The second round had been the furthest the SMU volleyball team had ever gone in the NCAA tournament. Not anymore.

Not only did the second-seeded Mustangs win their first and second-round matchups, but they did so in emphatic and impressive fashion. SMU set a program and NCAA tournament record with a .618 hitting percentage against Central Arkansas in a first-round sweep.

Jadyn Livings led with 15 kills, with only one error on 23 swings, while Malaya Jones had her 25th double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs and Averi Carlson had 35 assists. Favor Anyanwu delivered seven blocks, and Jordyn Schilling had 11 digs to lead SMU's defense.

"We've talked a lot about joy in the battle. We want to earn it," SMU head coach Sam Erger said. "We don't want them to give us anything. We want to earn every single point. And no one should walk away here going, 'SMU didn't go and make that happen.' So we work a lot on mentality, and then when you hit so well, I think you got to talk about your setter. We have one of the best with Averi making everybody look good."

The 25-13, 25-13, 25-13 victory got the Mustangs to the second round for the third straight year. The breakthrough came against Florida. 

SMU dominated the first set for a 25-11 win, then fought for 25-21 and 26-24 wins in the second and third sets to reach the third round for the first time in program history.

"I'm just so happy and proud and excited, and we're going to enjoy this for a moment, because this is our program's first time to ever do this," Erger said. "I do believe that we felt like this was something we could do, and we're excited for the next round, but I think we should enjoy some of the history that is being made."

It has been a season of history for the Mustangs. SMU was ranked as high as No. 7 in the country during the regular season, the program's highest ranking ever. The victory against Florida was the team's 27th of the season and 15th at home, both tying the program record. And it was the 100th career victory for Erger.

Individually, Jones surpassed the 500-kill mark to become just the second player in SMU history to do so. Anyanwu is within 14 blocks of the single-season record, and Carlson is third for single-season assists in the rally scoring era and sixth all-time.

No matter the challenge the Mustangs face, the new territory they enter or anything else, they feel ready to take it on together.

"I definitely had no doubt going into (the Florida) match," Anyanwu said. "I knew whatever was thrown at us, we've gone through worse, so I had full-on confidence that no matter what they threw at us, we were going to be able to persevere and come through in the end. I'm just so grateful to play for a program like this, and it just means the world that we just rally behind each other and we just support each other fully. It's amazing."

After a dominant first set, the Mustangs trailed 16-12 in the second set. They won the next five points to take a lead. With the set tied at 19, SMU finished the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-21.

Even though it was only the second set, it was a crucial turning point in the match.

"I didn't say this to the team, and I thought about saying this, but I really felt like if we won that second set, we would win the match," Erger said. "That's just where I was at.… I always think we're going to win, but I'm like, 'If we win the second set, this is our match' because we're going to come back from this adversity, and I know my team, and I know how fired up they're going to be to close it out."

That's been the attitude and approach of the team all season. Erger has referred to them as fighters and having that mentality throughout the year. It now has the Mustangs in the Sweet 16 for the first time ever.

"We work a lot on our mentality," Erger said. "Before (the Florida) match, we talked about burning the boats. Like we're going to war and we're on ships, and we've got to go to shore to fight, and we're going to burn the boats. There's no second option. We're going to burn those freaking boats. There's nothing to do but fight. There's no cop-out, nothing."