After a successful road campaign against LSU and Ole Miss, No. 9 Texas A&M volleyball returned home to Reed Arena, defeating the No. 2 Texas Longhorns in a thrilling 3-2 fashion.
The storied rivalry between the Aggies and the Longhorns brought out the energy of Reed Arena from the very beginning, as senior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla kicked off the Halloween-night action with a kill to open up the scoring for A&M.
Cos-Okpalla and the Aggie faithful set the tone for the rest of the night, as each rally sent the program-record home crowd of 9,801 into a frenzy of cheers. But with a sizable mass of burnt orange following the Longhorns into College Station, Texas was far from outnumbered for the matchup of Southeastern Conference foes.
For the Aggies side, A&M men’s basketball coach Bucky McMillan and football coach Mike Elko were both in attendance for the matchup of storied rivals, adding their support.
“I think we have something really special here at A&M,” Morrison said. “We have a lot of people here who care about each other’s success. I am eternally grateful for those who support us, and when we can give back to those who do it.”
Senior libero Ava Underwood (12) jumps into senior outide hitter Logan Lednicky (9) arms after Texas A&M’s game vs.
Texas at Reed Arena on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (Cooper Daniels/The Battalion)
That support reached a crescendo when an ace by senior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky rattled the Longhorns into a timeout, as the Aggies led the first set, 15-10. The brief recess did well to sharpen Texas’ resolve, as A&M’s lead dwindled to 17-16 in the blink of an eye.
It was then that coach Jamie Morrison took a page out of the Longhorns’ book and called a timeout, which was exactly what his squad needed to score six unanswered points on its in-state rival. An attacking error by junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford doomed Texas on set point, as A&M took the first set 25-19.
The Longhorns’ loss in Set 1 brought out their fight immediately in the second, taking a quick 6-2 lead before Morrison was forced to call a timeout. Texas, which brought an 18-game win streak to Aggieland, had played just three five-set games all season.
Despite the holiday, there was no fright shown in A&M’s game as Lednicky rallied her compatriots to take a 9-8 lead and force another Texas timeout. But when dealing with one of the top programs in the country, momentum can swing in an instant, and the Longhorns fired back into the lead, 19-16.
The Maroon and White let their own mistakes get the best of them as the set point loomed over the horizon like a ghoul lurking in the fields. A service error by Cos-Okpalla and a Stafford ace looked to be their undoing, but with kills and monsters hanging around the court, the Longhorns were dragged out to pasture in a 25-23 defeat in the second set.
As the courts flipped, the palpable force was felt around the arena from the floor seats up to the rafters, with the opportunity of a sweep seeming more and more achievable with each coming volley — but not if Texas had anything to say about it. Constant pressure rained down as it jumped out to a quick 14-7 lead in the third set.
A 7-point advantage was the best through three sets for the Longhorns, who were determined to force a fourth and fifth set in the clash with their Aggie rivals. Lednicky and Cos-Okpalla were not the only players dealing damage, as redshirt sophomore OH Kyndal Stowers gave Stafford’s 24 kills a run for their money with her own 22.
Staring down a 21-14 deficit, A&M lost its grip on the third set as Stafford and senior libero Emma Halter’s double-digit digs were instrumental in taking down the Aggies, 25-17.
It didn’t take long for the Aggies to shake off the dust of the third-set loss, as they were determined to deny the Longhorns the chance to take their winning streak back to Austin. But once again, Texas had a response at the ready.
Sophomore outside hitter Kyndal Stowers (37) spikes the ball during Texas A&M’s game against Texas at Reed Arena on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. (Cooper Daniels/The Battalion)
A&M was at the business end of a 14-11 deficit, with three errors making the hole that much harder to navigate through. But with their surplus of veteran talent, the Aggies had all the tools necessary to engineer a comeback story.
Unfortunately for the Maroon and White, the comeback effort was squandered by a handful of errors and impeccable integrity from the Longhorns. The fourth set finished just as the third did, with the Aggies falling 25-19 to bring up a fifth and final tiebreaker.
The 12th Man watched on as A&M began the fifth set with a 3-0 surge, feeding off the costume-clad student sections’ yells of unwavering support. Texas, on the other hand, wished to cap off a three-set comeback and win at Reed for two straight seasons.
“The 12th Man energy was absolutely electric,” Stowers said. “A ton of credit to them, there was a time that I couldn’t even hear [freshman defensive specialist] Addi [Applegate] literally right next to me, so I’m really thankful for them coming out here.”
Lednicky’s emphatic battle cries helped raise the decibel levels as her six blocks brought the necessary energy to take down their orange-clad opponents; however, the Longhorns didn’t budge on their seemingly insurmountable net defense.
That is until the Aggies found the sweet spot. Back-to-back kills from Cos-Okpalla blew the roof off of Reed, while an ace by Stowers gave A&M a narrow 14-12 lead as the Maroon and White looked to deliver the final blow.
And the Aggies did just that, ending the game just as it started: with a Cos-Okpalla kill. A haunting memory for the Longhorns and a fitting end to Halloween night, as the War Hymn sung the cows home, 15-13.
“‘Hell yes’ is the first thing that comes to mind,” Morrison said. “I don’t think we ever gave up, even when things started getting rough in the fourth and fifth sets. We became more of a team rather than pointing fingers, and we don’t fear a logo.”
A&M will head to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Tennessee Lady Volunteers on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2 p.m.