Dec. 7, 2025, 4:31 a.m. CT

Entering the closing moments of the fourth frame of Saturday night’s second-round contest against the TCU Horned Frogs, it looked like the set was going to slip away from the Texas A&M Aggies.

Head coach Jamie Morrison’s historically talented squad shut that down quickly, however. Once again, the superstars on the Aggies’ roster prevailed with one of the most entertaining and competitive sets in 2025. When it mattered most, the 29-27 score glimmering on the scoreboards across Reed Arena signified Texas A&M moving one step closer to the ultimate goal of all college volleyball programs. For the second consecutive year, the Maroon and White is in the Sweet 16.

The road to the national championship does not get any easier, though. Louisville awaits Texas A&M in the Lincoln Regional side of the NCAA Tournament bracket, as the Cardinals swept Loyola University Chicago and defeated Marquette in the second round, 3-2, to dance with the Aggies in a few days.

Morrison and three of his Aggie stars, Ava Underwood, Logan Lednicky and Kyndal Stowers, spoke to the media postgame about the magical night in Bryan-College Station, Texas, and previewed the upcoming match against Louisville in the Sweet 16.

Morrison’s opening statement following the 3-1 win over TCU

“I’m fired up and our team showed a lot of grit,” Morrison said. “We stayed together in tough moments. TCU is a really good volleyball team. I said it from the beginning when the seedings were there, I thought they were a little bit under-seeded, but I’m really proud of our group for coming out and fighting until the end, no matter the circumstances. I’m just proud of this group of women and I’m proud of my team.”

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!Lednicky on the importance of multiple Aggies earning double-digit kills and the performance offensively

“It’s nice to have two of them. A balanced offense does wonders for a team,” Lednicky said. “TCU did get a little jumpy sometimes and gives us some big splits and open up some space for kills.”

Lednicky discusses what she saw from the team, fending off the Horned Frogs’ attack in the fourth frame

“A word I (would) use to describe our team is gritty,” Lednicky said. “We know how to get down and dirty and grind when it matters most. Pressure was on and we executed. Especially in such an amazing environment, hearing the ring of your ears when people are cheering on set point, there’s nothing like it. A little bittersweet last-ever game in Reed, but the 12th Man showed up and it was just an amazing, amazing experience.”

Stowers explains what was working for her against TCU, after recording 19 kills in the win

“It was just finding my groove. You play different teams every week and we scout them, but they’re going to show up different every time defensively so I think you just get out there and once you start to find what works you just keep going with it and they’re going to make adjustments. Sometimes one thing opens up and then you have to change it. I was trying to explain volleyball to my dad the other day and I was like, ‘It’s kind of like chess,’ and I feel like that’s exactly what that was. They’re going to move their defense, they’re going to move everything around and then it just makes me have to adjust and find a new spot.”

Underwood on what made Texas A&M not give up after going down 1-0

“We just don’t give up,” Underwood said. “I think we’re a really hard team to beat because we’re just gritty. With us having a lot of seniors too, we’re not done yet. We want to keep grinding, we want to keep doing our thing — playing our brand of volleyball.”

Lednicky and Underwood speak on what those who were on the 2024 Sweet 16 team learned and how it helps moving forward

“I think we learned that we belong there. I feel like we almost came in like, underdogs, go shock the world kind of, but after that game, we were like, ‘We are so in this,'” Lednicky said. “We came into this season with obviously new, amazing pieces and we’ve all improved so we belong even more. The why not us mentality going into it.”

“It’s also just like we expect it now. We have grinded, we have put in the work, like we are very capable of being there and very capable of moving past that,” Underwood said. “We’ve just been gritty. We have grinded. We have just proven time and time again that we deserve that and we’re the team that people don’t want to play and I think with the seeding we come in as an underdog and we’re there to play and we’re there to prove people wrong so let’s do it.”

Underwood on the moment with the seniors after their last match at Reed Arena

“This place is awesome. To see how far it’s come is just really awesome,” Underwood said with tears welling in her eyes. “It’s been a dream. The fact that we get to play in front of those fans every single day is great and we knew it was going to come to an end, but 12th Man showed up as they always do and this place is becoming a volleyball powerhouse.”

Morrison’s mindset when the Aggies were trying to close the fourth frame out against the Horned Frogs

“It’s interesting because as a coach you have to think ahead and be present at the same time and it was all right, if we go to five, here’s what’s going to happen, but at the same time, I never count our team out,” Morrison said. “It’s just crazy how we’ve had different people come in at different times. As soon as it got tied, I had a pretty good feeling that we were going to pull that out.”

Morrsion on the team making it to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season

“I think you get used to being in these moments,” Morrsion said. “I think the SEC Tournament does the same thing of you get used to this feeling where in order to play tomorrow, we have to win this volleyball match and I think the more you do that, the more you get in that atmosphere and that’s part of the reason I tried to put some different people in last night too because it feels different in the NCAA Tournament. The more you do it, the more you get used to it, the more comfortable you get, the more comfortable being yourself you get and you go out and execute how we did tonight.”

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