KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jamie Morrison was confident for good reason.
The Texas A&M volleyball coach saw greatness in his team before its stunning run through the final two weekends of NCAA Tournament play. As underdogs by seed in each of its last four matches, A&M dispatched three No. 1 seeds consecutively, culminating Sunday with a three-set victory against Kentucky at T-Mobile Center.
The Aggies won 26-24, 25-15, 25-20 to take home their first national championship in women’s volleyball. They are the 13th program in 45 years to hoist the trophy.
A&M’s quartet of All-Americans led the way again. Logan Lednick paced the Aggies with 11 kills. Kyndal Stowers added 10. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla notched eight kills and four blocks. Setter Maddie Waak dished out 29 assists.
Morrison, the third-year A&M coach, came to Aggieland in December 2022 as the centerpiece move of former athletic director Ross Bjork as part of an effort to “strategize differently and envision a new approach” as volleyball emerged as a rising sport nationally.
In his first collegiate head-coaching post, Morrison directed A&M to the opening round of the postseason tournament in 2023, losing at Texas, the eventual national champion. The Aggies fell in the round of 16 a year ago against perennial power Wisconsin.
A&M entered regional play in Lincoln, Neb., as the No. 3 seed, but Morrison said that he and the Aggies weren’t scared of elite competition. They won the final three of five sets in a reverse sweep against Louisville to stay alive, then pulled the upset of the season in defeating No. 1-ranked and previously undefeated Nebraska in a five-set thriller.
By comparison, the Aggies’ first Final Four was a walk in the park. They swept Pitt, another top regional seed, on Thursday. And on Sunday, A&M made fast work of the lone remaining No. 1 seed.
The Aggies trailed throughout much of the first set, and by as many as six points. Down 18-12, they used a 4-0 run capped by a Stowers kill to get within two points for the first time since it was 2-0. The Aggies tied it for the first time at 20 on a block of Eva Hudson and won the opening set on another Stowers kill.
They did not trail in the second or third sets. The championship point came on a kill by Cos-Okpalla.
In this all-SEC final, the title was a second for the conference. Kentucky won the league’s first in the 2021 spring season, moved from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A&M avenged an Oct. 8 defeat in College Station. Kentucky had lost previously this season only against Nebraska and Pitt.