SMU Volleyball earned the second seed slot in the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, per the selection show announcement on ESPN on Sunday, Nov. 30.
After going 25-5 and ending the regular season on a nine-game win streak, SMU is set to receive home court advantage through its first three games of the tournament at a minimum. The Mustangs were placed in the bottom-left quadrant of the tournament, a section headlined by the No. 1 seed Pitt Panthers. SMU’s first match is against Central Arkansas, which went 18-11 and won the ASUN Conference Championship.
Despite entering round one as favorites to win, Head Coach Sam Erger said SMU’s top-ten ranking didn’t matter anymore.
“You’ve got to throw the rankings out,” Erger said in an interview before the selection show. “[We need to] feel like what we did when we played Louisville and Stanford- backs against the wall, let’s go freaking do it and dig in and take big risks. That’s the mentality I want them to play with.”
2025 has been a record-breaking year for SMU Volleyball. After receiving its first ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll, SMU reached its highest peak in 2025 at 7th. The Mustangs won five ranked matchups, the highest of which was a five-set win over then No. 4 Louisville.
Over the team’s last 18 matches, SMU won 17, going 17-3 in ACC play. Despite some early season losses, Erger felt her team showed its full potential and strong mentality as the season progressed.
“You don’t need confidence, you need courage,” Erger said. “There’s a lot of talented teams out there that aren’t putting it together. You’ve got to prove you can go put it together, and it takes courage to go do that.”
Two SMU players, setter Averi Carlson and opposite hitter Malaya Jones, were selected in the Major League Volleyball draft. Carlson, who recorded 1,268 assists in her first season at SMU, was highlighted during the NCAA Selection Show on ESPN.
“Head Coach Sam Erger of SMU has her team playing such confident volleyball,” ESPN play-by-play announcer Courtney Lyle said. “It helps when you have Averi Carlson running the office.”
This will mark the team’s third playoff appearance through Erger’s four years as head coach. SMU suffered an upset in the second round to Missouri last season, but still tied the longest playoff run in team history, matching the efforts from 2016 and 2023.
Thanks to its impressive regular season performance, SMU received home court advantage to start the tournament. The Mustangs went 13-1 at Moody Coliseum in 2025, the lone loss coming to Pitt on Sept. 24.
“Moody is the perfect volleyball venue,” Erger said. “I think that we’re starting to win over the hearts of Dallas, and I love that. Every day, I feel like I meet a new season ticket holder or a new fan… so I think that we will continue to build Moody up even more and when the fans are behind you, it becomes a very difficult place to win.”
Erger will look to lead a promising young squad deep into the postseason. SMU will take on Central Arkansas at Moody Coliseum on Friday, Dec. 5.
