SETTING THE SCENE
• Two 8-2 and top 15 teams clash in the first of a back-to-back matchup between the programs this week inside Moody Coliseum on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT, airing on ACC Network.
• SMU takes on Pittsburgh on Wednesday, looking to defeat the Panthers for the second straight season at Moody.
• Wednesday's matchup begins a 20-match ACC schedule for the Mustangs.
• The Mustangs look to win their third-ranked win of the season and second over a top 10 opponent.
• A win against Pitt on Wednesday night would be the 50th conference win for head coach Sam Erger at SMU.  SMU enters the weekend 49-10 in conference games in three full seasons in Dallas.
• The matchup on Wednesday night will be SMU's fifth ranked opponent and fourth inside the top 10. SMU is 2-2 against the four ranked opponents it has played this season and 1-1 against those teams ranked in the top 10.
 
QUICK HITS
• SMU ended non-conference play 8-2 as it went 2-0 in Nacogdoches, Texas, with a 3-0 win over SFA and a 3-1 win over UTEP.
• Malaya Jones and Jadyn Livings are becoming one of the best pin-hitter duos in the country. Each player has led SMU in kills for five of the 10 matches this season. Jones and Livings are both ranked top 10 in the ACC in kills per set and are the only ACC tandem to be ranked in the top 150 in the nation.  
• The Mustangs' win over SFA was the third sweep of the season.
• SMU hit an efficient .318 on the week and held its opponents to a .145 average.
• Setter Averi Carlson paced the unit with 82 assists in the matches away from home and added five kills. She logged 37 assists, seven digs, two aces, and three blocks against SFA on Thursday in a sweep, in which the Mustangs hit .383 as a unit, their second-highest hitting percentage of the season. Carlson then went for 45 kills and eight assists against a 9-1 UTEP squad.
• Natalia Newsome hit .621 on the week, which ranked second in the country and first in the ACC, averaging 2.86 kills per set. The sophomore also added a team-high 1.43 blocks per set, averaging five blocks per match. She notched another career performance with a personal-best, 12 kills on 18 swings, hitting .611 at SFA on Thursday.
• Malaya Jones led the Mustangs offensively with 4.29 kills per set in two matches, swinging at an efficient .357 percent rate in the two matches. She also had a considerable impact defensively for SMU by adding 2.86 digs per set and 0.86 blocks per set. The graduate student went for 17 kills and a season-high 17 digs against UTEP on Friday, while also adding four blocks. It was her third double-double of the season and 20th of her career
• Freshman Kennedi Rogers gave a huge spark to the SMU offense on Friday against UTEP, finishing the match with a career-high 12 kills on 19 swings, hitting .526 against UTEP. Seven of her 12 kills came in the second set alone, which was tied for the third most by any player in a single set on the SMU squad this season.
• Casey Batenhorst has had an ace in five straight matches, three of the five with 3+. It is the second-longest streak of her career. Batenhorst ended the 2023 season with eight consecutive matches with at least one ace.
 
THREE FOR FIVE ON SETTER OF THE WEEK
• SMU senior setter Averi Carlson earned her third weekly honor from the Atlantic Coast Conference on Monday, as she was named the ACC Co-Setter of the Week on Sep. 22.
• Carlson averaged 11.72 assists per set, which led the ACC, as she pushed the Mustangs to wins over Stephen F. Austin and UTEP. The Lucas, Texas native dished out 37 assists with seven digs, three blocks, and two aces in the straight set victory over SFA, where SMU hit .383, its second-highest percentage of the season.
• In the Friday match against UTEP, Carlson had 45 assists and eight digs in the four-set victory to close out non-conference play.
• Carlson was also named ACC Setter of the Week on September 1 and 8.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
• As a team, SMU is ranked top 50 in five categories nationally: Hitting Percentage (15th), Assist Per Set (20th), Blocks Per Set (31st), Kills Per Set (34th), and Winning Percentage (39th).
• Averi Carlson ranks third in the nation in assists per set at 11.46. She is also 13th in the country in total assists.
• Favor Anyanwu is 31st in the country in blocks per set at 1.41 and 28th in total blocks with 55.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• SMU is 1-1 against Pittsburgh, with each team winning on its home floor last year.
• Then No. 15 SMU beat No. 1 Pittsburgh in Moody Coliseum last season in five sets, while the Panthers swept the Mustangs in Pittsburgh. The home Pitt match for SMU in 2024 is the fifth-highest attended match in program history.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Pittsburgh Panthers
• Pittsburgh is 8-2 on the season and has won eight straight after dropping the first two matches of the season to No. 1 Nebraska and then No. 16 Florida in the AVCA First Serve Showcase in Lincoln, Nebraska.
• The Panthers were picked to win the lead with 10 of the 18 first-place votes.
• They had four players on the All-ACC Preseason Team in Olivia Babcock, Blaire Bayless, Ryla Jones, and Bre Kelley.
• Pitt comes in at No. 5 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll.

NEW SEASON, NEW FACES
• 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.
• 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 brought in six transfers and seven players out of high school to go along with four returners.
• Each of the six transfers Sam Erger and company brought in has NCAA Tournament experience.
 
AVCA RANKINGS: WEEK 4
• SMU Volleyball dropped to No. 11 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Taraflex Coaches Poll despite going 2-0 on the week.
• The Mustangs were ranked No. 10 in the 2025 preseason ranking, marking the first time that the program was ranked going into the season. No. 10 is the highest ranking for the Mustangs in program history.
• SMU is the fourth highest-ranked ACC squad, trailing T-No. 3 Stanford, No. 5 Pittsburgh, and No. 6 Louisville. After the No. 11 Mustangs, Miami and North Carolina round out the top 25 at No. 24 and No. 25, respectively.  
• The Mustangs will face eight teams that opened the season ranked, including five in the preseason, before ACC play begins against preseason-ranked No. 3 Pitt on Wednesday, September 24, inside Moody Coliseum.
• The Mustangs cracked the top 25 for the first time in last year's historic season, reaching as high as No. 10 in the country. The Mustangs have been ranked in 17 straight polls. 
 
JONES MAKING NATIONAL NOISE
• SMU Volleyball transfer opposite hitter Malaya Jones was named to the AVCA Preseason Division I National Player of the Year Watch List, presented by Nike Volleyball, on Friday, July 23.
• The 6-0 graduate from El Dorado Hills, Calif., is the first player in program history to earn a spot on the association's preseason list.
• The 2025 Preseason Watch List includes 30 players from 20 different schools. More players can be added to the mid-season list in October, followed by a list of semifinalists in November, the announcement of the finalists in mid-December, and the reveal of the Player of the Year in Kansas City, Mo., at the AVCA Awards Banquet on Friday, December 19.
• Jones is one of seven players in the ACC who earned a spot on the list. Last season, Celia Cullen and Naya Shime were added to the mid-season list. 
 
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.
 
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. 
• Erger is 49-10 (83.1%) in conference matches on the Hilltop, winning 15+ in each of the three seasons.
• Erger has 10 ranked wins under her belt at SMU, three over top 10 teams.