SMU faces top-ranked competition at the prestigious AVCA First Serve, launching their 2026 season on a national stage against elite programs.
SMU volleyball isn’t easing into the 2026 season. Instead, the Mustangs are jumping straight into the deep end — on a national stage, under bright lights, with the best teams in the country watching.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association has officially selected the SMU Mustangs as one of eight programs invited to the 2026 AVCA First Serve, a premier season-opening showcase set for August 21-23 at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.
If the venue sounds familiar, it should. Fiserv Forum is an NBA-caliber arena, and AVCA First Serve has quickly become volleyball’s version of an opening-weekend marquee event. Translation: this is not a warm-up.
SMU will be sharing the court with some of the sport’s heavyweights. The 2026 field includes all four 2025 NCAA semifinalists - Texas A&M Aggies, Kentucky Wildcats, Pittsburgh Panthers, and Wisconsin Badgers - along with Arizona State Sun Devils, Louisville Cardinals, and Texas Longhorns.
Every program in the field finished inside the top 12 of the final 2025 AVCA poll, making this less of an invitational and more of a national proving ground.
For SMU head coach Sam Erger, that’s exactly the point.
Erger made it clear this isn’t about exposure alone - it’s about standards. Opening the season against elite competition accelerates growth, sharpens chemistry, and sets the tone for what SMU expects to be in the ACC and beyond. You don’t learn much by tiptoeing. You learn by getting tested.
From a program perspective, the invitation is also validation. SMU has steadily climbed into the national conversation, and events like First Serve confirm that the Mustangs are no longer knocking on the door - they’re being let inside.
There’s also a practical upside for fans.
Tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m. CT through fiservforum.com, and the AVCA is offering a Fan Pack Giveaway that includes tickets, lodging, and meal credit. For supporters looking to turn volleyball into a road trip, Milwaukee in late August isn’t a bad sell.
More than anything, this event sets the tone for SMU’s 2026 campaign. The season won’t start quietly. It will start loudly, competitively, and on one of the biggest stages the sport has to offer - exactly where SMU believes it belongs.