No. 11 SMU Set To Face No. 8 Texas A&M In Jeep AVCA First Serve
#11 SMU (0-0, 0-0 ACC) vs. #8 Texas A&M (0-0, 0-0 SEC)
Sunday, Aug. 23 • 12:00 p.m. CT
Fiserv Forum • Milwaukee, Wis.
ESPN2 • Live Stats • Match Notes • SMU Mobile App
A TEXAS SHOWDOWN SEASON OPENER
• The 2026 season opens for the SMU Mustangs against a familiar foe. SMU will face preseason No. 8 and reigning national champion the Texas A&M Aggies on the third day of the Jeep AVCA First Serve on Sunday, Aug. 23 at Noon CT.
• Both teams had historic 2025 seasons, with the Aggies earning their first National Championship in program history and the Mustangs reaching the NCAA Regional Semifinal for the first time in school history.
• The matchup will mark the first time that the Mustangs will open the season against a top-25 opponent in program history.
• Sunday's showdown will be the first appearance for SMU in this event.
• The Mustangs are 2-0 against the Aggies in the all-time series and look to remain unbeaten when they face Texas A&M in Milwaukee.
• SMU looks to open the season with a victory for the fourth time in five seasons under Coach Erger.
• A win for the Mustangs would mark the 14th ranked win during the Erger era. No stranger to big time matchups, Sunday's showing will be the 33rd match against a ranked opponent for SMU under Coach Erger.
• A new setter will start for the Mustangs this season. After three seasons with former All-American Celia Cullen and a Second Team All-American campaign with senior Averi Carlson last season, the Mustangs will have a new setter dishing this out to a plethora of talent and experienced attackers.
THE LAST MEETING
• The last time the Aggies and Mustangs met was on Sept. 9, 2025, in the Showdown at the Net as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge last season.
• The Mustangs handled then-No. 8 Texas A&M in the matchup, sweeping the Aggies in Moody Coliseum, improving to 6-0.
• Outside hitter Jadyn Livings led the way for the 10th-ranked Mustangs with 14 kills, hitting .400, while adding four digs. Middle blocker Natalia Newsome logged eight kills on a .538 hitting percentage, and Favor Anyanwu led the match with eight blocks.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
• Junior middle blocker Favor Anyanwu and sophomore outside hitter Suli Davis were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Player of the Year Watch List, presented by Nike Volleyball in the preseason.
• The 2026 Preseason Watch List includes 30 players from 16 teams. Anyanwu and Davis are two of eight athletes that represent the ACC on the list.
• It marks the first AVCA preseason recognition for both athletes. Anyanwu made the list for the second time in her career after being added to the list midseason in 2025.
PRESEASON ALL-ACC STANGS
• Favor Anyanwu and Suli Davis were also both recognized on the 2026 Preseason All-ACC Team, voted on by the league's coaches.
• Anyanwu earned her second consecutive preseason All-ACC recognition, while Davis, transferring in from BYU, collected the first conference preseason honor of her career.
• Both athletes earned all-conference honors after last season, Anyanwu, a second teamer for the Mustangs in the ACC and Davis, a Big 12 First Team member and Big 12 Freshman of the Year winner.
STARTING THE SEASON NO. 11 IN THE COUNTRY
• SMU Volleyball opens the fifth season under Head Coach Sam Erger, ranked No. 11 in the AVCA-Taraflex Division I Preseason Poll, the association announced on Monday, Aug. 10.
• It marks the second straight season that the Mustangs are ranked entering the year.
• Nine opponents on SMU's schedule are ranked in the AVCA Preseason Poll, five of which sit in the top 10. The nine opponents in the poll include: No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 Pittsburgh, No. 5 Stanford, No. 7 Louisville, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 9 Purdue*, No. 18 TCU and No. 19 North Carolina.
• The Mustangs also will face No. 10 Penn State and potentially No. 1 Nebraska or No. 17 Florida in the Spikes Under the Lights exhibition showcase at AT&T Stadium on Aug. 27.
• Five other teams on the schedule are receiving votes: Miami (Fla.), Georgia Tech, Rice, San Diego and Florida State.
• The Mustangs are one of five ACC programs on the list, with three of the five in the top 10.
• The Mustangs have been ranked in 29 consecutive polls released by the AVCA.
• This season marks the third year that the Mustangs have been featured in the top-25.
ACC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
• The Mustangs were picked fourth in the ACC Preseason poll. Stanford was slotted No. 1, receiving 10 first-place votes, with Pittsburgh ranked No. 2, receiving seven first-place votes, and Louisville right in front of SMU at No. 3 with one first-place vote.
• The Mustangs finished third in the ACC a season ago, behind Co-Champions Pittsburgh and Stanford.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
• Texas A&M is coming off a National Championship campaign in which the Aggies went 29-4, 14-1 in the SEC.
• The Aggies lost all but one starter from their championship roster from a year ago. AVCA Second Team All-American Kyndal Stowers is the lone starting returner for Texas A&M.
• The Aggies rattled off four wins over top-10 teams in the tournament, including a sweep over No. 2 Kentucky in the final match.
• Head coach Jamie Morrison enters his fourth season in College Station and holds a 66-25 record in those four seasons.
SMU IN SEASON OPENERS
• SMU enters the matchup with the Aggies 19-11 in season openers.
• A win would make Coach Erger 4-1 in season openers at SMU.
• Last season, the Mustangs defeated LSU in Baton Rouge, 3-2, to open the season.
NEW FACES ON THE HILLTOP
• The Mustangs have eight new faces on the 2026 roster, four transfers and four true freshmen.
• SMU needed to replace nine athletes from the 2025 roster, three of whom are playing professionally in the United States and overseas. Eight of the nine played in 19 or more matches last season and four of them appeared in or started in all 33.
• All four transfers came from Power 4 programs, highlighted by transfer Suli Davis, who was an AVCA Second Team All-American as a freshman at BYU.
• Davis averaged 4.97 points/set, hitting .267 at BYU. She recorded five matches with 27 or more points, the second most among returning Power Four outside hitters in the country.
• Victoria Harris and Gabi Placide both joined the Mustangs from SEC programs. Harris has been one of the best liberos in the conference for the past two seasons for South Carolina, while Placide led Ole Miss as one of the top-point scorers in the SEC last season.
• Sam Erger and company brought in four true freshmen, two from the state of Texas, one from California and the final from Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
RETURNING EXPERIENCE
• SMU returns eight players from its 2025 roster that reached the NCAA Regional Semifinal for the first time in program history.
• Of the eight returners, four were consistent starters throughout the season.
• The group is highlighted by two AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans in Favor Anyanwu and Jadyn Livings.
• Another returning starter is high-flying middle blocker and efficient attacker Natalia Newsome, who broke the single-season program record for hitting percentage, terminating at a .456 clip last season.
• The fourth player on the list is rising sophomore Christa Wilburn, who burst onto the scene in the first match of the 2025 season when she broke the rally-scoring single-match ace record against LSU in Baton Rouge. Wilburn was a steady back-row presence in year one as a Mustang, a campaign where she enrolled early to join the team right before preseason camp. Wilburn led the team in aces with 47, an SMU freshman record.
STANGS ON THE BIG SCREEN
• The 2026 SMU volleyball regular season schedule will feature 10 nationally televised broadcasts, with matches airing on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network and TNT.
• SMU will open the season on ESPN2 against Texas A&M on August 23 for the AVCA First Serve in Milwaukee, Wis. Following the season opener, the Spikes Under the Lights exhibition showcase at AT&T Stadium will air on TNT on August 27.
• The Mustangs' second match of the Paradise Invitational, another first-of-its-kind event SMU will compete in, will also be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.
• Both matches against Pittsburgh will air on national television, the second (Oct. 11) being on ESPN. The Mustangs will later be featured on ESPNU when they host Louisville on November 12.
• This year's ACC Network appearances include Texas (Sept. 9), Stanford (Sept. 25), California (Sept. 27), Pittsburgh (Oct. 7) and Georgia Tech (Oct. 25).
• All additional conference matches will be streamed on ACCNX. Additional television designations may be added and announced at a later date.
SCHEDULING TOUGH IN THE NON-CONFERENCE
• Coach Erger and staff never shy away from scheduling tough opponents in the non-conference.
• The Mustangs have the third-strongest non-conference schedule in the country based on average winning percentage from the 2025 season.
• SMU's non-conference opponents had a combined .766 winning percentage last season, trailing only Texas (.795) and Louisville (.785).
• The Mustangs can potentially face eight teams that reached the Sweet Sixteen or higher last December.
2025 REWIND: SWEET SIXTEEN STANGS
• The 2025 season was the best year yet for the SMU Volleyball program, highlighted by the first-ever Sweet Sixteen appearance.
• In 2025, the Mustangs won 27 matches, tied for the most in program history. They also won 15 matches inside Moody Coliseum, also tied for the most in school history.
• Head Coach Sam Erger won her 100th career match at SMU in the historic win over Florida to send her squad to the Sweet Sixteen.
• The Mustangs reached as high as No. 7 in the AVCA rankings and also knocked off five ranked teams, two of which were top-5 opponents on the road. (Louisville & Stanford)
• The program saw its first AVCA First and Second Team All-Americans in Malaya Jones and Averi Carlson last season. Both went on to be picked in the first and second rounds of the 2025 MLV draft.
