SETTING THE SCENE
• SMU volleyball is set to host Virginia and Virginia Tech this weekend after splitting its two matchups last week.
• The Mustangs are 8-1 at Moody Coliseum this season and have swept their last three opponents at home.
• SMU volleyball enters the weekend No. 10 in the AVCA rankings and has been ranked in 24 straight polls.  
• SMU enters the week seventh in NCAA RPI, 11th in KPI and with the country's fourth strongest strength of schedule.
• The program will hold its annual Senior Day recognition on Sunday after the match against Virginia Tech. Jordyn Schilling, Madison Scheer, Malaya Jones, Averi Carlson, Casey Batenhorst and Jentry Lamirand will be recognized. Batenhorst and Lamirand are the first two players to spend all four years of their college career under head coach Sam Erger at SMU.
• Both matches this weekend will be streamed on ACCNX. Chris Mycoskie (pxp) and Alex Glover (analyst) will have the call live from Moody Coliseum.
 
QUICK HITS
• Malaya Jones tied the modern era SMU volleyball kill record with 27 against No. 21 North Carolina last Friday.  
• SMU's offense has been humming all season long. The Mustangs entered the week eighth in the nation in hitting percentage, swinging at a .294 clip. SMU has hit over .300 in 11 matches, including seven in ACC matches.
• SMU is top 50 in the country in six categories: Hitting Percentage (8th), Blocks Per Set (26th), Assists Per Set (32nd), Winning Percentage (33rd), Kills Per Set (33rd) and Team Blocks (35th).
• Averi Carlson enters the weekend ranked third nationally in assists per set (11.06) and 11th in total assists (857), leading the ACC in both categories.
• Favor Anyanwu has been one of the most dominant forces at the net defensively this season. The sophomore comes into the weekend ranked 18th in the country in blocks per set (1.41) and 12th in total blocks (120). Anyanwu is also hitting at a highly efficient clip in ACC matches, ranking third in the conference with a .414 hitting percentage.
• Christa Wilburn's 0.41 aces per set ranks third in the ACC this season. Her 34 total aces are the third most in the conference. Wilburn needs five more aces to set the SMU freshman record for most aces in a season (38 - Kendall Patterson, 2016).
• Malaya Jones has turned things up a notch in ACC matches, averaging 4.28 kills per set, up from her 3.62 mark in non-conference action. 
• Jordyn Schilling has logged at least an ace in 11 of the 12 conference matches so far. Her 18 aces are tied for second among anyone in the conference during ACC play.
• Christa Wilburn earned the first double-double of her career with 11 kills and 10 digs against No. 21 North Carolina.
• This season, SMU has won nine ACC weekly awards. During Head Coach Sam Erger's tenure, the Mustangs have earned 24 weekly conference honors.
• 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 eighth in the entire NCAA in career kills, fourth 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 4
1.    Eva Hudson, Kentucky    1,958
2.    Mimi Colyer, Wisconsin    1,799
3.    Victoria Barrett, Alabama    1,690
4.    Malaya Jones    1,609
5.    Flormarie Heredia Colon, Miami (FL.)    1,592
Active Career Assists (DI) – As of November 4
1.    Callie Bauer, Western Ky.    4,637
2.    Jordan Karlen, Tennessee Tech    4,358
3.    Sophia Hudepohl, Lipscomb    4,254
4.    Averi Carlson, SMU    4,173
5.    Isabella Bareford, Vanderbilt    4,133
 
SERIES HISTORY
• SMU is 1-0 against Virginia, winning the only matchup last year 3-0 in Charlottesville.
• SMU leads the all-time series over Virginia Tech 2-1.
• It will be the first trip to Dallas for both Virginia and Virginia Tech this weekend.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Virginia Cavaliers
• Virginia is 10-12 overall and 3-9 in ACC play.
• Last season, UVA went 21-11, 11-9 in the ACC. They earned a bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Championships (NIVC) where they fell to St. John's (3-1) in the opening round.

The Virginia Tech Hokies
• Virginia Tech is 10-13, 2-10 in ACC play, entering the weekend. VT split its two matches last week, beating Clemson on Friday (3-1) and falling to Georgia Tech on Sunday (0-3).
• The Hokies went 7-23, 1-19 in ACC play last season.

GROW WITH THE NEW LOOK MUSTANGS
• 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 starters are freshmen or sophomores. Starting outside Christa Wilburn is the youngest DI volleyball player in the country.
• 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 10
• SMU Volleyball enters the week No. 10 in the latest AVCA/TARAFLEX Division I WVB Poll, released on Monday by the association.
• Seventh in the highest ranking in program history, a mark the Mustangs held for the last two weeks.
• The Mustangs were ranked No. 10 in the 2025 preseason ranking, marking the first time that the program was ranked going into the season.
• 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 cracked the top 25 for the first time in last year's historic season. The Mustangs have been ranked in 24 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.

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.
 
SMU MUSTANG TO DALLAS PULSE
• 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.

YEAR FOUR FOR ERGER
• 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 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 90-30 (.750) as head coach at SMU.
• Erger is 58-13 (81.7%) 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.