#10 SMU (19-5, 11-3 ACC) at California (7-17, 4-10 ACC) 

Friday, Nov. 14 • 9:00 p.m. CT 

Haas Pavilion • Berkeley, Calif. 

ACCNX • Live Stats • Match Notes • SMU Mobile App 

Sunday, Nov. 16 • 4:00 p.m. CT 

Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif. 

ESPN2 • Live Stats • Match Notes • SMU Mobile App 

  

• No. 10 SMU Volleyball heads to California to face the Cal Bears on Friday, before a top 10 matchup with the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal on Sunday.  

• The Mustangs have won three straight, earning sweeps in all three matches. Stanford has won 10 straight matches entering the weekend.  

• SMU volleyball enters the weekend No. 10 in the AVCA rankings and has been ranked in 25 straight polls.   

• SMU enters the week eighth in NCAA RPI, 12th in KPI and with the country's seventh toughest schedule. 

• In Sunday's win over Virginia Tech, freshman outside hitter Christa Wilburn had four aces. She now has 38 aces on the season, tied for the most by a freshman in program history. She aims to take sole possession of the record this weekend in California.  

• A win this weekend would give SMU 20 wins in each of the first four seasons under Head Coach Sam Erger. SMU Volleyball has only had one longer streak in its 29-year history (5 from 2014-2017). 

• The last time SMU faced a top 5 team, it took down No. 4 Louisville on the road, handing the Cardinals their first loss inside their home gym since Oct. 8, 2022 (39 matches). It is the highest road ranked win in program history.  

• This weekend will be the Mustangs' first road matches at California and Stanford.  

• Sunday's match will air on ESPN2, the seventh linear match for the Mustangs this season. 

  

• Malaya Jones has had two matches this season where she has notched a .700 or greater hitting percentage with 20 or more attempts. Jones hit .750 against Wake Forest, a program record, and .739 against Virginia Tech, both of which rank top 10 in the nation this season in single match hitting percentage with a minimum of 20 attacks. Jones has turned things up a notch in ACC matches, averaging 4.27 kills per set, up from her 3.62 mark in non-conference action. Jones also ranks fifth in the ACC in hitting percentage (.365) and is first among non-middle blockers in the conference.  

• The Mustangs entered the week eighth in the nation in hitting percentage, swinging at a .299 clip. SMU has hit over .300 in 13 matches, including nine in ACC matches. 

• SMU is top 50 in the country in six categories: Hitting Percentage (8th), Blocks Per Set (25th), Winning Percentage (25th), Kills Per Set (32nd), Team Blocks (32nd) and Assists Per Set (33rd).  

• Averi Carlson enters the weekend ranked third nationally in assists per set (11.02) and 12th in total assists (1,003), leading the ACC in both categories. 

• Favor Anyanwu has been one of the most dominant forces at the net defensively this season, ranking 19th in the country in blocks per set (1.44) and 11th in total blocks (131). Anyanwu is also hitting at a highly efficient clip in ACC matches, ranking second in the conference with a .427 hitting percentage. Her hitting percentage is well above the SMU all-time record of .393 set by Janelle Giordano in 2015. 

• Christa Wilburn's 0.43 aces per set ranks third in the ACC this season. Her 38 total aces are the third most in the conference. Wilburn has tied Kendall Patterson's 2016 record for most aces (38) by a freshman in a season in program history. She is the youngest division one volleyball player this season. Reclassifying to play for the Mustangs this season, Wilburn is 17 and doesn't turn 18 until March 28, 2008.  

• SMU has four players with 20 or more aces this season and including four with 10 or more in ACC matches. Jordyn Schilling has logged an ace in 13 of the 14 ACC matches so far this season. Casey Batenhorst put in a career-best five aces against Virginia last Friday. 

• This season, SMU has won nine ACC weekly awards. During Head Coach Sam Erger's tenure, the Mustangs have earned 24 weekly conference honors. Averi Carlson has earned five ACC Setter of the Week awards this season.  

• Favor Anyanwu and Jadyn Livings were 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 Nebraska, which has four of its athletes listed. 

  

SEASONED VETS 

• Malaya Jones and Averi Carlson are both among the nation's active career leaders in kills and assists, respectively. 

• Jones sits in ninth in the entire NCAA in career kills, fifth in Division I. 

• Carlson ranks 12th out of all NCAA divisions and fourth in Division I in career assists. 

Active Career Kills (DI) – As of November 10 

1.    Eva Hudson, Kentucky    1,998 

2.    Mimi Colyer, Wisconsin    1,834 

3.    Victoria Barrett, Alabama   1,717 

4.    Flormarie Heredia Colon, Miami (FL.)    1,666 

5.    Malaya Jones, SMU 1,634 

  

Active Career Assists (DI) – As of November 10 

1.    Callie Bauer, Western Ky.    4,725 

2.    Jordan Karlen, Tennessee Tech   4,401 

3.    Sophia Hudepohl, Lipscomb    4,339 

4.    Averi Carlson, SMU    4,236 

5.    Isabella Bareford, Vanderbilt                    4,152 

  

• SMU is 1-1 against California, winning the most recent matchup in Dallas last season 3-1. 

• SMU is 0-1 against Stanford, falling last season in three sets.  

  

• California enters the weekend 7-17, 4-10 in ACC matches. 

• Last season, California went 15-17, 7-13 in ACC play. 

  

• The Cardinal are tied with Pittsburgh for first in the ACC standings entering the weekend with a 22-3 overall record and a 13-1 mark in ACC play. Stanford is 10-1 at Maples Pavilion this season.  

• Stanford has won 10 straight matches, the longest active streak in the ACC. 

• Stanford went 28-5, 17-3 in ACC play last season. 

• Jordyn Harvey, Ipar Kurt and Elia Rubin all earned All-ACC Preseason Team honors. 

  

  

• Fans 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 typical starters are freshmen 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 in has NCAA Tournament experience in their careers. 

  

• SMU Volleyball enters the week No. 10 in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Division I WVB Poll, released on Monday by the association. 

• SMU is the fourth-highest ranked ACC squad, trailing No. 3 Pitt, No. 5 Stanford and No. 7 Louisville. After the No. 10 Mustangs, Miami is No. 14 and North Carolina is No. 15. Georgia Tech is receiving votes. 

• The Mustangs were ranked No. 10 in the 2025 preseason ranking, marking the first time that the program was ranked going into the season. 

• The Mustangs cracked the top 25 for the first time in last year's historic season. The Mustangs have been ranked in 25 straight polls. 

   

• 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. 

  

• 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. 

  

• Since the 2025 season started, three Mustangs have become affiliated with the new MLV team in Dallas, the Dallas Pulse. 

• Director of Operations, Brittany Clark, has taken the same role for the Dallas Pro team, and Assistant Coach Clayton Bristow has been announced as an Assistant for the newly formed team 

• The two have joined former Mustang All-American Setter and current graduate assistant Celia Cullen, who was signed to the club's first roster earlier in the year. 

  

• Head Coach Sam Erger is in year four as SMU's head volleyball coach. Erger aims to build on the program's success with back-to-back NCAA tournament second-round appearances and three consecutive 20-win seasons, the second-longest streak in program history. That includes going 16-4 in the program's first year 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 tenure, SMU had only been to two NCAA Tournaments, in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.  

• Head Coach Sam Erger is 92-30 (.754) as head coach at SMU. 

• Erger is 60-13 (82.2%) in conference matches on the Hilltop, winning 15+ in each of her three seasons. 

• Erger has 12 ranked wins under her belt at SMU, four over top 10 teams.