NCAA volleyball championship stunner! Texas sweeps Nebraska

TAMPA — No one expected a sweep.

Most figured No. 1 Nebraska would win.

And then Texas simply served Nebraska into oblivion.

The seventh-seeded Longhorns destroyed Nebraska 25-22, 25-14, 25-11 Sunday in the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship title match, putting on a serving display like few others. 

Defending-champion Texas (28-4) had a season-high 12 aces — seven in the second set — and made it back to back national titles. Madisen Skinner, who led with 16 kills, had two aces. Setter Ella Swindle had two.

And Asjia O’Neal saved her best match for last with a walk-off ace, her fifth of the match. Her previous best this season was three. She also had four kills with one error in eight attacks, three blocks and three digs and five aces, including the match winner.

After being down 10-7 in the second set, Texas outscored Nebraska 43-15.

“We just put a tremendous amount of pressure on both teams in this tournament,” said Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, whose Longhorns beat Wisconsin in the semifinals. “And ultimately we were able to get them out of system a ton.”

One year ago, Texas ended the title match when Keonilei Akana walked it off with an ace against Louisville. She didn’t have the winner Sunday, but the defensive specialist had two of the 12 Texas aces. Carissa Barnes had the other ace.

“I did think about it for a little bit after we won,” O’Neal said. “But it was really cool because I remember telling K-lei (last year), you’re going to go down in history forever for doing that. It was so iconic of you. I was trying to emulate my friend K-lei. That was just so fun. There’s really no words to explain it.”

In addition to her 16 kills, Skinner, who won a title with Kentucky as a freshman and now has two with Texas, had five digs and a block. Jenna Wenaas had nine kills, two assists, two digs and four blocks. Swindle had five kills, 21 assists, seven digs and a block. Her team hit .264, .481 in the third set.

Bella Bergmark had three kills in six errorless tries, two assists, a dig and four blocks. Molly Phillips struggled in her last match with a kill and two errors in 11 swings but had two blocks. Emma Halter had nine digs and six assists, Barnes had four digs and an assist and Akana had four digs and an assist. 

Nebraska (33-2) never could get untracked offensively as the…