The top-ranked program in the country to end the 2022 regular season, the University of Texas (UT) Longhorns women’s volleyball team will begin the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed with a first-round home matchup against Fairleigh Dickinson at Gregory Gymnasium on Thursday, according to a press release.
The victor of UT-Fairleigh Dickinson will meet the winner of Georgia-Towson, which will also be played at the venue, in the second round on Friday, the release said.
While UT head coach Jerritt Elliott has been to volleyball’s version of the Big Dance numerous times, the gravity of being the tournament’s top seed isn’t lost on him.
“Having the No. 1 seed is an honor that we respect, and we put a lot of hard work to get to this point, but now it’s a whole new season,” Elliott said, Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported. “We need to be ready from the first point, starting Thursday night.”
According to the program, it’s the second time ever the Longhorns have secured the No. 1 seed and the 13th time since 2007 UT is one of the tournament’s quartet of top seeds.
The Longhorns were essentially dominant throughout their 2022 campaign, steamrolling their way to a 22-1 overall finish that included a 15-1 showing in conference play, per the program’s website.
UT, whose lone loss was a five-setter to Iowa State back in October, rode an eight-game winning streak to end the season.
KXAN reported that as a No. 1 seed, the Longhorns will have the opportunity to be the home team through the regional finals.
Per senior libero Zoe Fleck, her team won’t take homecourt advantage for granted given the noise factor.
“Other stadiums might have more people in them, but Gregory feels like the people are on top of you, and that can be really tough on an opponent, but that’s what makes it so fun,” Fleck said in the report. “It’s a really, really fun place to play.”