BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M volleyball team added redshirt sophomore middle blocker Eliza Sharp to the 2026 roster, head coach Jamie Morrison announced Friday.
 
Sharp joins the Aggies from Boise State, where she had a historic debut campaign for the Broncos being named Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year. The middle blocker also garnered All-Mountain West Team honors, as she was only one of five freshmen in the conference to be named in the postseason awards.
 

“It’s hard to win conference awards as a middle blocker and Eliza [Sharp] comes to us as the reigning Freshman of the Year in her conference,” coach Morrison said. “She is an elite athlete as both a blocker and an attacker who will continue the lineage of great middle blockers at Texas A&M. From our first phone call, I knew she would be a great fit for our culture, not just as a player, but as a person who embodies the values of Texas A&M.”
 
The Burlingame, California, native impresses offensively, as she ranked second on her team in kills after tallying 250 on the year, averaging 2.21 per set and hitting at a .323 percent clip. She eclipsed double-digit kills on nine occasions, setting her career high at 15 and hitting that number twice versus Navy and Utah State.
 
On the defensive end she also finished the year second in blocks, stuffing 140 swings in her debut campaign. She set her career high of 11 total blocks versus San Diego State and had another 10-block outing versus Montana.
 
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The journey to a national title lasted 10 years for Metropolitan State University of Denver women’s volleyball head coach Jenny Glenn.

When it came down to the final game of the 2025 season, she knew the team had already accomplished a feat far more remarkable than its first NCAA Division 2 championship: They knew themselves not only as players but as people.

“We really pressed into our identity of who we were off the court and who each individual was, and that was just a turning point,” Glenn said. “In the last three weeks of our season, our team played in such freedom, and we didn’t feel the pressure. … When we did that, you saw a team that was kind of unstoppable.”

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Coming full circle

In August, the team attended a retreat in Grand County and visited the same courts where Glenn, a graduate of Middle Park High School, found her love of volleyball.

“We taught our team about what identity is and who they’re created to be, and we spent most of the season identifying who or what each athlete is, and who they were created to be,” she said.

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The women then traveled to Middle Park High School and West Grand High School to host camps for local students — a full-circle moment for Glenn, she said, and an opportunity to give back to the community that shaped her.

A Granby native, Glenn has been coaching the Roadrunners for the past decade leading up to their first national championship win against nine-time winner Concordia University St. Paul.

She was a three-sport athlete in high school and played volleyball for Middle Park, with her father, Jim Glenn, as head coach. Her father and sisters’ love of volleyball fueled her own, but she also received support from her track coach Paul Quere and her high school PE coaches Cal and Tammy Cherrington, she said.

Her mentors instilled a sense of identity within her — something she wanted her players to cultivate for the 2025 season. At the August retreat, she taught her players about self-discovery and finding their unique role on and off the court.

“This season, each person had a role,” she said. “It really was all of us — all 14 players plus our staff — really operating out of who they were created to be. That was really cool.”

Championship season

In addition to a strong identity, the Roadrunners came out of the season with a strong track record: The team finished with 32 wins, the most in program history. Glenn’s overall winning percentage and conference winning percentage are the best in team history.

“Since I’ve gotten here, we’ve set our sights on the national championship,” Glenn said. “We have always said that our goal is to win a national championship, but we also wanted to do it the right way.”

The team had been working its way up the rankings since Glenn came on as head coach. In 2020, it finished fourth in the final division poll and took the No. 3 spot in 2021 and 2022.

After five years of getting beat out at the Sweet 16 stage, this year was the team’s first time making it to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Championship and Glenn’s first time since she played volleyball for Truman State University.

MSU Denver won three of four sets at the Dec. 13 championship match. The winning point of the final game, in which the Roadrunners defeated their opponent 25-21, was scored by junior Megan Hagar, an outside hitter who stepped in after the team’s sole senior player Annika Helf was sidelined by a knee injury in the quarterfinal.

At a press conference after the win, players applauded Hagar’s willingness to fill in for her injured teammate, adding that Glenn’s leadership and dedication to the team were crucial to securing the title.

“I am so deeply proud of her that she just stayed in throughout the entire season, and she got the fruit of that,” teammate Skyler Michael said about Hagar, who was also named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Helf, an all-American player, stayed supportive on the sidelines, cheering on Hagar and the team as they moved on to the semifinals and, eventually, the championship game. She credited Glenn’s unique coaching style as a key factor in the team’s success.

“Lots of coaches are focused on performance, and to have a coach that is focused on making us good human beings and knowing who we are, it’s just amazing,” Helf said at the press conference.

Looking back on the season, Glenn credited her players’ inner work for their outward success. The ability to tell the team’s story on a large scale has been a blessing, and now that the championship is over and won, she said she looks forward to recharging and regrouping before planning for next season.

“The trophy is awesome, but I’m just so proud of who these women are,” she said. … “We’ve already won in knowing who we are.”

PRESS RELEASE: UK ATHLETICS

The Kentucky Volleyball team announced the signing of outside hitter Morgan Gaerte on Wednesday afternoon, who joins the Wildcats with two years of eligibility remaining on her clock.

Gaerte comes to Lexington after spending the first two years of her career at Notre Dame, where she was named First Team All-ACC after the 2025 season and honorable mention on the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association All-America list for this year, as well. She was a team captain for Notre Dame and a member of the AVCA Midwest Region’s first team. 

This season, she started all 28 matches and logged 497 kills for the Irish, the most by any Notre Dame player in the rally-scoring era (2008-pres.) and third-most overall in all scoring eras. Gaerte averaged a mammoth 4.64 kills per set and had 10-plus kills in 22-straight matches to kick off the UND season, the second-longest streak in program history for Notre Dame. 

Standing at six-foot-five, she hails from Angola, Indiana where she graduated from Angola High School while being ranked as the No. 5 player in the nation by Volleyball Magazine in 2023 and first team all-state for Indiana in 2022 and 2023. She is majoring in Sports Marketing. 

For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB. 

The journey was long.

The tournament was a gauntlet.

The ending was unforgettable.

Texas A&M volleyball sits atop the college volleyball world after winning the national championship in Kansas City on Sunday.

A group of nine seniors, an impact transfer and talented youngsters bought into the vision of a third-year head coach and reached the mountaintop… faster than Jamie Morrison originally thought!

Let’s look back on the highs (of which there are many) and lows from the 29-4 campaign, which ended with a trophy ceremony under a shower of confetti.

10. “Voldemort weekend”
Any complete story includes both the good and the bad. For A&M, there were way more wins than losses as the Aggies dropped just four matches all year.

Half of those came during a Tuesday-Wednesday back-to-back in Dallas and Fort Worth.

A sweep from top-10 SMU and a marathon loss at No. 15 TCU just so happened to be a blessing in disguise for a squad that started the season ranked No. 8 and ultimately fell to No. 14 in the AVCA rankings.

“I thought that changed the tone of our season,” Morrison said months after those September defeats. “It was a wake-up call. We need to dial into things that make us us. We need to hold each other accountable every single day.”

Re-centered and re-focused, the Aggies won 21 of their next 23 sets to carry a seven-match winning streak into an Oct. 8 date with No. 3 Kentucky.

9. Reed’s first-ever top-10 match
At 4-0 in SEC play, A&M set up a heavyweight battle with one of the league’s best as No. 3 Kentucky came to Aggieland in early October.

The Wildcats entered at 10-2 with September losses to No. 1 Nebraska and No. 7 Pittsburgh.

Reed welcomed the fifth-largest crowd in program history as 4,469 turned out to watch the Aggies take the first set, 25-21.

However, Kentucky rallied to win the next three, including a 27-25 clincher to hand A&M its only regular-season loss in SEC play.

“I’m a little disappointed and really cut up right now that we couldn’t put that to five,” Morrison said then.

When the two teams met again, A&M wouldn’t need four sets, let alone five.

8. The winning streak
From Oct. 12 through Nov. 23, the Maroon & White looked invincible as they won 11 consecutive matches and swept eight conference opponents in the process.

The dominant stretch helped A&M finish a perfect 8-0 away from Reed in SEC play and reach the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in Savannah.

Oh, and it also included a pair of top-20 victories, the first of which came on…

7. Halloween in Aggieland
Morrison & Co. showed signs of the build back in 2024 when they waltzed into Austin and upset No. 7 Texas in five sets for their first victory at Gregory Gym in 23 years.

When the Lone Star Showdown shifted back to Aggieland on Oct. 31, 2025, the archrivals treated a program-record 9,801 to another five-set classic at Reed Arena.

Kyndal Stowers hit .400 with 22 kills to lead the way. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla had nine blocks. Maddie Waak dished out 46 assists.

In the end, A&M’s victory over No. 2 Texas served as the program’s highest-ranked win since 1995 as well as a message to the rest of the country.

“A lot of people fear Texas’ logo, and I don’t think that’s the case anymore,” Morrison said. “We proved we can beat them on a national stage. This is huge for our program.”

6. Selection Sunday
At 23-4 and 14-1 in the SEC, A&M was handed a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament by the selection committee…in No. 1 overall seed Nebraska’s region…that also featured 2024 national runner-up Louisville.

“I think our RPI system is broken,” Morrison said after winning it all. “I don’t think our seeding was correct. I think we were probably No. 5 or No. 6 (nationally).”

Their national ranking — No. 6 — would’ve equated to a No. 2 seed.

Additionally, the same TCU team that beat the Aggies in September was sent to College Station for the second round.

As is often the case when committees are involved, A&M was underseeded, but they clearly took that as fuel to ignite a postseason fire.

5. A program-record FOUR (4) All-Americans
Starpower shined throughout the year and then was honored in the postseason as AVCA recognized Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Logan Lednicky, Kyndal Stowers and Maddie Waak as All-Americans.

Cos-Okpalla became A&M’s fourth-ever first-teamer, while Lednicky earned a second-consecutive second-team honor.

Waak, the nation’s leader in assists per set entering the postseason, was recognized on the third team after becoming the first Aggie setter since 2019 to have back-to-back 1,000-assist seasons.

And last but certainly not least, Stowers — who might be the best story in sports right now — went from being out of volleyball altogether following a medical retirement at Baylor to becoming a second-team All-American. She was at her best in the NCAA Tournament, with double-digit kills in A&M’s final five matches.

4. Morrison recognized as the National Coach of the Year
Sticking with postseason accolades, the AVCA honored the Aggie head man just hours before the program’s Final Four match vs. Pittsburgh.

At that time, A&M was already enjoying a historic season with a 27-4 record to represent the most wins in the rally-scoring era and the most since 1999.

“I am honored to receive this award and accept it on behalf of our outstanding university, athletic department, athletes, coaching staff, fans and everyone who works tirelessly within our program,” coach Morrison said. “This recognition is the result of a true collective effort, and I could not be prouder of the people I work alongside or the place I am fortunate to call home.”

Little did he know that a historic 2025 was a few days away from becoming legendary.

3. Reverse sweep of Louisville
Friday, Dec. 12, gave birth to the “Why Not Us” mantra that became synonymous with the 2025 national champions.

As the story goes, when A&M was down 2-0 and staring elimination in the face, Ava Underwood’s and Logan Lednicky’s boyfriends took a trip to the concession stand in search of something — anything — to change the momentum.

Why not, right?

Facing the 2024 national runner-up, the Aggies won a hard-fought third set to stay alive, 25-23. With a 25-18 win in the fourth, they forced a decisive race to 15.

Stowers, who had back-to-back points to stave off defeat in a 23-23 third-set deadlock, clinched both the fourth and fifth sets to send A&M to its first Elite Eight since 2001.

As the mysterious piece of paper next to A&M’s bench prophesied: Something great did happen and was about to happen again.

2. Knocking off Nebraska
Nobody — literally, nobody — had gone into Lincoln’s Bob Devaney Sports Center and defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers on their home floor in over 1,000 days.

That changed on Dec. 14 in one of the sport’s more shocking upsets in recent memory.

Nebraska, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, was 33-0 with 28 sweeps to its credit. Prior to the dance beginning, the Huskers were given a 55.5 percent chance to win it all.

A&M didn’t care. Was their victory miraculous? Perhaps, but instead of David vs. Goliath, it was more Goliath vs. Goliath’s stronger, lesser-known sibling.

The Aggies won the first two sets, stunning the Big Red crowd of 8,650. Even when Nebraska rallied back and won an exhausting 37-35 fourth set, the Ags never blinked. Instead, their grit and resolve reached a higher level.

As she so often had throughout her incredible career, Lednicky’s 24th and final kill of the match clinched a 15-13 fifth-set victory and punched A&M’s ticket to the program’s first Final Four.

Despite being the overwhelming championship favorite, Nebraska represented the first of three consecutive No. 1 seeds vanquished along A&M’s path to the national title.

“I don’t think it’s been the greatest upset in the history of sport,” Morrison said. “It was a really good volleyball team that put the work in at the right time of year, cared about each other, decided we were going to go grind. We were not going to back down from everybody.

“For us, we don’t consider it an upset because we consider ourselves really, really good. We played with a chip on our shoulder to try to prove it to everybody.”

1. Cos-Okpalla cues confetti in KC
During the second set of the national final, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla became A&M’s all-time leading blocker with the 653rd of her career. She’d finish with 655.

But that wasn’t her crowning moment.

On the third championship point of the day, an Emily Hellmuth dig led to a Waak set for one of three attacking options, but the ball didn’t go to Lednicky or Stowers.

The 6-foot-2 senior from Flower Mound rose high above the net as if suspended for a moment that will live forever in Aggie lore.

“I figured if I got the ball, I’d put it away,” she said. “I knew once I got set, I’m putting it away regardless.”

Known for her stoic presence after monster blocks or emphatic kills, the ever-calm Cos-Okpalla finally let it all out as her teammates rushed the floor with confetti raining down and thousands celebrated the Aggies.

Hugs, tears and trophies — all hard-earned — represented a monumental achievement: The first team in history to sweep back-to-back matches in the Final Four on the road to immortality.

A banner and championship rings will follow. The Aggies finished the job, completing a build to prominence that only took three seasons.

“It’s so amazing to be able to see the fruition of our work now,” Morrison said. “For all of them, they wanted to build something, be a part of something, go out on top with a national championship, I’m just really happy.

“When I’m sitting in the locker room just staring off, our staring off in a distance, it’s a mixture of disbelief and absolute joy they’re getting to see the work they put in pay off.”

In just three years, Ella Thompson went from never playing organized volleyball to committing to a top-25 NCAA Division I program.

But it wasn’t like she started from scratch.

With a father and two older siblings who were NCAA track and field athletes, Thompson had competed in that sport for most of her life.

When she began playing volleyball in the eighth grade, her track and field skills translated perfectly into her new favorite sport.

After all, when you combine the leaping ability of a high jumper with the arm speed of a javelin thrower, you might get an elite outside hitter in volleyball.

That’s exactly what Thompson is.

The senior capped her high school career by leading Camas to its third consecutive state trophy. Thompson was named to the Class 4A all-tournament team after helping the Papermakers place fifth.

1. Maddy Siegrist – 7,052 points

Maddy Siegrist capped her second AU season by setting league single-season records with 7,052 total leaderboard points and 3,540 win points. The 2025 champion became the first player in AU Pro Basketball history to surpass 7,000 leaderboard points in a single season while leading the league with 780 MVP points.

Siegrist started all 12 games and matched the league record with 11 Game MVP certificates, including six MVP 1 recognitions. She opened the season with 11 consecutive Game MVP honors, marking the longest streak by a player in any Athletes Unlimited sport. She averaged 24.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while shooting 54.0 percent from the field.

2. Odyssey Sims – 6,595 points

Odyssey Sims made her second consecutive runner-up finish and became the third player in any Athletes Unlimited sport to earn medalist honors three times. The All-Defensive Team member started all 12 games and led the league with 3,115 stat points while ranking second with 660 MVP points.

Sims maintained the league-high 25.5 scoring average, the third-highest mark in AU Pro Basketball history. She also led the league in assists (78), free throws made (78), and fouls drawn (67). She broke the AU Pro Basketball single-game record by collecting 941 leaderboard points in an MVP 1 performance against Team Bradford on February 15, when she posted a career-high 41 points.

 

3. Crystal Bradford – 5,304 points

Crystal Bradford finished third in the league with 5,304 leaderboard points and earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team. She appeared in all 12 games with nine starts and became the first player in AU Pro Basketball history to average a double-double in multiple seasons.

Bradford led the league with 18.3 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, along with eight double-doubles and 31 steals. She erupted for a career-high 38 points against Team Sims on February 27 while shooting 13-for-29 from the field and knocking down an AU single-game record 10 three-pointers.

4. Maya Caldwell – 4,860 points

Maya Caldwell secured fourth place in her Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball debut with 4,860 leaderboard points. She started in all 12 games and posted a 7-5 game record, including a 2-1 mark as team captain during Week 3.

Caldwell ranked seventh in the league with a 15.6 scoring average and 6.6 rebounds per game. She surpassed 500 leaderboard points in six separate games and finished the season with a streak of seven consecutive double-digit scoring performances.

5. Ty Harris – 4,468 points

Ty Harris earned Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball Newcomer of the Year honors after ending her first season in fifth place with 4,468 leaderboard points. She had a 7-5 overall record, including a 3-3 mark in two weeks as team captain.

Harris ranked eighth in the league with a 15.5 points per game scoring average and tied for the league lead with 27 made three-point field goals. She opened her AU career by earning MVP 3 honors and a season-high 714 leaderboard points against Team Bell on February 5 after nailing 8-of-11 field goal attempts for 26 points.

6. Elizabeth Williams – 4,427 points

Elizabeth Williams earned All-Defensive Team honors and placed sixth in league standings with 4,427 leaderboard points. She started in all 12 games and led the league with 16 blocked shots while ranking fifth with a 7.1 rebounding average, adding 9.3 points per game.

Williams posted five double-digit scoring performances, including all three games during Week Two. She scored a season-high 14 points versus Team Siegrist on February 14, while making 7-of-10 field goal attempts.

7. Lexie Brown – 4,405 points

Lexie Brown earned seventh place with 4,405 leaderboard points while ranking fifth in the league with 1,675 stat points. She made 12 starts and scored double figures 11 times, including two outings with 20 or more points. She ranked fifth in the league by averaging 16.0 points per game.

Brown ended the season with a streak of 10 consecutive double-digit scoring performances and ranked third in the league with 22 steals. She tallied a season-high 24 points versus Team Siegrist on March 1 while claiming MVP 2 honors.

8. Isabelle Harrison – 4,383 points

Isabelle Harrison completed her fourth AU Pro Basketball season with 4,383 leaderboard points to earn eighth place. She ranked fourth in the league with a 17.6 scoring average and third in rebounds by grabbing 8.3 per game.

Harrison scored in double figures in 10 of 11 games, including four outings with 20 or more points. She closed the season with six consecutive double-digit performances, averaging 19.7 points per game during the streak with three double-doubles. Her season-high 27 points came in an MVP 3 performance versus Team Harris on March 1.

9. Kia Nurse – 4,254 points

Kia Nurse opened her Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball career by earning ninth place with 4,254 leaderboard points. She registered nine double-digit scoring outings, including a pair of 20-point performances, and ranked eighth in the league by averaging 15.8 points per game.

Nurse tallied a season-high 35 points against Team Siegrist to begin Week Two, claiming MVP 2 honors after knocking down 11-of-22 shots from the floor. She ended the season with an MVP 2 nod after scoring 16 points, including the game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds against Team Siegrist.

 

10. Bria Hartley – 4,175 points

Bria Hartley completed her first AU Pro Basketball season by earning 10th place with 4,175 leaderboard points. She ranked third in the league with seven Game MVP awards and started all 12 games while logging nine double-digit scoring performances.

Hartley averaged 15.1 points per game and ranked third in the league with 51 assists. She scored a season-high 26 points with eight assists in the season finale versus Team Sims while earning MVP 3 recognition, and received Game MVP honors in all three contests during Week Two.

 

AU Pro Basketball returns to Nashville, Tennessee, with elite talent and electrifying energy, for its fifth championship season on February 4, 2026, at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. Tickets for the upcoming season are available now.

Siera Jones is the digital media reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Instagram and X @sieraajones.