The Texas Longhorns have finally been knocked off their throne. Coming into the new season, many had expected them to add to their back-to-back two titles and complete the elusive three-peat. But there were signs that cracks had started to appear on the team, as their regular season record of 18-6 didn’t impress many. However, many had thought that the team would click and show their magic again in the tournament.

While they did start the tournament with two great victories over rivals Texas A&M and USC, the Texas Longhorns finally met their match against Creighton University in the last 16, and they suffered defeat with a scoreline of 3-1. While on paper this shouldn’t come as much of a shock to the fans as Creighton were seeded higher than the Longhorns, the allure of the latter’s previous victories made many believe that they would pull this time through. But Creighton defeated them quite convincingly with a scoreline of 24-26, 25-19, 25-21, 25-20.

While winning the first set had given the Texas fans some hope that they could still pull through, eventually Creighton’s well-oiled side got the better of them. Supporters of the Longhorns were thus heavily disappointed with the team on social media, believing that they didn’t give their best to win the game at all. However, eventually, the four-time national champions have to accept the fact that this season was not meant to be theirs, and they’ll have to recuperate and come back next year.

But the next season is quite a long time away, which is why it will take the Texas Longhorns fans quite some time to move on. The fact that they were clearly heavily disappointed with the outcome was no secret either. This is because they slated their players on the internet while putting their focus on the offense, as it felt completely inferior against Creighton’s.

“I am not even going to waste my time and talk about all the things that went wrong. However, one thing I know about volleyball is our transition offense has to be better, but it has been a problem all season. Madi deserves better, but it is what it is. #HookEm.” The fact that this was fan favorite Madisen Skinner’s last season in the NCAA also contributed to the anger and sadness of the fans. Their disappointment was very visible everywhere.

Texas Longhorns fans couldn’t control their dissatisfaction for their team

Many fans spoke about how the team didn’t play up to their expectations. However, some also brought up the plight of Ella Swindle. The setter, who joined the team as a freshman last year, was one of the crucial members of the title-winning side, with many claiming that she carried the Texas Longhorns on her back. This claim can be substantiated by the fact that the player had made 1,088 assists last season with 9.54 assists per second. Thus, after giving such an incredible performance for the team, many had expected her to be a crucial member this year too.

However, the Longhorns raised some eyebrows after they brought in Averi Carlson, who was the starting setter at Baylor University for the past two years, possibly to add new faces. While Averi was a pretty good setter herself, it essentially alienated Ella Swindle, who had been a promising freshman last season.

There was a possibility that had Longhorns stuck with Ella, they would have done better in the tournament. One fan said, “I will never understand why a true freshman who came in and took a team fresh off a natty and led them to another one was basically put on the back burner for a transfer the following season. Ella deserved to be QB1 the entire season.”

Another fan expressed frustrations at the fact that they lost to Creighton University. This is because the Texas Longhorns had made their name as a giant in the sport through their numerous years of victories. The fans of any side like this struggle to recover from defeats. Thus, the loss to Creighton infuriated some people, as despite the team being better than them on paper, their reputation is far lesser than the Longhorns. This made one fan say, “I don’t even recognize the winning school by the logo. That’s not a good sign. 😂”

However, other fans remained humble in defeat and gave Creighton their due for their extraordinary performance. There is no doubt that the second-seeded university dominated their opponents and deserved to go to the next round. While the reputations of teams might matter off-court, when a match is being played, the only thing that matters is the players and their performances. On this occasion, the Creighton group performed better. One fan said, “Tough loss. It wasn’t the Longhorns day. Creighton played better in all aspects of the game.”

With that being said, one could empathize with the sadness of the Texas Longhorns fans. Being such a dominant side and winning two straight titles is an incredible achievement. Anything inferior to this would have culminated in a dissapointing end to the season, which is exactly what happened. Thus, the fans have all right to be disappointed. But one side who were completely drinking in this sadness from the Longhorns fans was the Nebraska Huskers fans.

The side now seem like favourites to win the title, and the team that agonizingly defeated them in last year’s finals is finally gone. What’s more is the fact that Texas was defeated by a fellow Nebraska side themselves, which was Creighton. Thus, they were very happy. One fan said, “Couldn’t even get passed the 2nd best team in Nebraska?”. Comments like these might make the Longhorns fans even more unhappy. But the fact is that the team remained at the top for so long because of their quality. This will also be the reason for them bouncing back again, hopefully next season.