For the third straight season the SMU volleyball team is headed to the NCAA tournament and will host the first two rounds in back-to-back years.
The Mustangs earned one of the No. 2 seeds in the bracket that was announced on Sunday night. They did it by navigating a difficult nonconference slate and then finishing third in an ACC that is sending seven teams to the tournament, including a No. 1 seed, two other two-seeds and a five-seed.
“I’m happy that we’re being rewarded for playing, like I’ve said, such a tough schedule early on, because it was a gauntlet,” SMU head coach Sam Erger said. “And there’s some teams that have done really well and made the tournament, but maybe haven’t been put through quite the ringer that we put our team through. So I’m glad it was worth it, and I’m really pleased with the draw.”
Seventh-seeded Rice and Florida will open things up on Friday, followed by the Mustangs and Central Arkansas. The winners will then meet on Saturday.
“I’m obviously excited to be hosting, and I think the teams coming to Dallas are really, really good, and I hope we can show Dallas really good volleyball,” Erger said. “But I also think we, our team, have every reason to feel really confident.”
There are a lot of similarities between this season and last season for the Mustangs — similar overall records, big nonconference wins, big conference wins and a No. 2 seed in the tournament.
One big difference is the roster.
SMU only returned four players from a year ago. It brought in six transfers and seven freshmen to reload, not rebuild.
“I think with this new group of girls, just the chemistry we have off the court translates on the court, and especially since we were all new from completely different places,” Jadyn Livings said. “I do think that it says a lot. And I do think that we just came together at the end of the day.”
That included Malaya Jones, who was named first team All-ACC, was a three-time ACC Offensive Player of the Week and was honored as the AVCA National Player of the Week twice, including this past week.
“I went last year (at Colorado State), but we were out in the first round, so it’s just not the same,” Jones said. “But now that we’re a two-seed, I couldn’t have imagined being in this position, but I’m so excited. We’re going to make a run and make a lot of good memories.”
Meanwhile, Favor Anyanwu and USC went two rounds deep in last year’s tournament, but Livings didn’t get to be a part of the postseason. Now the second team All-ACC performer is excited to experience the NCAA tournament for the first time.
“Last year I actually wasn’t able to make a selection show for USC,” Livings said. “So the fact that I’m able to make it was such an awesome program, I think it kind of states how good we are. This was our first year with completely new people. And I’m really glad that I’m able to be a part of it.”
When Erger and her staff went about rebuilding the roster, they added some seniors — like Jones, Averi Carlson, Jordyn Schilling and Madison Scheer. But they also added young players with multiple years, like Anyanwu and Livings, along with a large freshman class.
The group has come together well. Carlson was named ACC Setter of the Year and joined Jones on the All-ACC first team, Anyanwu and Livings made the second team and Kennedi Rogers was named to the All-Freshman team.
And almost everyone has been called into action at some point this season.
“There’s an ideal world where you return your team every year and you’re not having (to add), but we just don’t live in that,” Erger said. “My job is to make the best of our situation and what our school needs, and we have definitely needed to use the transfer portal, although we are, at any given day, playing four or five true freshmen. If you scale back a little bit and take a long view of things, we do have a lot of young ones on our team that will grow over time and have two, three more years, and this will be so good for them.”
As good as the future may continue to look for the program, the Mustangs are focused on this year. SMU has reached the second round in back-to-back years but has never been to the third round.
That’s the barrier the Mustangs are trying to break through this year.
“Our program wants to take that next step badly, but each season is so unique,” Erger said. “And again, if you’re a team that’s in the tournament, it means you know how to win, or you’ve done something right. These are going to be tough games, and I think the message to the team is, ‘We don’t want to have that same feeling. So let’s not take anybody lightly and be our best selves this upcoming weekend.'”
While it’s mostly a different team than the one that experienced last year’s disappointment, they know what is at stake. The Mustangs enter the tournament on a nine-game winning streak and have won 17 of their last 18 matches, including wins against fellow two-seeds Louisville and Stanford and fifth-seeded Miami, all on the road.
That has this year’s team confident it can make a deep tournament run.
“We know what to do, and we know how to win,” Jones said.
The Mustangs are in the driver’s seat with a high seed and home matches to start the tournament, but they aren’t taking anything for granted. They want to take the fight to their opponents this weekend and leave nothing to chance.
“I think mentality is a really big deal in these tournament games,” Erger said. “You don’t want to play tight, like you’re protecting something or playing not to lose. So we need to really try to flip that script with our team like we’re on the hunt. We’re not going to play like our back’s against the wall. We’re going for it.”
