OMAHA, Nebraska — Logan Eggleston walked to the podium in a news conference after the Texas State volleyball season ended Saturday night.
This in itself is not unusual. Eggleston, who has been captain for the past four years, has long represented the Longhorns in end-of-season meetings with the media. As a sophomore in 2019, she had to find the right words to explain the Sweet 16’s debacle at Louisville. During the pandemic season, which ended in April 2021, she stared at a Zoom screen talking about the championship game loss to Kentucky. After Nebraska beat the Longhorns in the Elite Eight last season, she broke down talking about outgoing UT seniors Brione Butler and Sydney Peterson.
But on Saturday night, things were different.
Eggleston sat proudly on stage at the CHI Health Center, accompanied by head coach Jerritt Elliott and longtime teammate Asjia O’Neal. She wears ski goggles, a celebratory t-shirt and hat, and has a big smile on her face.
After the Longhorns swept Louisville 25-22, 25-14, 26-24 in the NCAA championship game, there was no need for tears — at least the sad kind. With the win, Texas secured its first national title since 2012.
“Yeah, it’s more fun not to shed a sad tear at the end of the season,” Eggleston said, thanking her teammates. “We could actually say we won the last game. It felt amazing.”
Texas (28-1) won the first two sets convincingly, but needed to show some fight before celebrating. After successfully challenging Louisville in the final period, the Cardinals took a 24-22 lead and were ready to extend the game.
Pause, Texas.
After the timeout ended, the Longhorns quickly tied the game with an O’Neal kill and an offensive error from Louisville. Then Eggleston contributed a kill and Texas suddenly served the title.
On match point, Keonilei Akana’s serve overwhelmed Louisville’s Claire Chaussee. When the volleyball moved back and out of range of the nearest Cardinal, the Texas players scrambled across the court.
“I literally saw the serve come out of my perimeter, over the net, and I was like, oh, that’s an ace,” O’Neal said. “I turned around and fell to the ground.”
The University of Texas joins Stanford’s 2018 championship team as the only schools in the past decade to win a title as the No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed. It was the first Texas team to lose fewer than two times in a season. The 28 wins are the fifth-largest in the Elliott era, which began in 2001.
Louisville (31-3) led with Chaussee’s 12 kills. The Cardinals are looking for their first national title.
O’Neill said people weren’t panicking when Louisville took the lead 24-22. In fact, the fifth-year middle blocker said there was even a “sense of serenity” to the team’s huddle.
“We still have all the momentum, I think,” she said. “It’s our game. I know we’re fully capable of coming back and taking the lead in the game. We’re calm and confident in what we can do. We’re just getting back to basics and being able to pull it off.”
Eggleston finished with 19 kills and was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Her crowning achievement came a day after she won the AVCA’s Player of the Year award.
In the first set, she revealed what the hype was all about to an announced audience of 16,952. Eggleston had 10 kills on 16 swings as Texas trailed 3-0. Texas shot .533 in the first set, but had a key point thanks to the defense.
Texas took a 20-18 lead, preventing Louisville from scoring, as Sege Kaha-Aina-Torres, Zoe Fleck and Emma Harter took a lead over Molly Phillips and Shaquille O’Neal There were important saves in the long rallies at the end of the combo blocks. Eggleston hit a deflected ball that was flying toward the scorer’s table to keep the score.
Texas never trailed in the second set before bouncing back late in the final frame.
In addition to Eggleston’s offensive output, Texas had 12 kills from Madison Skinner and nine from O’Neal. Senior setter Ka’aha’aina-Torres had 37 assists, while Fleck recorded 14 digs from her free agent spot.
“For me, I’ve been coaching at Texas for 22 years, and I think I’ll be at USC for another six or seven years before that,” Elliott said. “I told my wife today that this is the most important game I’ve ever coached because I want to win it the most because of the two women sitting next to me and the 16 who are fighting for us every day. Women. Gyms.”
Saturday’s sweep was also a legacy moment for Eggleston. She’s back in Texas for the fifth season, partly because she wants to chase a title. She finished her career with the most ACEs and the third-most kills in school history. Eggleston, one of five four-time All-Americans at Texas, was UT’s first AVCA Player of the Year.
After the game, Elliott suggested that Texas should one day erect a statue of Eggleston on campus. He also believes his star outside hitter should now be mentioned among the greats of the game.
“I said ‘any last comment’ at practice today and my little freshman Emma said, ‘winner wins,'” Elliott said. “To be one of the greats in any sport, you have to win championships.” Logan has now done it. So she puts herself at a very elite level, like any other player. “
