SMU volleyball is headed to one of the biggest stages in sports.
The Mustangs will play in the inaugural Spikes Under the Lights women’s college volleyball showcase on Thursday, August 27, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The event features SMU, Nebraska, Penn State and Florida in a single-night format with two semifinal matches and a championship final. The matches will be played as best-of-three sets, with a one-million dollar prize pool attached to the event.
For SMU head coach Sam Erger, the invitation is another sign of where her program — and women’s volleyball — are headed.
“We’ve had some success, and I think we’re just supported really well by SMU,” Erger told KRLD. “Obviously, just joining the ACC and having SMU in Dallas being a power conference is a big deal. Dallas is a mecca for volleyball, for juniors volleyball, for youth volleyball. So we’re in the perfect location. And it’s all coming together, I think, in the perfect timing for women’s athletics, and we’re taking advantage.”
The event is being billed as the first women’s college sporting event staged at AT&T Stadium. It also puts SMU in a field with three of the sport’s biggest brands.
Erger said that was part of the appeal.
“They were looking for premier teams to join this event in Dallas,” Erger said. “And of course, you have to have Dallas’s home team be involved in that. So when we were invited, we had to say yes.”
SMU has built real momentum the last two seasons, including top-10 appearances, national television opportunities and NCAA Tournament success. But AT&T Stadium is a different kind of stage.
The format is also different. The event is designed as a fast, made-for-TV showcase, with best-of-three matches instead of a traditional full match format. Erger said the Mustangs’ season will not hinge on the result, but the night still matters.
“This is what when players choose to come to SMU, the kind of opportunities that they expect to have,” Erger said. “We want to be a premier program. We’re obviously rising. We don’t have the same tradition and history that you’re seeing from Nebraska and Penn State and Florida, and that’s amazing that those programs are involved, but I think it’s cool to have a rising program involved as well.”
Erger also sees the event as part of a larger shift in women’s sports.
“I think what we’re seeing is that women’s sports has some entertainment value,” she said. “It has the momentum to draw big crowds. We’ve proven that we can attract large crowds and big events like this. Nebraska had 92,000 at an outdoor football stadium event a few years ago. So, in some ways, we are an entertainment product and a program that we just want to get out there and have girls come out and want to see us.”
The Mustangs are also looking ahead to the new season with a roster Erger says includes “some hometown heroes.”
“With Dallas being such a great hub for volleyball, we are starting to keep some of those hometown stars here, and I’m excited to showcase them,” Erger said. “Every season is its own team, its own story, and I think this group will be really fun and exciting, and the Dallas community should be looking forward to watching them play.”
Tickets for Spikes Under the Lights are already on sale. Erger said she hopes the event draws not just SMU fans, but families from across North Texas.
“If you are parents in the DFW area and your kids play volleyball or really any women’s sport, you really should consider coming out and supporting this,” Erger said. “This is not only just for this event, but for the future of women’s athletics. We’ve really got to get people out and wanting to support these things.”
And Erger believes fans who show up will get a show.
“Honestly, what I believe is that if it’s entertaining, they will come,” she said. “And this is going to be an extremely entertaining, fun event, fun product that people should definitely enjoy.”
