There was nothing easy about the nine-game stretch the No. 12 SMU volleyball team just wrapped up on Wednesday.

It started with a seven-game road trip, that included the first five ACC games in program history. The conference season started with a match at No. 13 Georgia Tech and the road trip concluded at No. 1 Pitt. SMU's reward once back home, facing the top-ranked Panthers once again followed by No. 5 Stanford.

"I feel like we've been tired and tentative our last two matches," SMU head coach Sam Erger said. "Obviously, we were able to get done against Pitt, but felt like we were tired and tentative. And it's not lost on me that they're going to school and they're managing so much. We were on a crazy road swing and our girls are exhausted and we're asking a lot of them and these are human beings and they're people."

The volleyball season is a grind no matter what. It starts in August, goes for 30-plus games and doesn't finish until November, or hopefully December. But with the added challenge of the ACC move along with the travel included.

Being the first team to ever do it, means there is going to be some trial and error with how things are handled. Erger wants that process to always work towards success for her players on and off the court.

"So when I say, 'If you're competitive, you'll find a home here,'" Erger said. "I also feel like if you want to grow, you'll find home here. And these are really formative years of their lives, so we talked a lot about that in the locker room just now. Just how I know that they're managing a lot. They're not robots and how can we grow and be better while we're managing it?"

Part of it is fun. 

Not every team in the country has the chance to prove itself against the best teams. SMU has done that and has had plenty of success with it along the way. And not every SMU team has had the opportunity to play this type of schedule on a national stage.

"We've talked a lot about, 'Hey, this is fun. This is a really awesome opportunity,'" Erger said. "How grateful. We don't want to be anything but grateful. We are owed nothing. Entitlement is gross, and what a just awesome privilege it is to play these teams. But sometimes you've got to fake it till you make it."

If the Mustangs are faking it, they're doing a pretty good job. Just ask No. 1 Pitt and No. 2 Nebraska, whose only two losses have come at the hands of SMU at Moody Coliseum. No. 13 Georgia Tech and No. 18 Baylor can attest to that, as well, but on their home courts.

Even No. 10 Kentucky and No. 5 Stanford, who won in sweeps, did so by the closest of margins. Each had one set go past 25 points.

So when the Mustangs fell 3-0 to Stanford on Wednesday, including a third set that went all the way to 35-33, there was disappointment. But not necessarily in the way one might think.

"I'm not disappointed that we lost, not mad that we lost to a good team," Erger said. "I'm disappointed that I don't think we gave them our best, and that's not necessarily on our girls. Like I said, I think we've got to find a way to manage this beast of schedule."

The break, if you can even call it that, come Sunday and next Friday with Cal and Notre Dame coming to Moody. But neither of those are easy by any means. Not to mention, after that, in comes No. 4 Louisville on Oct. 27 before a trip to face Virginia and Virginia Tech to begin November.

"They're also trying to live lives and they're trying to get homework done and they're human beings," Erger said. "So they need sunshine and Vitamin D, and they need to be able to shut it down and just take a walk and touch grass. 

"I do think learning how to manage this ACC schedule, the coaches that learn how to do it, will have a competitive advantage. … We've got to find a way to to figure it out and manage it well."