Opponent: Team we swept in the national championship (15-4, 7-2)
Aggie Record: (12-8, 5-3)
Aggie Rank: 19
Date: October 25
Time: 12:00
Location: Memorial Coliseum - Lexington, Kentucky
Streaming: ABC
Tickets: https://12thmanfoundation.evenue.net/list/VB
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/mobile/?id=669910&vislive=tam
Match Preview
308 days ago we lined up across the Kentucky Wildcats… Today at noon we like up against them for conference game number 9. 308 days ago the game was for something so much more, it was for everything. We dismantled the cats and reached the mountaintop. Tears in our eyes, confetti all around, champions. National Championship Rematch!
Fast forward 308 days, we are a brand new team, with so many faces. 8 newcomers, now sitting at 12-8, that championship feels so far away. This is a new team focused on writing their own story. Although we're not where we expected or wanted to be… we still could control what this season becomes. 7 more conference games, 3 more ranked opponents, we have plenty of opportunities to get this going in the right direction before postseason play.
The Ags are coming off a road victory over Georgia who prior to the loss had only one in conference play. The Ags didn't play pretty at times, but still scraped out a win against a team with a higher RPI. Margot Manning came in and set well. Stowers and Ring finished strong and Rodriguez looked dominant. However, with Kentucky up next we'll need to play a lot cleaner and a lot more dominant.
Kentucky returns nearly its entire team from last season, despite the one major loss in All American Eva Hudson. They bring back their other All American pin Brooklyn DeLeye, their setter Kassie O'Brien, their All American libero Molly Tuozzo and their DS's, their middle blockers, and they added a 6'5 opposite hitter in Morgan Gaerte who's an all American talent. They do have two conference losses already, putting their 10 year conference championship streak at risk.
They lost last Wednesday to Tennessee in a reverse sweep. They also lost in 5 to Florida. We'll need to be at our best. It starts with serving and serve receive. We must serve more aggressively and get O'Brien off her game like we did in the championship. We targeted DeLeye a lot that game. We must also handle their service game, DeLeye is a monster behind the service line. I want to see a balanced offense with more production offensively from our middles and Taryn Morris.
Now the main question everyone wants to know is who will be setting for us today. We saw Manning finish the game well after Musgrove was pulled. It'll be interesting to see if Morrison goes back to Musgrove like he did a game after she was pulled earlier in conference play. Or, will he go straight with Manning out of the gate, or a 5-2 with both of them. I just hope we're ready to roll and come out firing on all cylinders.
We have a tough stretch coming up and these next few weeks will determine so much of what this 2026 team is all about and capable of. It's time. This will be a huge game on ABC. A chance to show everyone that Texas A&M Volleyball is a force to be reckoned with. That Texas A&M Volleyball is one of the elites. It's time to go take down one of the nation's best and keep rolling to the postseason. 308 days ago it was why not us, today it's why not us. Let's go BTHO kentucky… just like we did to win it all in 2025
Aggie Record: (12-8, 5-3)
Aggie Rank: 19
Date: October 25
Time: 12:00
Location: Memorial Coliseum - Lexington, Kentucky
Streaming: ABC
Tickets: https://12thmanfoundation.evenue.net/list/VB
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/mobile/?id=669910&vislive=tam
Match Preview
308 days ago we lined up across the Kentucky Wildcats… Today at noon we like up against them for conference game number 9. 308 days ago the game was for something so much more, it was for everything. We dismantled the cats and reached the mountaintop. Tears in our eyes, confetti all around, champions. National Championship Rematch!
Fast forward 308 days, we are a brand new team, with so many faces. 8 newcomers, now sitting at 12-8, that championship feels so far away. This is a new team focused on writing their own story. Although we're not where we expected or wanted to be… we still could control what this season becomes. 7 more conference games, 3 more ranked opponents, we have plenty of opportunities to get this going in the right direction before postseason play.
The Ags are coming off a road victory over Georgia who prior to the loss had only one in conference play. The Ags didn't play pretty at times, but still scraped out a win against a team with a higher RPI. Margot Manning came in and set well. Stowers and Ring finished strong and Rodriguez looked dominant. However, with Kentucky up next we'll need to play a lot cleaner and a lot more dominant.
Kentucky returns nearly its entire team from last season, despite the one major loss in All American Eva Hudson. They bring back their other All American pin Brooklyn DeLeye, their setter Kassie O'Brien, their All American libero Molly Tuozzo and their DS's, their middle blockers, and they added a 6'5 opposite hitter in Morgan Gaerte who's an all American talent. They do have two conference losses already, putting their 10 year conference championship streak at risk.
They lost last Wednesday to Tennessee in a reverse sweep. They also lost in 5 to Florida. We'll need to be at our best. It starts with serving and serve receive. We must serve more aggressively and get O'Brien off her game like we did in the championship. We targeted DeLeye a lot that game. We must also handle their service game, DeLeye is a monster behind the service line. I want to see a balanced offense with more production offensively from our middles and Taryn Morris.
Now the main question everyone wants to know is who will be setting for us today. We saw Manning finish the game well after Musgrove was pulled. It'll be interesting to see if Morrison goes back to Musgrove like he did a game after she was pulled earlier in conference play. Or, will he go straight with Manning out of the gate, or a 5-2 with both of them. I just hope we're ready to roll and come out firing on all cylinders.
We have a tough stretch coming up and these next few weeks will determine so much of what this 2026 team is all about and capable of. It's time. This will be a huge game on ABC. A chance to show everyone that Texas A&M Volleyball is a force to be reckoned with. That Texas A&M Volleyball is one of the elites. It's time to go take down one of the nation's best and keep rolling to the postseason. 308 days ago it was why not us, today it's why not us. Let's go BTHO kentucky… just like we did to win it all in 2025
