Volleyball game between the Texas Longhorns and Rice Owls at Gregory Gym in Austin, Texas on August 14, 2026. (Photo: Ralph Arvesen)
Texas Volleyball went into its first true road match of the season facing another ranked opponent, and the night turned into the kind of five-set fight expected from two top-10 teams. No. 8 SMU Mustangs defeated the No. 9 Longhorns 25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 26-28, 15-10 at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, sending Texas to 3-4 after its second consecutive top-10 matchup.
The opening set stayed close for most of the way. SMU created a small advantage through the middle of the frame, but Texas stayed within reach and cut the deficit to 21-20 after a Mustangs attack error. That was as close as the Longhorns would get. SMU won four of the final five points to take the set 25-21, continuing a strong early-season trend in which the Mustangs had yet to lose an opening set.
Texas answered with its best stretch of the first half of the match. The teams were tied 10-10 in the second before the Longhorns put together a 10-4 run, using three blocks during that span to take control. Torrey Stafford finished the set with four kills, while Henley Anderson and Cari Spears added three apiece. Texas maintained the separation and closed the set 25-21 to even the match.
The third set never allowed either team much breathing room. Texas and SMU traded points deep into the frame, with neither side leading by more than two until the final rally. A solo block from Taylor Harvey tied the score at 21-21, but the Mustangs responded with three of the next four points. A Texas attack error ended the set 25-22 and gave SMU a 2-1 advantage.
With its margin for error gone, Texas opened the fourth set aggressively. Three consecutive kills from Anderson helped the Longhorns race to a 10-3 lead, and the advantage remained 16-11 before SMU mounted its own response. The Mustangs scored five straight points to tie the set, turning what had looked like a comfortable Texas lead into another point-for-point battle.
The closing stretch produced the tightest volleyball of the night. Spears put Texas ahead 24-23 with a kill, but SMU immediately tied the score. The Longhorns reached set point again and again without being able to finish, while the Mustangs kept answering. Spears delivered three kills during the final exchanges, and Stafford eventually ended the set with a kill for a 28-26 Texas victory that forced a fifth.
The deciding set changed quickly. SMU opened a 10-2 lead, leaving Texas with little room to recover. The Longhorns did manage one final push, getting kills from Anderson, Harvey and Stafford, along with an ace from Anja Kujundzic, to cut the deficit to 12-10. SMU stopped the comeback there, scoring the final three points for a 15-10 win and the match.
The final statistics showed how evenly matched the teams were in several areas. Texas finished with 64 kills to SMU's 65, and both teams recorded 59 digs. The Longhorns actually held a 6-4 advantage in service aces, but SMU was considerably more efficient on offense, hitting .303 compared with .224 for Texas.
Blocking was another important difference. SMU finished with 12 total blocks, while Texas recorded 7.5. The Mustangs also committed only 19 attack errors on 152 swings, compared with 27 errors on 165 attempts for the Longhorns. Over five sets, those extra mistakes became increasingly difficult to overcome.
Stafford and Spears led Texas with 18 kills apiece. The total represented a career high for Spears, who also finished with nine digs, three blocks and a team-high two service aces. Anderson added a career-best 15 kills, giving the Longhorns three attackers in double figures.
Setter Rella Binney recorded her third double-double of the season with a career-high 42 assists and 10 digs. Ramsey Gary handled much of the defensive work in the back row, collecting a match and career-high 27 digs. Nya Bunton was efficient in the middle with seven kills and no attack errors on 17 attempts, hitting .412 while adding three blocks.
SMU countered with a particularly strong night from Suli Davis, who finished with a match-high 22 kills while hitting .281. Davis also added 13 digs and four blocks for a double-double. Favor Anyanwu caused problems throughout the match with 16 kills on a .481 hitting percentage and eight blocks.
Setter Hannah Beauford directed an SMU offense that finished above .300 for the match, recording a career-high 53 assists and 10 digs. The Mustangs were particularly effective through the middle. Anyanwu, Natalia Newsome and Elle Vandeweghe combined for 31 kills while hitting .490, giving Texas another problem to solve beyond Davis on the outside.
The atmosphere reflected the significance of the matchup. Attendance reached 6,207, the second-largest home crowd in SMU volleyball history, with 801 students in attendance. It was also the first meeting between the programs in Dallas since 2004. The victory was SMU's first over Texas since 2000 and only the second in program history.
For Texas, the loss continued a demanding opening schedule. SMU was the sixth ranked opponent the Longhorns had faced through seven matches and the third top-10 opponent in a four-match stretch. Texas had already shown it could respond to difficult situations, but against SMU the Longhorns spent too much of the fifth set trying to undo an early deficit.
The fourth set showed the best version of the Texas offense, with the Longhorns recording 20 kills and refusing to let the match end after SMU erased a seven-point lead. The fifth showed how quickly that momentum could disappear. Texas hit just .105 in the deciding frame while SMU hit .364, and an eight-point deficit proved too much to overcome despite the late push.
At 3-4, the record did not fully capture how difficult the opening weeks had been, but the Longhorns also had little reason to be satisfied with close losses. Texas had pushed another top-10 team deep into a fifth set and received career performances from several players, yet the result still came down to execution when the match reached its most important points. The schedule offered no immediate relief, with No. 6 Wisconsin waiting for another top-10 matchup at Moody Center in Austin.
University of Texas Volleyball
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