SETTING THE SCENE  

• The No. 8-ranked Mustangs enter the weekend on a five-match winning streak and aim to collect two more wins at home as the regular season nears an end.   

• SMU knocked off another top 5 opponent on the road Sunday when it defeated No. 5 Stanford in four sets. With the win, SMU has won 13 of its last 14 matches.   

• SMU volleyball jumped from No. 10 to ranked No. 8 in the latest AVCA rankings and has been ranked in the top 25 for 26 straight polls.  

• After missing eight consecutive games due to injury, Jadyn Livings returned to the floor in Sunday's match. She played in three sets and logged three digs in the win over the Cardinal.    

• SMU volleyball players Averi Carlson and Malaya Jones were honored by the Atlantic Coast Conference office Monday afternoon as Carlson was named Co-Setter of the Week while Jones was named Co-Offensive Player of the Week. Carlson has now earned six ACC Setter of the Week honors this season, tying Stanford's Kami Miner (2024) for the most in conference history in a single season. Jones secured her third ACC Offensive Player of the Week honor this season.  

• SMU enters the week eighth in NCAA RPI, 11th in KPI and with the country's eighth toughest schedule.   

• The Mustangs reached the 20-win mark in their victory over California on Friday. SMU has had 20 or more wins in each of the four seasons under head coach Sam Erger.   

• SMU will host three straight opponents at home before its final regular-season match at NC State on Saturday, Nov. 29.    

• Both matches will be streamed on ACCNX with Chris Mycoskie (PxP) and Alex Glover (color analyst) on the call, live from Moody Coliseum. 

   

•  Malaya Jones put on another masterful performance this week, earning her third ACC Offensive Player of the Week honor.  Jones was responsible for 39 kills in both matches this week, swinging at a .434 clip in the two victories. Her 5.57 kills and 6.36 points per set rank second in the league this week. Jones notched her seventh 20 or more kill outing of the year with 24 terminations, hitting .426, in the four-set win at No. 5 Stanford. The opposite surpassed the 400-kill milestone on the season in the win over the Cardinal, becoming the first Mustang to do so since 2017. What might be more impressive is the efficiency with which Jones is swinging at.  

• She has the highest hitting percentage at her position in the ACC this season, has the fourth highest hitting percentage out of any non-middle in the country – the highest by any non-middle in DI.  

 

• Averi Carlson dished out 87 assists, averaging 12.43 assists per set in the Mustangs' two road wins over California and No. 5 Stanford. Her average per set ranked second in the ACC and 10th in the country. She paced SMU to a .413 team hitting percentage this week, which led the ACC and ranked ninth nationally.  

• In Sunday's win over Stanford, she guided the Mustang offense to a .382 team hitting percentage with 56 assists, tying her season high. It marked her seventh match this season with 50 or more assists.  

• Carlson enters the weekend ranked second nationally in assists per set (11.12) and 11th in total assists (1,090), leading the ACC in both categories.   

 

• With Sunday's win over Stanford, SMU volleyball has beaten every ACC team at least once in under two seasons as members of the league. 

• Christa Wilburn broke the single-season record for most aces by a freshman in program history against Stanford in the first set. She broke Kendall Patterson's record of 38, set in 2016.  

• Wilburn now has 40 aces this season, the fifth-most in the modern scoring era and tied for the seventh-most all-time at SMU for a single season.  

• Reclassifying to play for the Mustangs this season, Wilburn is 17 and doesn't turn 18 until March 28, 2008. This makes her the youngest player in DI Volleyball on record this season.  

• Madison Scheer finished the week second on the team in kills with 21, hitting an ACC-best .571. Scheer logged 12 kills, hitting .524, in the win over  

• The Mustangs entered the week fifth in the nation in hitting percentage, swinging at a .307 clip. SMU has hit over .300 in 15 matches, including 11 in ACC matches.   

• SMU is top 50 in the country in six categories: Hitting Percentage (5th), Blocks Per Set (23rd), Winning Percentage (22nd), Kills Per Set (28th), Team Blocks (33rd) and Assists Per Set (35th).  

• Favor Anyanwu has been one of the most dominant forces at the net defensively this season, ranking 23rd in the country in blocks per set (1.42) and 11th in total blocks (139).   

• Anyanwu is also hitting at a highly efficient clip in ACC matches, ranking second in the conference with a .426 hitting percentage.  

• Anyanwu (.407) and Natalia Newsome (.456) both are hitting above .400 this season, which is on pace to break the SMU's all-time single-season hitting percentage record of .393 set by Janelle Giordano in 2015.   

• SMU has four players with 20 or more aces this season, including five with 10 or more in ACC matches.  

• Casey Batenhorst has 12 aces in her last five matches. She needs seven more aces to reach the 100-ace mark for her career.  

• This season, SMU has won 11 ACC weekly awards. During Head Coach Sam Erger's tenure, the Mustangs have earned 26 weekly conference honors. Averi Carlson has earned six 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, October 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.   

   

• 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.   

1.    Eva Hudson, Kentucky    2,032   

2.    Mimi Colyer, Wisconsin    1,879   

3.    Victoria Barrett, Alabama   1,754   

4.    Flormarie Heredia Colon, Miami (FL.)    1,741   

5.    Malaya Jones, SMU 1,673   

    

Active Career Assists (DI) – As of November 18   

1.    Callie Bauer, Western Ky.   4,800   

2.    Jordan Karlen, Tennessee Tech   4,497   

3.    Sophia Hudepohl, Lipscomb    4,426   

4.    Averi Carlson, SMU    4,323 

5.    Isabella Bareford, Vanderbilt 4,212    

 

• SMU and Boston College matched up for the first time last season. The Mustangs won in five sets at BC.  

• SMU leads the overall series over Syracuse 4-0.  

   

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT  

• Boston College is 16-12, 5-11 in ACC play.  

• The Eagles have lost their last three matches.  

• Last season, Boston College went 15-17, 8-12 in ACC play.  

   

• Syracuse is 13-13, 5-11 in ACC play. 

• The Orange have lost their last seven matches 

• Last season, Syracuse went 15-17, 3-17 in ACC play.  

 

• 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.  

   

AVCA RANKINGS: WEEK 12  

• SMU Volleyball enters the week No. 8 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. 4 Pitt, No. 5 Stanford and No. 7 Louisville. After the No. 8 Mustangs, Miami is No. 14, and North Carolina is No. 15.  

• 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.  

    

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.  

   

• 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 94-30 (.758) as head coach at SMU.  

• Erger is 62-13 (82.7%) in conference matches on the Hilltop, winning 15+ in each of her first three seasons.  

• Erger has 13 ranked wins under her belt at SMU, five over top 10 teams and four over top five teams.