AUSTIN, Texas. — The No. 3 Texas Volleyball team improved to 42-0 in the NCAA First Round after sweeping Florida A&M (25-11, 25-8, 25-14). The Longhorns improved to 24-3 on the season behind Emma Halter’s historic night on defense. 

Halter moved up to No. 8 on the all-time Texas digs list with 25 tonight, making it a 1,282 total. Halter also broke the Texas record in three-set matches with 25 digs. She’s now the fourth Longhorn to record 25, joining Dariam Acevedo (2006), Adrian Greenmail (2001) and Carrie Busch (1995). 

Ayden Ames matched her career high with eight blocks, leading the Longhorns to tally nine total. Ramsey Gary also recorded a season high three aces for a match high. The Longhorns recorded 42 kills to the Rattlers 15, holding them to a -.027 – the lowest opponent hitting percentage of the season. 

Set One: Texas dominated the opening set 25-11, limiting the Rattlers to a .000 attacking percentage while hitting .414 themselves. Torrey Stafford led the charge with five kills and a .455 hitting percentage. Swindle recorded nine assists and Halter registered 10 digs. The Texas defense totaled four and a half blocks in the first set. 

Set Two: The Longhorns held the Rattlers to only eight points, tying their opponent season low in the second set. Stafford added six more kills out of her 13 total, while Texas put up four team blocks behind Ames’ four. 

Set Three: The Longhorns saw Cari Spears add four kills and Whitney Lauenstein add one of her five kills in the third. Lauenstein also totaled four blocks on the night and hit for .571. 

Up next Texas will face off against No. 25 Penn State in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+. 

Penn State has landed on Iowa State’s Matt Campbell as its next head coach, ending a wild 54-day search after firing James Franklin.

In addressing the media following the choice to part with Franklin, athletic director Pat Kraft clearly laid out his idea for the next head coach in Happy Valley.

“We want someone who will attract elite talent, retain players in the NIL era and make Penn State a destination,” Kraft said on Oct. 13. “This is also about the modern era of college football. Our next coach needs to be able to maximize elite-level resources, attack the transfer portal and develop at the highest level.”

Now, we reportedly have some details on what those “elite-level resources” actually are.

Kraft and Penn State are committing about $30 million in NIL money for the football roster and $17 million for Campbell’s coaching staff, according to a report from Matt Fortuna.

That’s on top of an eight-year contract for Campbell that will place him among the top-10 coaching salaries in the country, according to ESPN and Yahoo Sports.

Under Franklin, Penn State had well-compensated rosters, but the model was not what Kraft envisioned.

Franklin preferred not to set the market on high school recruits and did not embrace the transfer portal fully, instead choosing to fill holes here and there.

Campbell will be tasked with flipping that script.

“We have invested at the highest level. With that comes high expectations,” Kraft added in October. “Ultimately, I believe a new leader can help us win a national championship.”

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WINGATE, N.C. – Another successful Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball season has come to an end. The Bears fell 3-1 to #3 seeded Anderson in the NCAA DII Tournament second round on Friday, closing their season at 23-8.  

Emmaleigh Allen led the team with 13 kills while Emmie Modlin and Alicia Barbarito combined for 38 assists.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

Final: Anderson 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 1 (29-27, 20-25, 25-9, 25-18)

Records: Anderson (23-7, 16-4 SAC), Lenoir-Rhyne (23-8, 14-4 SAC)

Location: Wingate, NC | Cuddy Arena

STORY OF THE MATCH: 

• Down early on, the Bears went on a late 4-0 run to tie the score at 22 in the first set.
• Lenoir-Rhyne had set point at 26-25, but a 4-1 run from Anderson gave the Trojans the 29-27 set victory.
• Hadley Prince produced back-to-back service aces to help Lenoir-Rhyne win the second set 25-20.
• Anderson dominated the third set 25-9, finishing with a .317 hitting % and just four attack errors.
• Lenoir-Rhyne responded early in the fourth set, jumping ahead 6-3.
• The Trojans did not look back after tying the match at 7, keeping the Bears an arms length away the rest of the set. 

STATS OF THE GAME:

• Anderson finished with an advantage in kills (59-to-46), hitting % (.276-to-.127), and assists (57-to-43).
• There were a combined 38 block assists and solo blocks between the two teams.
• Kayli Cleaver and Averie Dale combined for 11 total blocks
• Hadley Prince led the team with 19 digs while Addison Vary collected two service aces.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• This was the fourth meeting this season between the Bears and Trojans, with each team winning twice.
• Emmaleigh Allen generated her sixth double-double this season after finishing with 13 kills and 16 digs.
• Kayli Cleaver finished the season as the team leader in kills (363) and kills per set (3.36) for the second straight season.
• The 2025 Lenoir-Rhyne Volleyball Team finished with the second highest hitting % in school history at .235, just .05 away from the record held by the the 1998 squad.
• Averie Dale finished with a .399 hitting %, which ties the program’s individual season record held by Michelle Baity in 1999.
• The Bears produced their third straight season with 20 or more wins and set a new program record winning 13 matches at home. 
• Nicole Barringer now holds an 87-35 record in four years as the Bears’ head coach. 
• Barringer is the first coach in program history to lead the team to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. 

The Tar Heels improved after each set, raising their hitting percentage from .146 to .317. Laynie Smith led the way offensively as she hit .400 with seven kills on only 15 attacks.

Carolina dropped the first set 25-14, but Bridget Malone was the bright spot as she came off the bench and hit above .444 with four kills.

The Tar Heels had a much better second set, putting together an impressive 7-2 run in the middle of the match that brought the score to 17-18. The Tar Heels continued to fight back against the top-ranked Badgers.

The Tar Heels battled back in the third set as the final set was tied 19 times and there were ten lead changes. 

Maddy May wrapped up her legendary Tar Heel career tonight. May played  in every single set (445) of every single match (118) over her four-year career. May currently sits third all-time in program history with 1622 digs. The senior closed out her time in Chapel Hill on a high note, as she was named Second Team All-ACC for the first time in her career.