Louisville snaps Texas’ home winning streak, ousts Longhorns in region semifinals

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas volleyball couldn’t replicate another rally in its regional semifinal Friday against Louisville.

The No. 2 Longhorns faced a big hole for the second straight match trailing the Cardinals 2-0. This time, Texas couldn’t overcome adversity losing to Louisville 3 sets to 2.

Louisville snapped the Longhorns exceptional home winning streak. Texas had won 36-straight matches at home in Gregory Gym. Louisville upset No. 15 Western Kentucky in the second round last week and will advance to the region final for the first time in program history.

Texas trailed UC-Santa Barbara last week in the second round before rallying for a 3-2 match victory.

On Friday, the Cardinals jumped ahead with identical 25-22 victories in the first two sets. Texas responded with 25-17 and 25-18 wins in the following sets setting up a fifth and final set.

Louisville opened up an 8-3 lead in the fifth set. Texas pushed the Cardinals getting to within 12-9 and 14-11 before Louisville set up the winning play.

Texas, the 2012 National Champions, will not reach at least the national semifinal round for the third straight season. The Longhorns played in volleyball’s “Final Four” every year from 2012 to 2016.