DALLAS - The 2026 CUSA Volleyball season officially begins Friday, Aug. 28, with all 10 teams taking the court. Conference play begins Sept. 25 until Nov. 14. The top eight teams will compete in the 2026 CUSA Volleyball Championship in Bowling Green, Ky. from Nov. 20-22.
DOUBLE A BATTERIES RECHARGED
Asia Murray and Anna Logan Gillens are back leading the charge for the Fightin’ Blue Hens. Murray was the 2025 CUSA leader in blocks per set (1.30) and is currently the all-time program leader in career blocks per set at 1.20. Gillens is Delaware’s active leader in kills with 620, she ended the 2025 campaign with a total of 287 kills.
INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTARS
FIU welcomes Head Coach Flavia Siqueira and 15 new additions to the team. Out of the 15, 10 are international players, marking the highest number of international players on the Panthers squad since 2021. Ivona Lazovic, a transfer from Saint Mary’s, hails from Cacak, Serbia. She led the Gaels with 692 assists and 32 service aces.
BACK AGAIN BUT THIS TIME AHEAD
Coach Tim Ebbecke returns to Jax State to lead the program as head coach. Ebbecke was an assistant for Derek Schroeder at Jax State in 2023 and 2024 before taking an assistant position at Marshall for the 2025 season.
BURRAGE IS A BRICK WALL
Olivia Burrage is on pace to shatter every KSU career block record. She is 31 away from the total blocks record, 23 away in block assists and 11 away in block solos. The fifth year currently holds the school record for blocks per set (1.02). The Owls lose more than half of their kills but brings back more than 70 percent of their blocking thanks to Burrage and Maggie Byrd.
IGNITE THE FLAMES
Liberty was picked to finish second in the 2026 CUSA Preseason Poll by the league’s 10 head coaches. The Flames return 86.8 percent of their point production from 2025 into this season. There were 13 matches in 2025 in which key returners Paige Overcash, Carly O’Brien and Jenna Otts all reached double figures in kills, making them an offensive powerhouse coming into the 2026 campaign.
SWEET CAROLINE
The Blue Raiders return graduate student setter, Caroline Macander. The vet led the team in assists (885), assists per set (8.35) and double-doubles (16). Her 16 double-doubles are the most by a Blue Raider in a single season in the rally scoring era. Macander finished fourth in CUSA in assists and assists per set and 10th in digs.
HOMETOWN HEROES
Missouri State has six players from southwest Missouri on its roster, including five from the greater Springfield area. There are two juniors and four sophomores in the group who have history being high school and/or club teammates prior to college.
IT’S FUN TO BE LIGHTHEARTED
NM State’s Maggie Lightheart was tabbed as a 2026 Preseason All-Conference member after being one of the conference’s top all-around performers during the 2025 season. The senior led the Aggies in kills (355), points (445.5) and service aces (59) while adding 263 digs and 54 total blocks across 112 sets played. Her junior season earned her All-CUSA Second Team honors after she recorded 59 service aces, the second-most in a single season in program history.
MONSON BACK FOR MORE
After a stellar freshman campaign for the Bearkats that earned All-Freshman Team honors, Chloe Monson returns after she tallied 434 kills for a 3.65 kill per set average. She reached double figures in kills in 22 matches on the year and had 20 plus on seven occasions, including a career-high 29 kills against Delaware.
KATE RUSHING IN
WKU will look to sophomore setter Kate Rush to replace 2025 Alyssa Cavanaugh Player of the Year and Setter of the Year, Callie Bauer. Rush played in a total of 27 matches and started six, appearing in a total of 64 sets during the 2025 campaign. She helped lead the Hilltoppers to a three-set sweep of No.25 Dayton on Sept. 5 with 31 assists, seven kills, and four total blocks.