Morrison's first season in Aggieland ends as Texas A&M falls in Austin

In its first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years, Texas A&M volleyball was unable to complete the upset against the Texas Longhorns, suffering a 3-1 loss on Thursday night at Gregory Gym in Austin (25-21, 13-25, 20-25, 20-25).

The Aggies now conclude their first season under Jamie Morrison 16-13 (8-10).

In her final game in Maroon & White, Caroline Meuth fronted the offense with 14 kills, 12 digs and two blocks. Bianna Muoneke also had a great showing in her first postseason appearance, tallying 12 kills, two blocks and two digs. 

Logan Lednicky, who led her team with determined energy, tallied eight kills, eight blocks and three digs.  

In the first set, the Aggies played their best volleyball this season.

The Longhorns grabbed an early lead with dominance on both the offensive and defensive front, but the ladies in Maroon & White did not back down to the challenge at hand.

A 10-0 run by A&M saw a rapid awakening from the recently dormant blocking effort as well as several attacking efforts from the Longhorns. Meuth snuck in several attacks through the mountain-sized block from Texas. 

The Aggies’ lead proved to be too insurmountable for Texas to overcome as A&M claimed the opener, 25-21.

"I thought what we came out and did in that first set was incredible,” Morrison said postgame. “We were able to stay calm and take a breath and play good volleyball throughout the match."

The second set saw the exact opposite from the Aggies.

Texas immediately went on a 10-0 run to start. Searching for an answer, the Aggies finally scored their first point on an attacking error from Big 12 Player of the Year Madisen Skinner.

The massive lead from the Longhorns was too big of a deficit for the Aggies to respond.

Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Lednicky and Meuth created some opportunities for A&M, but the defense was unable to find the same spark from the first set. 

Chris Swann, TexAgs

Texas A&M’s 16 wins this season marked the most since the 2019 campaign (23-8).

Texas took the second set in dominating fashion, 25-13. 

The third set saw a great effort from the Aggies as a back-and-forth effort ensued. Yet, small runs throughout the frame gave Texas enough momentum to slip away with the victory on a service error from Nisa Buzlutepe, 25-20. 

The fourth set was ultimately the same story as the third, with both teams going point-for-point.

The Longhorns went on a five-point run to hold a 20-12 lead that seemingly ensured an easy four-set victory for the home team. 

Texas A&M did not go down without a fight, though. 

Answering soon after with a five-point scoring run of their own, the Aggies nearly came back as Texas led just 23-20. But a service error from Margot Manning gave the Longhorns the set and match point. 

Skinner dealt the last blow to the Aggies’ season and ended the match, 25-20. 

"This team is very young, and I know we will learn from it,” Morrison said. “I'm fired up that we can get the experience now, so in the future we can take this even further."