Winning NCAA title “like an out-of-body experience” for Asjia O’Neal

Winning NCAA title “like an out-of-body experience” for Asjia O’Neal

17 décembre 2023

Asjia O’Neal celebrates winning the NCAA title/@AndyWenstrand

By Joey Johnston for VolleyballMag.com

TAMPA — On match point, as she prepared for the potentially clinching serve, Texas middle blocker Asjia O’Neal said she had one thought.

“I said to myself, ‘I’m going to get an ace and we’re going to win it right here,’ ‘’ O’Neal said. “Then it all happened in front of me. I think I saw it, then closed my eyes.’’

O’Neal’s resounding ace deflected off the outstretched arms of Nebraska’s Harper Murray, giving the Longhorns a stunning (and stunningly efficient) 25-22, 25-14, 25-11 victory in Sunday’s NCAA championship match before a record 19,727 fans at Amalie Arena.

After her season-high fifth ace, O’Neal slowly sunk to the ground, almost in disbelief, before rushing to join her jubilant teammates.

“Like an out-of-body experience,’’ O’Neal said.

The entire season was like that for O’Neal, who said she was “90-10’’ on leaving college to turn professional after the Longhorns had captured the 2022 national title. But the joyous camaraderie of the Longhorn team pulled her back for a sixth season.

And that didn’t turn out so well in the beginning of this season. The Longhorns (28-4) stumbled to a 5-3 start before righting the ship. They were nearly eliminated in the region semifinals, facing a fourth-set match point against Tennessee, before somehow pulling it out in five.

After that — Boom! Boom! Boom! — it was consecutive victories against three No. 1 seeds, Stanford, Wisconsin and Nebraska. It’s not often that a defending national champion plays pressure-free while being painted as an underdog, but that’s what happened for O’Neal’s Longhorns.

“There was no pressure on us,’’ O’Neal said. “The pressure was on all the other teams. We were able to play free. We love each other and support each other always. Throughout the whole year, it was just so fun.

“This is probably the most joyous season I’ve ever had in my life. It was definitely challenging at times. But today was an example. Everyone played free. Everyone had confidence in one another. And we were able to go out and take down some really incredible teams.’’

O’Neal helped pace the Texas service game, which produced a season-high 12 aces.

“They had a level of serving we hadn’t seen all year,’’ Nebraska coach John Cook said. “I thought we did a pretty good job defending her (O’Neal). But what you saw there, that’s an international player in her (sixth) year who played with the USA team last year. At that level, you understand how hard you can serve and how hard you need to serve. And she has implemented that in college volleyball. That’s a lot of extra practice for her. We’ll learn from that.’’

The match’s pivotal moments occurred in the second set. Trailing 10-7, Elliott called a time out. Madisen Skinner’s kill, off a set from Ella Swindle, gave the serve back to Texas and O’Neal.

Texas then scored 10 straight points, punctuating an 11-0 run, on O’Neal’s serve. She had four straight aces, working in power and finesse, finding the openings, and rendering Nebraska nearly helpless.

“She was just hitting clean balls,’’ Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said.

O’Neal said, in her mind, she felt the match was clinched right there.

Cook, a big football fan, used a cross-sport analogy.

“It’s the fourth quarter and they’re just running the ball,’’ Cook said. “You know they’re going to run it. And you can’t stop them. That’s what it feels like. They just go down the field. That’s what Texas did.’’

With O’Neal serving as the power-running tailback who kept moving the chains.

“I don’t think I ever had my serve moving around like that,’’ O’Neal said. “But my teammates had a lot of confidence in me. It goes back to our team culture. We’ve been really close all year and able to play off each other.’’

In the end, O’Neal gave thanks for her decision to return to Texas.

“I’m really blessed,’’ O’Neal said. “I’m so glad I stayed here and we all got to have a moment like this one.’’

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