COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Texas didn't win the Big 12 Conference volleyball title this year. There was some debate whether the Longhorns should have gotten the No. 4 seed over the team that did win that league, Kansas. And Texas was on the verge of being eliminated in the regional semifinals, but fought off two match points to survive BYU.
And yet it wasn't long into what turned into a 3-0 sweep Thursday of defending NCAA champion Nebraska that you could tell this was Texas full-throttle. Which made none of the above question marks really matter.
"It's just awesome to know I have the type of pin hitters I have. They're just a force to be reckoned with," Texas setter Chloe Collins said. "I just love them so much."
Nebraska swept Texas in the NCAA final last year, and then beat the Longhorns again 3-0 in August at the start of this season.
But if you look at the recent history of the series before those two matches, it had tilted strongly toward Texas at 9-2 since 2008. That kind of Longhorns dominance was more what we saw Thursday.
Ebony Nwanebu, who played two seasons at USC and was the national freshman of the year in 2013, transferred to Texas but had to redshirt last year with injury. Micaya White also had to sit out what would have been her freshman year in 2015 because she was injured.
But with both of them this season, along with senior Paulina Prieto Cerame, the Longhorns hitters were indeed a force, as Collins said.
And the Huskers simply didn't play the way that coach John Cook expected. They made uncharacteristic mistakes, like the time a set ball fell to the court with the hitters looking confused at each other.
Cook said he thought the Huskers were the best defensive team in the country, and that he would have "bet my house" the Nebraska block wouldn't have been as ineffective as it was.
Cook said after watching his top-seeded Huskers and No. 2 seed Minnesota lose in the final four -- not to mention No. 3 seed Wisconsin falling in the regional final -- he has to wonder if the brutal Big Ten schedule took a toll on all of them.
"For some reason, we were really undisciplined tonight," Cook said. "I think it all filters back to we were trying too hard. We thought we had to make these super-human moves on these guys."
The thing is, the Longhorns really can make you feel like you need something extraordinary to stop them. Nwanebu had 15 kills, Prieto Cerame 12, and White seven. At times, it just looked like they flat-out overpowered the Huskers.
Texas coach Jerritt Elliott pointed out how, as good as Big 12 player of the year Amy Neal was last year for the Longhorns, she was undersized as a hitter at 5-foot-9.
"Now we replaced her with [6-1] Micaya, and you start seeing what we can do with a physical block," Elliott said. "I thought our blocking tonight was really, really good."
Texas also did a good job of keeping the ball away from Nebraska's Justine Wong-Orantes, whom Elliott said was the top passing libero in the country. That impacted Nebraska's ability to defend and to set up its offense. First-team All-American Kadie Rolfzen had six kills on 19 attacks, hitting .105. The only Nebraska player who finished in double-figure kills was last year's final four most outstanding player, sophomore Mikaela Foecke.
A lot will be on Foecke's shoulders next season, as the Huskers lose seniors Kadie and Amber Rolfzen, Wong-Orantes, and Andie Malloy.
For the Nebraska-born Rolfzens, this was a tough way to finish their careers. But Kadie said last year's NCAA title, won in Omaha, Nebraska, and this year's Big Ten title are still wonderful highlights for her to always remember.
Kadie seem very determined not to cry during the postmatch news conference, and almost made it. Until she was talking about how she grew up watching the Huskers and her idol, Jordan Larson, play and how great it was to have had the chance to wear Nebraska red.
"Dang it," she said as tears started to come. "I've always wanted to come here, and these last four years are the best years of my life."
But it will be Texas that plays for the championship. Elliott compared this year's team statistically to his 2012 squad, which won the most recent of Texas' two national championships. This Texas team has had its ups and downs, but looks very formidable at the most important time in the season.
"We had a lot of self-confidence as a team going into it," Elliott said of Thursday's match. "I've been to a lot of final fours, and this is the calmest I've been going into it. I just had a feeling with this group that they would perform at a high level tonight. And they proved that."