Creighton, 3-1, after this story aired and was published online. No. 6 Texas A&M will play No. 2 Wisconsin this evening at 6:00 p.m. CST.
There are 16 teams left standing in the 2024 NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, two of which are from Texas.
Last Friday, the reigning national champion Texas Longhorns swept Southern Cal in front of a sold out crowd at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin. They now advance to the regionals for the nineteenth consecutive season – the longest active streak in the country.
Also earning a spot in the regionals is Texas A&M. They moved on to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019 after defeating Arizona State.
So what’s at stake for these teams going forward? ESPN volleyball analyst Shelby Coppedge joined the Standard with a lookahead. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: You yourself are a Texan, born and raised in Austin, played for A&M – Corpus Christi. What’s it been like following these Texas teams in the tournament?
Shelby Coppedge: Texas has some of the best players. I mean, you look at any conference – Big Ten, SEC – many of them are from Texas.
Growing up in Austin, I went to Gregory Gym. I mean, Jerritt Elliot, the head coach right now, has had the job for 27 years – 21, I think. Around there. I grew up watching him. He’s just a legend to me. He’s like the volleyball Nick Saban.
And then Texas A&M is chasing to be what Texas is and their new head coach, Jamie Morrison, I think is that coach to take them there. So I absolutely love watching these two programs.
Actually, when Texas played at College Station this year, it set the state record for a non-playoff match with the most fans – over 9,000. It was insane. And Gregory Gym, for reference, only holds about 4,500. So that’s almost two Gregory Gyms right there watching those two teams.
So what Longhorn players have you had your eyes on during during this tournament?
Well, you have to know the name outside hitter Maddie Skinner. She is one of the best players in the nation. She’s going to be in the Olympics – I’m saying it right now.
She is just so lethal from the front row, from the back row. You don’t have to know volleyball to watch her, to know it’s a huge killer.
The other person you got to know is freshman middle blocker Ayden Ames. So she’s a true freshman playing the middle, and Texas is notorious for always redshirting their middles. The last time a middle actually played as a true freshman, it was in 2013 with Chiaka [Ogbogu], who was also in the Olympics.
So those two players – I mean, you can watch all of them – but those two players, you really got to know their names.
And what about A&M? They haven’t been in the postseason for a few years. What’s been the key to success this season?
First thing I have to say is their new head coach, Jamie Morrison, who started last season, he has a lot of experience on the men’s side, on the pro side, and he is just a players coach. He relates so well to them.
His wife was a star at Villanova, played volleyball and I think he’s put together such a solid team.
The player you obviously have to know over there is right side Logan Lednicky. She is so physical. If you could see her in person, she just looks ten times taller and stronger than on TV. She’s left-handed. So it’s not often you see a left-handed hitter in volleyball and she’s actually a born and raised Aggie fan. Her parents are die hard, went there.
She could probably easily play in the Big Ten, but she loves College Station so much and she just has such a vision for the Aggie program. Like it’s awesome watching them.
So if you look at both these teams – Texas, Texas A&M – is there one that you think perhaps has a better chance of advancing further in the tournament than the other?
Well, Texas has made it to the national championship three of the past four years, and they won three of those years. So that’s just what Texas aims for.
I mean, it’s like a joke that in Gregory Gym, they don’t even give a national championship per one banner. They’ll just put multiple national championship years on the banner, right?
So, historically, Texas. But looking at Texas A&M, they have the pieces together. And say they weren’t to make it past the top 16, next year they’re probably going to keep elevating.
And the thing with Texas A&M is they’re playing Wisconsin, who is a huge blocking team. These players are actually 6’9″, 6’8″, 6’4″, 6’4″, 6’2″ – they’re just huge. It’s just a huge block in front of them.
And Texas A&M is the sixth seed and Wisconsin, the second seed at the Nebraska regional. So that just shows you how important it is to win during season because when you make the postseason, you don’t want to play one of the biggest teams early on. You want to be up at the top.
So really, I mean, for Texas, it’s just can they play how they usually do? Creighton is a really good team. That’s who they’re playing. But Texas expects to win where Texas A&M is just fighting to make history. And I think they definitely have the pieces to do it.
