Well. 1 Volleyball advances to the national championship match

OMAHA, Neb. Well. 1 Texas Volleyball defeated San Diego in a four-set battle, 26-28, 25-16, 25-18, 25-20, Thursday in the NCAA national semifinals at the CHI Health Center.

The Longhorns (27-1) will advance to their ninth national title game and face either No. 4 Louisville or No. 6 Pittsburgh on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Texas had to fight for the win after dropping the first set on extra points. The Longhorns were held to their second-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .248, but outshot San Diego 12-9 and held the Toreros to a season-worst hitting night at .112.

Madisen Skinner led the way for Texas with 17 kills, hit .394 in the match and added four digs and three blocks. Logan Eggleston finished with 16 kills, nine digs, a team-high five blocks and one service ace.

Molly Phillips tied a career-high 14 kills and tied a career-high 34 swings. Thing O’Neal finished with five kills and four blocks, and Bella Bergmark had two kills and four blocks.

Saige Ka’aina-Torres played a great match with 46 assists, 11 digs, four kills and two blocks.

Zoe Fleck led the back line with 21 digs and five assists.

San Diego won the first period 28-26 as both teams struggled to find consistency to start the match. The Longhorns hit .056, had 11 attack errors and four service errors in the opening set.

The Longhorns bounced back in a big way in the second period to tie the game with a 25-16 victory. Texas hit .333 in the series and was led by Phillips with six kills.

Texas led from start to finish in the third, jumping out to an 8-3 lead and never looked back. Bergmark came off the bench in the third period and made a big impact with four blocks and clutch kills.

In the fourth, San Diego jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led 5-1 before the Longhorns put together a 7-2 run to take the lead. It was a battle all the way to the end, but Texas was able to pull ahead late.