UTSA volleyball coach Carol Price-Torok entered a room that once served as her program’s locker room but had now been converted to a press conference room.

Price-Torok, junior setter Mekaila Aupiu and sophomore outside hitter Caroline Krueger, sitting side-by-side at a table, marveled at how much their former stomping grounds had been transformed.

The trio hopes what happened on March 4 will have a similar impact on the manner in which the Roadrunners are viewed.

UTSA took two sets off two-time reigning national champion Texas in an exhibition contest before 2,750 spectators at the Convocation Center. It would’ve been the largest volleyball crowd in school history had it been a regular-season match.

The Longhorns, with key players such as All-American outside hitter Madi Skinner, setter Ella Swindle, libero Emma Halter and outside hitter Jenna Wenaas who helped them sweep Nebraska in December for the national title and top incoming recruit Ayden Ames on hand, prevailed 25-15, 25-11, 23-25, 25-21, 9-15.

The match was pre-determined to go five sets.

“I think once we settled in after the first set-and-a-half, I believed we could play in that space,” Price-Torok said. “It was a really, really fun match. I’m excited just being in the space, showing people who we are and what we can do.”

The people waited as much as three hours to get a glimpse, with long lines forming at the main and back entrances of the Convocation Center and stretching into the parking lot and a sidewalk on campus.

And it was at that moment that UTSA players grasped the magnitude of an occasion that would become equal parts volleyball and an extravaganza.

Kaitlin Leider entered through a door in the northeast corner of the facility and did a double take with a look of astonishment.

“It’s wild out there,” Leider said.

Soon thereafter, Leider’s teammates Ellie Turner, Miranda Putnicki, Cheyenne Hlady, Peyton Turner, Alicia Coppedge and Ally Tribe took turns peering through a window at the gathering crowd.

“I just feel like I’m so lucky to have these opportunities that are given to me through my sport,” Krueger said. “The amount of people that showed up, it means a lot to us. It was so exciting. This is probably one of the most fun games I’ve ever played in my whole career, and I’ll never forget it.”

While it’s likely a majority of those in attendance came to see Texas — the Longhorns were playing at UTSA for the first time since September 2017 — UTSA did its part to be an ungracious host.

Texas trailed only once in the first two sets combined as Skinner and Wenaas each had eight kills to spark their team to a .466 hitting percentage.

UTSA turned the tide in the third stanza, hitting .270 after having a combined negative-.096 hitting percentage over the first two frames. With Mia Soerensen, Coppedge and Faye Wilbricht providing a spark, the Roadrunners built a 24-20 advantage and held on after squandering three set points to prevail.

“I think anytime you put jerseys on, and they’re refs and they’re people in the stands, you get a little juiced up a little bit,” Price-Torok said. “You just get excited to compete. We built our spring schedule so that we could push them. Winning is fun but we want to win when it counts and in order to win when it counts, we have to be in moments like this. It definitely was fun to win that set.”

After Texas rebounded to win the fourth set, UTSA never trailed in the fifth frame. The Roadrunners led 5-1 before Texas tied it at 9-9. They responded by reeling off the final six points to conclude the match.

“This is definitely the best team that we’ve played in the spring season and, I think, just everyone being able to experience that level of volleyball, it’s just something special and it’s really going to help us in our game,” Aupiu said.

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Twitter: @sa_terrence1