No. 5 SMU Sweeps Rice in Fort Worth

Thursday, September 17

Fort Worth, Texas

6:30pm CT

SMU

7-2,0-0ACC

Rice

6-4,0-0American

Team	1	2	3	Final F
SMU	25	25	25	3
Rice	17	18	17	0

No. 5 SMU Sweeps Rice in Fort Worth

Sep 17 | Volleyball

Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas (SMU) – No. 5 SMU Volleyball (7-2) collected its second sweep of the season in dominant fashion, winning 25-17, 25-18, 25-17 over Rice (6-4) Thursday night in Fort Worth.

Junior outside hitter Jadyn Livings saw her first action of the season in the third set and registered her first kill. The outing was Livings' first appearance since Dec. 6, 2025, SMU's NCAA Second Round match against Florida, where she tore her ACL.

Reigning National Player of the Week, Suli Davis, once again led the Mustangs, reaching double-digit kills for the ninth straight match to start the season. Davis finished with 13 kills, five digs and three blocks.

Natalia Newsome was efficient, going seven for nine on her swings against the Owls. Favor Anyanwu led the match with a career-high four aces, along with four kills and four blocks. The Mustangs had their best serving production of the season, registering a season-high nine aces.

SMU held Rice to a .124 hitting percentage, the lowest opponent clip of the season. The Mustangs hit .267 and finished with a side-out percentage of 72.2 percent, compared to just 50.7 percent by the Owls.

MATCH NOTES:

SMU has beaten Rice three straight times. Under Erger, the Mustangs are 3-0 against the Owls.
Freshman Levariya Pinder made her first career start against the Owls Thursday night.
Thursday's match marked middle blocker Favor Anyanwu's first-career multi-ace performance.
Three different Mustangs logged multiple aces in the match. Sarah Frazee and Suli Davis joined Anyanwu with 2+ aces.

SMU LEADERS:
SMU Kills Leader: Suli Davis (13)
SMU Assists Leader: Hannah Beauford (24)
SMU Digs Leaders: Victoria Harris/Sarah Frazee (6)
SMU Blocks Leader: Three w/ (4)
SMU Ace Leader: Favor Anyanwu (4)
SMU Points Leader: Suli Davis (16.5)

NEXT UP:
No. 5 SMU will next host Yale on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed on ACCNX from Moody Coliseum.