Opponent: Grand Canyon University
Date: August 28
Time: 11:00am
Location: Reed Arena - College Station, Texas
Streaming: SEC Network +
Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/mobile/?id=671262
Invitational Home Page: https://12thman.com/sports/volleyball/2026-tamu-invitational
Game Preview
Howdy my fellow Aggie Volleyball National Championship fans and welcome to another weekend of volleyball, except this time we're back at home in Reed Arena. This weekend will be the Texas A&M Invitational where the reigning champions will host 3 other teams: Grand Canyon, Arkansas State, and Cal Poly. The Aggies will play all 3 in that order with Grand Canyon at 11am on Friday, Arkansas State Friday night at 7:30, then Cal Poly 7pm on Saturday night. The national championship banner will be revealed Friday night so get to Reed Arena!
First the Aggies will be looking to rebound after starting the season 0-2 with losses to #7 Louisville and #11 SMU. The Aggies fell short at the AVCA First Serve falling to both opponents, however the Aggies were without their all American and ncaa tournament MVP Kyndal Stowers. The revamped and new Aggies showed glimpses, but showed faults and cohesion issues expected with a brand new team. The Aggies went with a two setter lineup led by Kirra Musgrove and Lily Nicholson directing the offense. At the outside hitting position, Megan Fitch stepped in for Stowers, and joined Natalie Ring at the position. Eliza Sharp and Kaia Castle were the middles, Taryn Morris was the opposite hitter, Gabi Rodriguez was the libero, and Addi Applegate came in to play back row for Morris.
It was a lot of new and inexperience for the Aggies as they got thrown into the fire against two elite teams. Although in my personal opinion, we win both with Stowers. Nevertheless, the Aggies sit at 0-2 with something to prove this weekend at home. How sweet it'll be to be back at home, in front of the 12th Man, in their home gym. The Aggies will get a chance to bounce back with 3 home matches. Although Cal Poly was a sweet sixteen team last season after taking down 5 seed BYU and 4 seed USC in the tourney. Arkansas State was a tourney team as well as they lost in 5 sets to Baylor. Grand Canyon has always had strong teams as well.
As for these matches, it's hard to scout or gauge what these teams bring back. For Grand Canyon, they ran a 6-2 last year and bring back both setters, one Bella Nunez who is a preseason mountain west first team. Nunez sets, but is also a strong offensive weapon as well when she lines up on the right side. They brought in a transfer from Tennessee Starr Williams who is a talented hitter, someone they'll go to a lot as they lost their top outside. They bring back their strong middle duo in 6'2 Aubrey Bellus and 6'3 Aubrey Goodere. They also bring back their talented libero Bella Anderson. It was their first year in the Mountain West last season, and they'll be pushing for that conference title this season or even for an outright bid. They went 17-13 last season and return a lot from last season. With Williams on the outside they will be better.
As for us, I would assume we don't see Kyndal Stowers out there, but she could ultimately be playing. The Aggies should still be the favorites without her, but will need to play their best. The home crowd and home gym will be a bonus, but we'll need to clean up on our errors and poor execution from last weekend. We'll need to bring more pressure from the service line, we'll need to have a more efficient block, we'll need better and quicker sets, we'll need to have less hitting errors and terminate more balls. As the season progresses we'll hopefully see improvement in these areas as our ladies get used to playing with one another and get stronger as we get closer to December.
Starting the season 0-2 wasn't on our radar, but it's still August and there's so much volleyball to be played. This past weekend could have been the wake up call this team needed. It's a brand new year, nothing will be handed to them, wins don't come easily, every point, every set, every win is earned. It's time for the 2026 team to write their own story and get back to our winning standard! Get to Reed Arena this weekend and help us get back in the WIN column!!!
Date: August 28
Time: 11:00am
Location: Reed Arena - College Station, Texas
Streaming: SEC Network +
Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/mobile/?id=671262
Invitational Home Page: https://12thman.com/sports/volleyball/2026-tamu-invitational
Game Preview
Howdy my fellow Aggie Volleyball National Championship fans and welcome to another weekend of volleyball, except this time we're back at home in Reed Arena. This weekend will be the Texas A&M Invitational where the reigning champions will host 3 other teams: Grand Canyon, Arkansas State, and Cal Poly. The Aggies will play all 3 in that order with Grand Canyon at 11am on Friday, Arkansas State Friday night at 7:30, then Cal Poly 7pm on Saturday night. The national championship banner will be revealed Friday night so get to Reed Arena!
First the Aggies will be looking to rebound after starting the season 0-2 with losses to #7 Louisville and #11 SMU. The Aggies fell short at the AVCA First Serve falling to both opponents, however the Aggies were without their all American and ncaa tournament MVP Kyndal Stowers. The revamped and new Aggies showed glimpses, but showed faults and cohesion issues expected with a brand new team. The Aggies went with a two setter lineup led by Kirra Musgrove and Lily Nicholson directing the offense. At the outside hitting position, Megan Fitch stepped in for Stowers, and joined Natalie Ring at the position. Eliza Sharp and Kaia Castle were the middles, Taryn Morris was the opposite hitter, Gabi Rodriguez was the libero, and Addi Applegate came in to play back row for Morris.
It was a lot of new and inexperience for the Aggies as they got thrown into the fire against two elite teams. Although in my personal opinion, we win both with Stowers. Nevertheless, the Aggies sit at 0-2 with something to prove this weekend at home. How sweet it'll be to be back at home, in front of the 12th Man, in their home gym. The Aggies will get a chance to bounce back with 3 home matches. Although Cal Poly was a sweet sixteen team last season after taking down 5 seed BYU and 4 seed USC in the tourney. Arkansas State was a tourney team as well as they lost in 5 sets to Baylor. Grand Canyon has always had strong teams as well.
As for these matches, it's hard to scout or gauge what these teams bring back. For Grand Canyon, they ran a 6-2 last year and bring back both setters, one Bella Nunez who is a preseason mountain west first team. Nunez sets, but is also a strong offensive weapon as well when she lines up on the right side. They brought in a transfer from Tennessee Starr Williams who is a talented hitter, someone they'll go to a lot as they lost their top outside. They bring back their strong middle duo in 6'2 Aubrey Bellus and 6'3 Aubrey Goodere. They also bring back their talented libero Bella Anderson. It was their first year in the Mountain West last season, and they'll be pushing for that conference title this season or even for an outright bid. They went 17-13 last season and return a lot from last season. With Williams on the outside they will be better.
As for us, I would assume we don't see Kyndal Stowers out there, but she could ultimately be playing. The Aggies should still be the favorites without her, but will need to play their best. The home crowd and home gym will be a bonus, but we'll need to clean up on our errors and poor execution from last weekend. We'll need to bring more pressure from the service line, we'll need to have a more efficient block, we'll need better and quicker sets, we'll need to have less hitting errors and terminate more balls. As the season progresses we'll hopefully see improvement in these areas as our ladies get used to playing with one another and get stronger as we get closer to December.
Starting the season 0-2 wasn't on our radar, but it's still August and there's so much volleyball to be played. This past weekend could have been the wake up call this team needed. It's a brand new year, nothing will be handed to them, wins don't come easily, every point, every set, every win is earned. It's time for the 2026 team to write their own story and get back to our winning standard! Get to Reed Arena this weekend and help us get back in the WIN column!!!
