No. 9 Texas A&M volleyball looks to contend for SEC title
Texas Avenue resembles Manassas, Virginia, in the winter, and Lot 100 has started to fill faster than Target on Black Friday. Nearly 73,000 Aggies and their loved ones have made the annual journey back to Aggieland.
An exhilarating season is set to begin just off of Wellborn Road. Residing in the cauldron of Reed Arena, Texas A&M volleyball enters the 2025 season ranked ninth in the nation.
Coming off of an incredible season that produced a Sweet Sixteen berth, coach Jamie Morrison’s team has set its sights on even more. The Aggies return 12 players from the 2024 team, including the majority of the past year’s production.
A trio of returning seniors will be key to the success of the program this season.
Junior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky— the Maroon and Whites’ best player last season — is sure to turn heads this campaign. Having already received All-SEC Honors three times, Lednicky is a savvy veteran. Registering 492 kills last season, she acted as the Aggies’ offensive engine. In order to match or exceed the results of last season, the Fightin’ Farmers will need another spectacular season from their star.
Despite her smaller stature and defensive role, coach Morrison will be thrilled to have senior libero Ava Underwood back for her senior season. Having spent the majority of her time in College Station anchoring the back row, it is reasonable to expect another high-quality campaign for Underwood.
It remains to be seen if she will be able to match her nearly 400 kills from last year, but like Lednicky, the Maroon and White will need another stellar season from their stopper to reach the pinnacle of success.
The third veteran poised to be an impact player for the Aggies is senior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla. The Flower Mound native is a force to be reckoned with near the net and was crucial to the Fightin’ Farmers’ efforts on offense and defense.
With a spectacular hitting percentage of .374, 228 kills and 161 blocks, Cos-Okpalla stuffs the stat sheet at borderline Russell Westbrook levels — and it’s extremely rare in college volleyball to have a player who excels in all three areas on a roster.
What makes the Fightin’ Farmers special is having both an offensive juggernaut in Lednicky and a dominant force at the net in Cos-Okpalla. However, the plethora of front-line riches does not end there.
A talented redshirt sophomore and outside hitter, Kyndal Stowers made her way down Highway 6 to join the Maroon and White from in-state rival Baylor. Stowers, who had an impactful but injury-riddled season for the Bears, brings a dynamic threat to the lineup.
Texas’ former No. 1 ranked high school player is an athletic force. Despite her comparative inexperience, Stowers has the opportunity to provide a boost to the Aggies that was missing last season.
While the Maroon and White’s lineup appears fearsome on paper, they will have an opportunity to prove its dominance early in the season. To open the campaign, the Aggies take on the No. 11 Minnesota Golden Gophers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Soon after, coach Morrison’s team travels to take on three other nationally-ranked teams. First, No. 23 Utah in Salt Lake City, then to Dallas-Fort Worth to take on No. 10 SMU and No. 25 TCU.
The grueling schedule does not end there. In the Southeastern Conference, which hosts four top 25 teams, easy games will be difficult to come by. Fortunately for the Aggies, three of these showdowns will occur in College Station. Taking on No. 15 Texas, No. 7 Kentucky and No. 17 Missouri with the support of the Reed Rowdies will vastly increase the likelihood of a victory. Visiting No. 16 Florida in Gainesville, Florida, will certainly be a challenge, but the Fightin’ Farmers should feel lucky to only have one ranked SEC road trip.
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