Texas volleyball team has traditionally been highly-ranked ahead of championship seasons

The Texas Longhorns were ranked first on Monday when the American Volleyball Coaches Association released the preeminent preseason poll for college volleyball.

Since the AVCA poll debuted in 1982, Texas has won four NCAA championships. The Longhorns entered each of those title runs as a top-10 team, but Texas started and ended the same season as the No. 1 team just once.

1988: Texas opened the 1988 season as the No. 7 team in a preseason poll topped by Hawaii. Under head coach Mick Haley, UT went 34-5 and won the Southwest Conference title. After reaching the Final Four, UT swept then-No. 1 UCLA in the national semifinals before sweeping Hawaii in the NCAA's finale.

2012: Texas found out in 2012 that it's not how you start, it's how you finish. Not that Texas started poorly that year. The Longhorns were ranked behind just UCLA in the preseason poll in 2012. But to close out the season, Texas won 23 of its last 24 matches and swept Oregon for its first NCAA title with head coach Jerritt Elliott.

2022: Ranked second ahead of its 2022 campaign, Texas seized the No. 1 ranking after the season's first week and held onto that distinction for much of the year (UT slipped back to No. 2 for one week that October). Texas eventually ended a 10-year title drought with a sweep of Louisville.

2023: Ranked No. 1 in the preseason, Texas was beaten by Long Beach State in its season opener and didn't top the AVCA poll again during the regular season. But in the NCAA tournament, UT proved that the preseason voters were correct and successfully defended its championship with a beatdown of rival Nebraska.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas volleyball team has traditionally been highly-ranked ahead of championship seasons