College Volleyball Coaches Weigh In On Scheduling Competitive Games Early

What is the reasoning for scheduling highly competitive matchups early in the season? Several head coaches are using these games to prepare their teams for the grueling NCAA Tournament.

Dec 21, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Texas A&M Aggies opposite hitter Logan Lednicky (9) celebrates after a point is scored in the third set against Kentucky in the 2025 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship at T-Mobile Center.Mandatory Credit: Kylie Graham-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Many teams in the college volleyball sphere are not backing down from including top-ranked opponents in their nonconference schedule.

As volleyball grows on an upward trajectory, coaches are taking the increasing visibility as encouragement to play highly competitive matchups rather than padding their schedules with unranked teams before conference play.

The AVCA First Serve Showcase features 10 teams with eight ranked in the top 25. With matchups between No. 4 Pittsburgh and No. 3 Kentucky, No. 8 Texas A&M and. No. 7 Louisville and more, the opening weekend competition is better than ever.

"I think we need to encourage these types of matchups as much as humanly possible," No. 8 Texas A&M head coach Jamie Morrison said ahead of his team's first game against No. 7 Louisville. "There's this tidal wave forming of support of our sport. The popularity of it is growing and growing and growing, and we need to encourage as many top-25, top-50 matchups as humanly possible. It's something I'm passionate about."

Leaders lead. Hear from @J_Morrison000 @danmeske @UKCoachSkinner and @KellyPSheffield on the importance of top match-ups early in the season, and what that type of competition does for the growth of our sport - and our players. @jeep #AVCAFirstServe @visitmilwaukee pic.twitter.com/nGnBW0D1UC

— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) August 21, 2026

The Aggies have six top-25 matchups in just their nonconference schedule, with four more on the docket for the Southeastern Conference portion of their schedule.

Another Texas team, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns, is facing 11 ranked teams this season, including No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Kentucky.

Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott intentionally schedules difficult games to prepare his players for what's to come in conference and tournament play.

"The goal was to be able to grow throughout the season and build on the amount of work that you put in, and the scheduling and the teams that you played, and then try to peak at the right time at the end of the year," Elliott said on Monday to reporters. "I always come under the philosophy that you've got to play tough. I don't think you get a lot out of playing cupcake teams."

As teams continue to elevate their schedules every year, TV is getting in on the action.

ESPN announced earlier this month that they have slated over 2,400 women’s college volleyball matches across all networks this fall, a record for the media powerhouse. 21 games will be shown on ESPN, with another 100 being televised on ESPN's linear networks.

ESPN serves up its largest @NCAAVolleyball season yet!

🏐 2,400+ matches
🏐 16 matchups ft. the final top 10 teams of 2025
🏐 21 matches on ESPN

The season begins w/@AVCAVolleyball First Serve (Aug. 21, 6p ET, ESPN2)

Schedule: https://t.co/jKkIiJzL8r pic.twitter.com/EKwarFZlLf

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) August 5, 2026

As coaches prepare their teams for tournament play, networks are winning, showing highly competitive matches to a broad audience.

"I think (Kentucky head coach) Craig (Skinner) always schedules pretty hard in the preseason," Kentucky senior libero Molly Tuozzo said. "But I think it only prepares us for the end mentally. If we're just rolling through all these games in the nonconference, then we're not going to be mentally and physically prepared in the end, so I feel like it really helps us in the NCAA Tournament."