Texas volleyball did donuts in SEC gyms while working on new lineup that may ignite Longhorns’ 3rd title run

Texas volleyball coach Jerritt Elliott’s team has been roaring through the SEC countryside the last three weeks, doing donuts on the Taraflex in College Station, Baton Rouge, Gainesville and Lexington.

With a five-game homestand on deck, Elliott looked up inside Gregory Gym and darn near shouted, “Great to be home!”

In addition to testing room service around the SEC, the seventh-ranked Horns (10-3, 5-0 SEC) have been tinkering under the hood and made a notable shift from a 5-1 lineup to the 6-2 — essentially playing two setters instead of one.

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Elliott may not have drawn it up this way when the season began. But this could be what fuels a third national championship run. Arkansas (14-2, 4-0) will attempt to slow Texas’ roll at 8 p.m. Friday. Georgia (8-7, 2-3) is next at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Texas A&M (Wednesday), Missouri (Nov. 1) and Oklahoma (Nov. 3) finish off the five-game homestand.

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Changing the lineup sparks Horns

Talk about solving multiple problems with one fell swoop. Got two amazing setters in Ella Swindle and Averi Carlson? Rotate them both in the 6-2.

Need more offensive production from the right side? The 6-2 opens the door for hitters Devin Kahahawai and Reagan Rutherford as Texas hit over .300 as a team in three of the last four games.

“Obviously, we have a really big block up on the right side in every single rotation, which has been a big help, I think,” libero Emma Halter said. “And it’s not to say that our setters aren’t great blockers, because they totally are. But I think it’s been really good to have Devin and Reagan both up there with a lot of experience in blocking. That’s their job. So to have them up there has been really helpful. I think.”

But the secret ingredient? What’s really turbo-charging the Horns? It’s middle blocker Marianna Singletary, a 6-foot-4 sophomore who spent the last two years learning her craft, masonry. She’s built a brick wall in the middle.

Singletary had 18 blocks and 13 kills in wins over South Carolina and Florida. For those efforts, she was named the SEC Player of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week.

Then, Singletary had nine blocks in the sweep of No. 12 Kentucky on Sunday and was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week.

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Singletary improved, waited for her opportunity

Singletary came to Austin from Charleston, S.C., and was named the 2021-22 Gatorade South Carolina Player of the Year. But when she showed up at Gregory Gym, Elliott said, “She wasn’t ready.”

And the Horns had veterans like Bella Bergmark, Kayla Caffey and All-Everything Asjia O’Neal. Hard to argue with the results. The Horns won back-to-back national titles while Singletary watched and learned.

Thinking back on that redshirt season in 2022, Singletary said, “It was definitely hard going through it in the moment, and it was hard to see the bigger picture coming in as a freshman.

“I could not be more grateful for that redshirt year now looking back on it,” Singletary added. “I was able to pick up so much more just from watching Asjia, watching Bella, watching Kayla, and talking to them. Why did you make that shot? What did you see there? How do you read the game? And just volleyball IQ takes a long time to get the grasp of, and it comes with experience.”

Elliott said one of the hardest skills to learn in college football is having the defensive discipline not to bite on fakes and jump too early, taking yourself out of the play. If Singleton jumps too early, while she’s on the way down, Halter is exposed on the back row to big shots.

“Discipline has been a huge stress in our gym,” Halter said of Singletary, “and she's been so disciplined on her block.”

Now, take in the larger view. With the 6-2 offense, Texas is maximizing its passers, getting more offense from the right side and playing excellent defense.

It cannot be coincidence that UT’s two highest block totals came in the last two games — 13 against Florida and a season-high 14 against Kentucky.

They’ve done it on the road. The Horns want to keep that block party going the next few weeks in Gregory Gym.

“Being able to come back and have a couple of home games back-to-back is so exciting,” Singletary said. “The energy is so much different when they’re actually cheering for you versus against you. So it’s really exciting to finally have that high positive energy.”