{"id":431455,"date":"2026-09-10T06:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T06:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/431455\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T06:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T06:54:08","slug":"smu-downs-texas-stakes-claim-as-states-top-college-volleyball-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/431455\/","title":{"rendered":"SMU downs Texas, stakes claim as state’s top college volleyball team"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNIVERSITY PARK \u2014\u00a0SMU<\/a> has\u00a0long been the little sibling among Texas universities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0a position that extends across sports, even to volleyball where the Mustangs historically\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0been able to hang with the likes of Texas and Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

No. 8 SMU defeated No. 9 Texas<\/a>\u00a03-2\u00a0in their home opener at Moody Coliseum on Wednesday night, getting the last laugh both on the court and in the stands as a sold-out crowd waved red towels that read \u201cKeep Dallas Normal,\u201d a play on\u00a0Austin\u2019s motto. The win came just over two weeks after the Mustangs\u00a0swept No. 8 Texas A&M.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool to show that we own Texas,\u201d SMU middle blocker Favor Anyanwu said.<\/p>\n

Wednesday marked the second sellout in SMU volleyball history, but unlike\u00a0the first against Nebraska in 2024, the Mustang fans held their own. While burnt orange poured into Moody Coliseum, the crowd was split, and SMU\u2019s students brought the Moody Magic the Mustangs needed.<\/p>\n

A record 801 SMU students attended the match \u2014 the largest student crowd in SMU volleyball history. A crowd of close to two dozen shirtless students wearing\u00a0nothing\u00a0but speedos took over the front row and kept the student section on their feet for all\u00a0five\u00a0sets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their enthusiasm was well-warranted, as the Mustangs beat Texas for only the second time in program history and first since 2000. SMU also won its 12th\u00a0consecutive home match, tying a program record.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was just really fun and entertaining volleyball,\u201d SMU coach Sam Erger said. \u201cReally proud of the entire team behind the team that made Moody just an incredible environment tonight. We really care about putting on a great show and\u00a0an amazing product.\u201d<\/p>\n

BYU transfer Suli Davis, who is off to a strong start in her first season on the Hilltop, finished with a\u00a0match-best\u00a022\u00a0kills.\u00a0Meanwhile, Anyanwu controlled the net with\u00a0eight\u00a0total blocks\u00a0and added\u00a016\u00a0kills.<\/p>\n

\u201cFavor was truly unstoppable,\u201d Erger said.<\/p>\n

SMU and Texas split the first two sets by an identical 25-21 margin before the Mustangs won the critical third set 25-22 to take the advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SMU nearly ended it in a fourth set, battling back from down five points, but Texas won 28-26 thanks to a few big kills from Cari Spears, who\u00a0tied\u00a0for\u00a0a\u00a0team-high\u00a018 with Torrey Stafford.<\/p>\n

In the final set, SMU dominated, jumping out to an 11-4 lead and never looking back, winning the fifth\u00a0set 15-10.<\/p>\n

The win\u00a0continues\u00a0a strong start to the season where the Mustangs are drawing the attention of the nation. Texas ranked No. 2 in the country in the preseason poll. The Mustangs have also defeated the last two national champions in A&M and Penn State in an exhibition match at AT&T Stadium last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SMU will look to add to its resume at the Paradise Invitational in Nassau, Bahamas, where it will face No. 3 Kentucky on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a gift to feel like we\u2019re a premier sport,\u201d Erger said. \u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0unique to have so much investment and care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream is to not make that kind of thing so exclusive. I believe you can do it more than just a few elite, select places.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UNIVERSITY PARK \u2014\u00a0SMU has\u00a0long been the little sibling among Texas universities. It\u2019s\u00a0a position that extends across sports, even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[732,27,29,28,99583,88146,88145],"class_list":["post-431455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-article","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tp-smu-mustangs","tag-tp-texas-longhorns","tag-tp-colleges"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}