SETTING THE SCENE
• After an unbeaten weekend which featured two four-set road wins over Florida State and No. 18 Miami, SMU Volleyball reached its highest ranking in program history by the AVCA, coming in at No. 8 on Monday.
• The Atlantic Coast Conference recognized Averi Carlson on Monday for her performances in the Mustangs' two wins over Florida State and No. 18 Miami last week. Carlson was named ACC Setter of the Week, her fourth ACC weekly honor of the season. Carlson currently ranks third nationally in assists per set (11.16) and eighth in total assists (703), leading the ACC in both categories.
• SMU enters the weekend No. 6 in the NCAA RPI with the fourth toughest strength of schedule in the country.
• A win over the Cardinals would be the first win in the series for SMU. Friday marks the program's first trip to Louisville since 2013. Sunday's match will be SMU Volleyball's first time playing at Notre Dame.
• Coach Erger and company aim to collect their fourth ranked win of the season and second consecutive over a top 20 opponent when they take on No. 4 Louisville on the road. A win over the Cardinals would be the fourth win over a top 10 team and third over a top 5 team under Erger.
• Both matches this coming weekend will air on ACCNX.

QUICK HITS
• After paying for Team USA on the U21 National Team at the Pan American Cup in León, Mexico, SMU's Averi Carlson and Louisville's Chloe Chicoine and Cara Cresse will get to square off against each other in Friday's top 10 matchup. The trio started and won gold for Team USA over the summer.
• SMU offense has been humming all season long. The Mustangs enter the week 10th in the nation in hitting percentage, with a .292 efficiency. SMU has hit over .300 in three straight matches, and the Mustangs are also top 30 in the country in assists per set at 12.75 per frame. SMU is top 50 in the country in six categories: Hitting Percentage (10th), Blocks Per Set (21st), Team Total Blocks (22nd), Assists Per Set (29th), Kills Per Set (33rd) and Winning Percentage (46th).
• Jones and Livings are one of the best pin-hitter duos in the country. They both enter the week ranked in the top 10 in the ACC in kills per set and in the top 5 in points per set. They are one of two tandems in the ACC and one of fewer than ten programs in the country ranking in the top 150 in kills per set.
• Miami Match Notables: SMU ended the No. 18 Miami Hurricanes' 15-match winning streak and perfect 5-0 start to conference play with a 3-1 victory on Sunday. The Mustangs earned their third ranked win of the season. Malaya Jones notched her 1,500th career kill in the second set against the Hurricanes. Anyanwu went off for 10 blocks against Miami, the second time in her career that she reached double-digit blocks. Jones tallied over 10 kills for the 12th time this season. Livings reached the double-digit mark in kills for the 14th time this year. The Mustangs held the Hurricanes to a .119 hitting percentage, their lowest of the season. Miami led the country entering Sunday's match in aces per set, and SMU managed to win the serve and receive game with a 12-6 advantage in aces.
• Florida State Match Notables: Carlson dished out 52 assists, her fifth time this season above the 50-assist threshold. It was also her sixth double-double of the season. Livings notched her fourth double-double of the season, third in ACC play and eighth of her career against FSU. Anyanwu had double-digit kills for the third time this season and the fourth time in her career. SMU is 4-0 against the Seminoles.
• Favor Anyanwu and Jadyn Livings have been added to the AVCA National Player of the Year Watch List, announced by the association on Thursday, Oct. 2. Anyanwu and Livings are two of the 17 players added to the preseason list, which featured fellow Mustang Malaya Jones. With three athletes represented, the only team to have more than SMU is No. 1 Nebraska, which has four of its athletes listed.

SERIES HISTORY
• Louisville leads the overall series 3-0 over SMU. It will be just the second time that SMU will travel to Louisville.
• SMU won the one and only match with Notre Dame last season 3-0 inside Moody Coliseum.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Louisville Cardinals
• Louisville comes into the week No. 4 in the AVCA with a 14-2 record and a 6-0 mark in the ACC play.
• Last season, Louisville went 30-6, 17-3 in the ACC. It reached the Final Four, falling to the eventual champion Penn State in four sets.
• The Cardinals have won seven straight matches.
• Louisville was picked second in the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll. Three Cardinal: Nayelis Cabello,
Chloe Chicoine and Cara Cresse, were selected to the All-ACC Preseason Team
 
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish
• Notre Dame sits at 7-7 overall and 4-2 in ACC play. The Fighting Irish have won three straight.
• The Fighting Irish went 12-17 in 2024, 5-15 in ACC play.
• Morgan Gaerte represented ND on the 2025 Preseason All-ACC Team and her unit was picked to finish 12th by the leagues' coaches.

GROW WITH THE NEW LOOK MUSTANGS
• Fans will get to grow with the new look Mustangs for years to come. 11 of the 17 players on SMU's 2025 roster are underclassmen and four of the seven starters are freshman or sophomores.
• SMU had to replace 95% of its point production from a season ago. With nine productive players graduating a season ago, Coach Erger and staff have reloaded their roster for the 2025 season, as they return no starters from the program's historic season.
• Production lost by the numbers: Set Played: 87%, Kills: 95%, Attacks: 96%, Assists: 99%, Digs: 95%.
• The highest returning points scorer is sophomore Natalia Newsome, who logged 56.5 points in her rookie season, with 44 kills and 21 blocks.
• SMU also brought in six transfers and seven players out of high school to go along with four returners.
• Each of the six transfers SMU brought have NCAA Tournament experience in their careers.

AVCA RANKINGS: WEEK 7
• After an unbeaten weekend which featured two four-set road wins over Florida State and No. 18 Miami, SMU Volleyball reached its highest ranking in program history by the AVCA, coming in at No. 8 on Monday.
• The Mustangs were ranked No. 10 in the 2025 preseason ranking, marking the first time that the program was ranked going into the season. Prior to this week's (Sept. 13) rankings, No. 10 is the highest ranking in program history for the Mustangs, which they had held for a combined nine weeks since the start of 2024.
• SMU is the fourth highest-ranked ACC squad, trailing No. 4 Louisville, No. 5 Stanford and No. 6 Pitt. After the No. 8 Mustangs, Miami is No. 14 and North Carolina is No. 21. Georgia Tech is receiving votes.
• The Mustangs cracked the top 25 for the first time in last year's historic season. The Mustangs have been ranked in 21 straight polls. 
  
ALL-ACC PRESEASON TEAM
• Malaya Jones, Averi Carlson and Favor Anyanwu were voted to the All-ACC Preseason team by the ACC coaches.
• The 2024 Preseason Volleyball All-ACC Team consisted of 18 players and was voted on by the league's head coaches.
• Pitt leads the way with the most players on this year's preseason team, with four representatives. SMU, Stanford, and Louisville follow, each having three players listed.
• The Mustangs are already living up to the preseason hype. Carlson has won three of the six ACC Setter of the Week awards, while Jones was named National Player of the Week and ACC Offensive Player of the Week after opening weekend.
 
ACC PRESEASON POLL
• SMU was chosen fourth in the ACC Preseason Poll by the league's head coaches.
• The Mustangs finished fourth in the ACC a season ago after being picked sixth in the 2024 preseason.
• SMU trails defending ACC Champion, Pitt, then Louisville and Stanford, while North Carolina rounded out the top five behind SMU.
 
YEAR FOUR FOR ERGER
• Head Coach Sam Erger is in year four as SMU's head volleyball coach. Erger looks to continue the success of the program with back-to-back NCAA tournament second-round appearances and three straight 20-win seasons, the second-longest streak in program history. That includes going 16-4 in the ACC last year. SMU has 11 total 20-win seasons, three of which are in the three seasons under Erger.
• Erger has already taken SMU Volleyball to new heights in just three full seasons. Before the Erger's tenure, SMU had only been to two NCAA Tournaments, in the 2015 and 2016 seasons. 
• Head Coach Sam Erger is 85-29 (.746) as head coach at SMU.
• Erger is 53-12 (81.53%) in conference matches on the Hilltop, winning 15+ in each of her full three seasons.
• Erger has 11 ranked wins under her belt at SMU, three over top 10 teams.