The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
No. 2 Volleyball preview: at No. 9 Texas A&M
10.28.2025 | Volleyball
Longhorns travel to College Station for top-10 matchup on Halloween night.
THE MATCHUP
The Longhorns and the Aggies are scheduled to battle it out for the 102nd time with Texas owning a 77-24 advantage. The Longhorns have won nine of the last 10 outings besides the last matchup in Austin last season. Texas is 26-13 in College Station and Head Coach Jerritt Elliott is 25-8 against the Aggies overall holding a 9-6 advantage when on the road. The last road loss was in 2010. Friday's match will be the 10th ranked match of the season and sixth against a top-10 opponent.
ONE OF TWO
Texas is one of two teams that remain undefeated this season. With an 18-0 record, Texas is joined by No. 1 Nebraska (20-0) as the lone undefeateds in the NCAA. As of Oct. 27, Texas still holds the highest-ranked RPI in the NCAA over Nebraska.
LEADING LONGHORNS
Texas leads the nation in kills per set (14.97) and assists per set (13.92). UT also ranks second in the NCAA with a .309 hitting percentage - first in the league. Stafford ranks 30th in the country with 4.33 kills per set and sixth in the conference.
CURRENT RANKED WINS
The No. 2 ranked Longhorns own the toughest non-con schedule in the country. Nine ranked wins (No. 12 Creighton, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 6 Stanford, No. 4 Louisville, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 9 TCU, No. 21 Baylor, No. 21 Missouri, and No. 17 Tennessee) is the most through 14 games in program history and surpassed the number of ranked wins last season (5).
DOUBLE 'S' WATCH LIST
Torrey Stafford, a 2024 AVCA First Team AllAmerican, was named to the 2025 AVCA National Player of the Year Watch List and remains on its updated season list. Stafford was an AVCA National Player of the Year Semifinalist in 2024. Freshman Cari Spears was added to the AVCA Player of the Year addition list after her breakout start to the season with the Horns.
ALL-SEC LONGHORNS
Torrey Stafford and Emma Halter were both named to the Preseason All-SEC First Team, tied for the second-most selections with LSU and Texas A&M. Kentucky led the league with four selections.
The Longhorns have earned 15 weekly awards after nine weeks of competition:
Emma Halter - Player & Defensive Player
Torrey Stafford - Player of the Week x2 - Offensive Player x3
Cari Spears - Freshman of the Week x5 - Player of the Week x2
Ella Swindle - Setter of the Week x3
Abby Vander Wal - Freshman of the Week
Texas is the lone team in the conference who's earned at least one weekly SEC award every week highlighted by five-straight weeks with freshman of the week (Sept. 8 - Oct. 6) honors. Spears is the lone athlete in the conference this year with five individual weekly honors. There has only been seven freshmen since 2005 to have five or more honors and just four with more than five.
RANKED SUCCESS
UT owns a 167-62 (.729) record against ranked opponents over the last 21 seasons (2004-24) and boasts a 76-15 (.835) home mark against ranked opponents at Gregory Gymnasium and the Frank Erwin Center (3-0) during that span. The Longhorns are now 1-0 against ranked opponents when playing at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. The Longhorns finished 5-3 last season against ranked opponents.
ROAD HORNS
The Longhorns have won 58 of their last 60 road matches dating back to the 2019 season. Texas remains undefeated (13-0) after two seasons in road conference matches in the SEC. The last true road conference loss came against Kansas State (Big 12) on Nov. 8, 2023, marking 14-straight road conference wins for UT. Since the 2011 season Texas has produced a 133-23 (.853) record in true road matches, with only seven of those losses coming to unranked teams.
MILESTONE WATCH
Torrey Stafford recorded her 1000th career kill in the win against Arkansas and surpassed 600 career digs at Ole Miss. Cari Spears reached 200 kills as a freshman and Ella Swindle surpassed 400 career digs against OU. Emma Halter now has 100 career aces and Abby Vander Wal needs 16 kills for 200 as a freshman. Halter could move into No. 10 on the UT All-Time career digs list with just seven digs. She also needs 28 aces to No. 10 on the UT list.
SPEARING THE COMPETITION
Freshman Cari Spears has recorded 228 kills, averages 3.56 per set and is hitting .317 in her first 18 collegiate starts. There are only nine freshmen in the NCAA with more kills per set. Spears has won the SEC Freshman of the Week five times, the SEC Player of the Week twice and was named the AVCA Player of the Week once.
DOUBLE DOUBLE MACHINE
In 18 matches, Torrey Stafford has recorded eight double doubles in the Burnt Orange uniform. She totaled six during the entire 2024 season and only four her freshman season at Pitt. Ella Swindle is second on the team with four, while Emma Halter and Cari Spears each have one. To compare, Madisen Skinner led the Longhorns last season with eight total.
TEXAS DRAW
In the second match of the season, Wisconsin hosted the Longhorns in front of 11,678 fans for a then-fifth highest attended match in Badger history. The fans followed UT when they traveled to Houston and broke Rice's attendance record with 3,017 people. Later in the season, Georgia set its then-season high in attendance at 4,518. Last on the list, Mississippi State set their then12th highest attended match with 962 fans. Texas continued to draw attention when they won at Ole Miss with the then-season high attendance total of 1,035. Baton Rouge was no different with Texas helping LSU set its third-largest attendance in Tiger history with 2,632 fans. Texas set the LSU attendance record in 2024 with 3,885.
ABBY VANDER WAL(L)
Freshman Abby Vander Wal has flourished in recents matches on both sides of the net. Since the home match against No. 17 Tennesse, Vander Wal has totaled 79 kills in the last six matches. She's recorded double digit kills in five of the last six matches, including a career high 21 on the road at Ole Miss and hit over .400. She's recorded double digit kills in 12 of 18 matches.
HAWAII TO THE FORTY
Since 2007, the Longhorns roster has seen eight student-athletes see the court by way of Hawaii to the Forty Acres: Sydney Yogi - 2008-2011, Sarah Palmer 2010-2013, Kat Brooks - 2012-2015, Jhenna Gabriel - 2018-2021, Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres - 2021- 22, Keonilei Akana - 2022-24, Devin Kahahawai - 2022-present and Rella Binney- 2024-present).
AVCA LOVE
Texas has now earned two AVCA Player of the Week awards this season - Torrey Stafford (9/9) and Cari Spears (9/23) - totaling to 14 all-time. The duo join the list of nine other Longhorns to ever be awarded the AVCA honor: Demetria Sance (1998), Jill Gremmel (1999), Michelle Moriaty (2006), Destine Hooker (2007), Ashley Engle (2009), Jullian Faucette (2010), Haley Eckerman - 2x (2012, 2013) Logan Eggleston - 3x (2021, 2022) and Skylar Fields (2021).
RANKINGS
Texas remains ranked No. 2 in the AVCA / Taraflex National Rankings after 10 weeks. The Longhorns began the 2025 season as the No. 5 ranked team in the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Longhorns have been ranked in both the top five in 19 of the past 21 seasons and the top 10 in 20 of the last 21 preseason rankings. Texas, who was picked second in the SEC Coaches' Poll, is one of six SEC teams in the top-25 as Kentucky is ranked No. 3, Texas A&M stayed at No. 9 and Tennessee stayed at No. 16, while Florida moved back into the poll at No. 25.
HOME CROWD ADVANTAGE
The Longhorns extended their sell-out streak to 49-straight matches dating back to the 2022 season and rank fourth-nationally this season with an average attendance of 4,867 in nine matches. Texas ranked seventh last season with an average attendance of 4,393 in 14 home matches and sold out all 14 home matches. In the 2022 NCAA Regional Final against Ohio State, Texas set a Gregory Gym attendance record with a crowd of 5,344. Texas set a new attendance record when they hosted Stanford at Moody Center at 10,899.
SO FROSH
The Longhorns have seen three freshmen (Harvey, Spears, Vander Wal) break into the rotation in their debut season. Cari Spears has started all 18 matches for Texas on the rightside, while Taylor Harvey (MB) has started 12. Abby Vander Wal has entered competition as dynamic hitter on offense. Combined, they've totaled 49.4% of the Texas kills.
SUCCESS AT THE TOP
Texas has been the model of consistency for well over a decade now, being the only Division I volleyball program to have ended each of the last 19 seasons ranked in the top 10. The Longhorns have also finished in the top 5 in 15 of the last 18 seasons, including 11-straight years from 2008-18. Texas also has thenation's longest active streak of NCAA Regional Semifinal ("Sweet 16") appearances with 19-straight. Of the last 19 regional semifinal appearances, the Longhorns have advanced to 18 NCAA Regional Finals, 12 National Semifinals and eight National Championship matches.
NEW ERA ON THE FORTY
Texas Volleyball embarked on a new era in the SEC and came just short of winning the conference title in the program's first season. The Longhorns have a long history of conference dominance with 29 all-time league championships, including 16 Big 12 titles and 13 Southwest Conference Championships. The Longhorns' 2023 league title was a record seventh-straight Big 12 Championship, who won or shared 12 of the last 13 championships and 15 of the last 17. Texas departed the Big 12 Conference having won more league championships than any other program.
MIDDLE BLOCKER U
For more than two decades under head coach Jerritt Elliott, the Longhorns have had a legacy of All-American middle blockers starting with Leticia Armstrong (2003-08) and Brandy Magee (2003-07) before continuing on with Lauren Paolini (2005-08), Rachael Adams (2008-11), Khat Bell (2011-14), Molly McCage (2012-15), Chiaka Ogbogu (2013-17), Brionne Butler (2017-21) and Asjia O'Neal (2019-23). These nine All-American middle blockers earned a total of 25 All-America honors dating back to 2005. Sophomore Ayden Ames became the Longhorns' first starting true freshman middle blocker since Chiaka Ogbogu in 2013. The Longhorns finished third nationally with 2.89 blocks per set last season, with double-digit blocks in 21 of the 32 matches last season.Taylor Harvey joins Ames as a true freshman starting as the middle blocker in 12 of the 18 matches. Nya Bunton has also started six matches this season. The three have totaled 120 of the teams blocks.
