Opponent: #11 smu (0-0)
Date: August 23
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Fiserv Forum - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN2
Stats:
AVCA Homepage: https://www.avca.org/event/2026-avca-first-serve/
Game Preview
Howdy my fellow NCAA National Championship Aggie Volleyball fans, I know last match hurt. I know not seeing Kyndal Stowers out there had to have been shocking, but our youngsters and new roster bounced back and fought. The Aggies dropped the match to Louisville 3-1, without Stowers. Now they'll look to bounce back against another dominant squad in SMU.
What a debut it was for the Ags Friday evening. It was a tough loss and it could have gone the Aggies way despite the major setback and despite playing one of the most competitive and experienced teams in the country in Louisville. We saw both setters see playing time, we saw sophomores Taryn Morris and Megan Fitch get their first starts in maroon, as well as the Aggie debuts for transfers Natalie Ring, Eliza Sharp, and Kaia Castle. Lots of new faces on the court for Aggie fans to watch and learn. The Aggies showed glimpses of a talented team, but the growing pins and lack of experience was evident. The Aggies played a top ten team and will face several other ranked teams throughout non conference play. There will continue to be growing pains, but it will only make us better.
The first thing that will need to improve is timing and chemistry between our setters and hitters. We played a modified version of a 6-2 offense, which is a 5-2 offense. Meaning we will rotate two different setters, Lily Nicholson starting the match in the back row 3 spots then when rotating to the front row, Kirra Musgrove comes in. Being in the front row she is able to attack as well, which we saw her do multiple times. It's extremely difficult to replicate a game environment, especially when you're going against a strong defensive team like Louisville. So we knew there would be bad sets, but hopefully we can clean it up a little more next match. Musgrove looked a lot more comfortable after the first set. We went to Ring a lot and her numbers weren't efficient. She was forced to adjust her body mid air, or swing at rough sets more than she should. Same thing for Fitch, who seemed to not have the best location on her shots as they all went to the same occupied zone and got dug up. However she has been spending time at camp on the right side. There is where we saw an efficient Taryn Morris. I hope we can get her going a lot more. Eliza Sharp looked lethal on offense and she deserves a lot more sets, hopefully we can get Kaia Castle going more as well. Obviously a huge factor will be the status of all american Kyndal Stowers. She injured her back during pregame warm ups and was forced to sit out the match. Morrison said after the game she could likely be back for this match, but it's August and she's just so important so there's no need to risk anything. Unless she is absolutely healthy to play, we are 1-0 right now if she's healthy.
Defensively, we did pretty well in serve receive. Let's hear it for the future multi time all american Gabi Rodriguez. What a bright spot she was and will continue to be. With her elite and steady defense and coverage ability, it should help the rest of our game play improve. For Louisville, Meester, Peterson, Chicoine, and Schrand are all great servers, but we did great for the most part in serve receive. But when we don't get the kill, we gave Louisville a chance to send a ball back and our block wasn't nearly as effective as we're used to the past few years having Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Morgan Perkins. Logan Lednicky and Emily Hellmuth were great blockers as well. With Morrison teams, we've seen the block always improve as the season goes on. We have the size, we just need to close out quicker and effect more attempts. This will help our back row set up our setters for easier sets and cleaner hits.
As for SMU, it will be their first match of the season tomorrow. Like always under Sam Erger, the ponies go big in the portal. They've been bounced out of the sweet sixteen in back to back years despite excellent regular seasons. They added the big 12 freshman of the year in Suli Davis from BYU, they added two strong sec players in pin hitter Gabi Placide from Ole Miss and libero Victoria Harris from South Carolina. They also added a strong pin hitter from Bosnia and Herzegovina who could battle for playing time at the opposite position. They return an all american middle blocker in Favor Anyanwu who is strong in the middle and another strong middle in Natalia Newsome. They return two strong pin hitters including a 3.6 kills per set Jadyn Livings, who will most likely be out due to an injury in the ncaa tourney. They also return Christa Whilburn who has some experience.
Their pin hitters will likely be Suli Davis and Gabi Placide, and their international player Bojana Ambulija. All are extremely talented and can punish a ball, as can Anyanwu who is lethal when being set. They do have a setter battle between two inexperienced players Hannah Beauford and Ellie Moore. They will have strong back row play between Harris and Mia Silva. SMU is also known to serve really tough.
SMU is ranked 11 after losing some key pieces from last season such as Malaya Jones, Jordan Schillings, Averi Carlson, Madison Scheer and others. Not having Jadyn Livings to begin the year will be tough as well, but they have talent at the pin positions. This will be another tough test for us. Last year in non conference they swept us quite handily. They serve tough, they have great blockers, so we will need our A game. Thankfully it's their first game and they don't have the experience playing together like Louisville had.
We need to come out firing and with energy early. We can't let them control the match. This is going to be a huge battle and we cannot start the season with two losses. It had been 270 days since Aggie volleyball had lost a match. This is a new team, a young team that has plenty of learning to do. You can learn so much mentally, personally, and X's and O's after a loss. We know that this staff is capable of. Our ladies are in a great position to bounce back and continue to grow. I made a statement last year that in this world of NIL, transfer portal, buying players, etc, one thing lost in collegiate athletics is coaching and developing. Morrison and his staff are great at developing, coaching, teaching. We'll bounce back. We're building for December and this young inexperienced team will only keep growing. Trust this staff and this team, we've flipped the page from game one and now it's time to BTHO smu!!!
Date: August 23
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Fiserv Forum - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN2
Stats:
AVCA Homepage: https://www.avca.org/event/2026-avca-first-serve/
Game Preview
Howdy my fellow NCAA National Championship Aggie Volleyball fans, I know last match hurt. I know not seeing Kyndal Stowers out there had to have been shocking, but our youngsters and new roster bounced back and fought. The Aggies dropped the match to Louisville 3-1, without Stowers. Now they'll look to bounce back against another dominant squad in SMU.
What a debut it was for the Ags Friday evening. It was a tough loss and it could have gone the Aggies way despite the major setback and despite playing one of the most competitive and experienced teams in the country in Louisville. We saw both setters see playing time, we saw sophomores Taryn Morris and Megan Fitch get their first starts in maroon, as well as the Aggie debuts for transfers Natalie Ring, Eliza Sharp, and Kaia Castle. Lots of new faces on the court for Aggie fans to watch and learn. The Aggies showed glimpses of a talented team, but the growing pins and lack of experience was evident. The Aggies played a top ten team and will face several other ranked teams throughout non conference play. There will continue to be growing pains, but it will only make us better.
The first thing that will need to improve is timing and chemistry between our setters and hitters. We played a modified version of a 6-2 offense, which is a 5-2 offense. Meaning we will rotate two different setters, Lily Nicholson starting the match in the back row 3 spots then when rotating to the front row, Kirra Musgrove comes in. Being in the front row she is able to attack as well, which we saw her do multiple times. It's extremely difficult to replicate a game environment, especially when you're going against a strong defensive team like Louisville. So we knew there would be bad sets, but hopefully we can clean it up a little more next match. Musgrove looked a lot more comfortable after the first set. We went to Ring a lot and her numbers weren't efficient. She was forced to adjust her body mid air, or swing at rough sets more than she should. Same thing for Fitch, who seemed to not have the best location on her shots as they all went to the same occupied zone and got dug up. However she has been spending time at camp on the right side. There is where we saw an efficient Taryn Morris. I hope we can get her going a lot more. Eliza Sharp looked lethal on offense and she deserves a lot more sets, hopefully we can get Kaia Castle going more as well. Obviously a huge factor will be the status of all american Kyndal Stowers. She injured her back during pregame warm ups and was forced to sit out the match. Morrison said after the game she could likely be back for this match, but it's August and she's just so important so there's no need to risk anything. Unless she is absolutely healthy to play, we are 1-0 right now if she's healthy.
Defensively, we did pretty well in serve receive. Let's hear it for the future multi time all american Gabi Rodriguez. What a bright spot she was and will continue to be. With her elite and steady defense and coverage ability, it should help the rest of our game play improve. For Louisville, Meester, Peterson, Chicoine, and Schrand are all great servers, but we did great for the most part in serve receive. But when we don't get the kill, we gave Louisville a chance to send a ball back and our block wasn't nearly as effective as we're used to the past few years having Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Morgan Perkins. Logan Lednicky and Emily Hellmuth were great blockers as well. With Morrison teams, we've seen the block always improve as the season goes on. We have the size, we just need to close out quicker and effect more attempts. This will help our back row set up our setters for easier sets and cleaner hits.
As for SMU, it will be their first match of the season tomorrow. Like always under Sam Erger, the ponies go big in the portal. They've been bounced out of the sweet sixteen in back to back years despite excellent regular seasons. They added the big 12 freshman of the year in Suli Davis from BYU, they added two strong sec players in pin hitter Gabi Placide from Ole Miss and libero Victoria Harris from South Carolina. They also added a strong pin hitter from Bosnia and Herzegovina who could battle for playing time at the opposite position. They return an all american middle blocker in Favor Anyanwu who is strong in the middle and another strong middle in Natalia Newsome. They return two strong pin hitters including a 3.6 kills per set Jadyn Livings, who will most likely be out due to an injury in the ncaa tourney. They also return Christa Whilburn who has some experience.
Their pin hitters will likely be Suli Davis and Gabi Placide, and their international player Bojana Ambulija. All are extremely talented and can punish a ball, as can Anyanwu who is lethal when being set. They do have a setter battle between two inexperienced players Hannah Beauford and Ellie Moore. They will have strong back row play between Harris and Mia Silva. SMU is also known to serve really tough.
SMU is ranked 11 after losing some key pieces from last season such as Malaya Jones, Jordan Schillings, Averi Carlson, Madison Scheer and others. Not having Jadyn Livings to begin the year will be tough as well, but they have talent at the pin positions. This will be another tough test for us. Last year in non conference they swept us quite handily. They serve tough, they have great blockers, so we will need our A game. Thankfully it's their first game and they don't have the experience playing together like Louisville had.
We need to come out firing and with energy early. We can't let them control the match. This is going to be a huge battle and we cannot start the season with two losses. It had been 270 days since Aggie volleyball had lost a match. This is a new team, a young team that has plenty of learning to do. You can learn so much mentally, personally, and X's and O's after a loss. We know that this staff is capable of. Our ladies are in a great position to bounce back and continue to grow. I made a statement last year that in this world of NIL, transfer portal, buying players, etc, one thing lost in collegiate athletics is coaching and developing. Morrison and his staff are great at developing, coaching, teaching. We'll bounce back. We're building for December and this young inexperienced team will only keep growing. Trust this staff and this team, we've flipped the page from game one and now it's time to BTHO smu!!!
