Friday, August 28
Morgantown, W.Va.
6 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
UTRGV
Volleyball Opens 2026 Season with UTRGV in the Country Roads Challenge
August 27, 2026 10:32 AM | Volleyball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University volleyball team opens its 2026 campaign this weekend in the Country Roads Challenge at Hope Coliseum. The Mountaineers begin the three-match event on Friday, Aug. 28, welcoming Texas Rio Grande Valley to Morgantown for a 6 p.m. first serve.
Friday's season opener will feature First Serve Night, with fans also receiving a free team autograph book and the opportunity to win a swag pack raffle.
Due to construction around Hope Coliseum, the Gold Gate will be closed throughout the weekend. Fans attending any of the three matches are asked to enter through the Blue Gate.
The Country Roads Challenge continues Saturday, Aug. 29, with a matchup between UMBC and UTRGV at 3 p.m. Saturday's match will not be ticketed.
The weekend concludes Sunday, Aug. 30, when West Virginia takes on UMBC at noon. Sunday's match will feature Sundae Scoops, with fans able to purchase tickets at WVUGAME.com.
Entering her third season as the program's head coach, Jen Greeny guided the Mountaineers to 15 victories in 2025, WVU's highest win total since 2021. West Virginia returns seven letterwinners from last season's squad, including five starters. Ten newcomers are set to make their Mountaineer debut this fall, including eight freshmen. The roster also features four international student-athletes from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Germany.
Four players return who appeared in 100 sets or more in 2025. Redshirt senior setter Alexis Finnvold is the Mountaineers' leader in assists and service aces. Finnvold finished 2025 as the only player nationally with three consecutive matches with five or more service aces and top 20 in the nation (No. 2 in the Big 12) in total service aces (52).
WVU's 2025 kills leader, senior outside hitter Nina Horning, enters year two in Morgantown after totaling 324 at 2.84 kills per set and 383.5 points last season. Horning also ranked second on the team with 35 service aces and added double-digit kills in 19 matches.
2025 All-Big 12 Second Team recipient senior opposite Trinity Sheridan returns after finishing 318 kills at 2.79 kills per set and ranking second in points with 360.5, while adding 71 total blocks. She brings 342 sets of experience across 91 career matches.
Four-year senior Maddy McGath is the longest-tenured Mountaineer on this year's squad. She led WVU in hitting percentage, sporting a .331 with 192 kills in 2025.
Friday's matchup marks just the first-ever meeting between West Virginia and UTRGV. Todd Lowery is in his 12th season as the head coach at UTRGV. He has collected a 605-172 overall record through his 23 seasons as a head coach. In 11 seasons with the Vaqueros, Lowery holds a 189-136 record. UTRGV is coming off a 22-8 record in 2025 after falling in the Southland Conference Championship to top-seeded Stephen F. Austin.
There's still time to purchase season tickets ahead of the 2026 season opener. Pricing is set at $75 + fees. All season tickets will be sold as general admission only. Get them by visiting WVUGAME.com.
Single-game tickets also are available to purchase in advance by visiting WVUGAME.com or calling 1-800-WVU GAME. When purchasing online, tickets are $12 each.
New for the 2026 season, all student tickets for WVU's Olympic sports will transition to mobile delivery. Students will now be required to log in to their WVUGAME.com account to reserve a student ticket for each home athletics event. For Olympic sports, there is no request process. Students will simply log in to their account using the single sign-on functionality, navigate to the sport of the event they would like to attend and reserve a ticket.
Daniel Woods and Sam Bailey have the call of Friday's match on ESPN+, and live stats are available at WVUsports.com.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUVolleyball on Facebook, Instagram and X.
Friday's season opener will feature First Serve Night, with fans also receiving a free team autograph book and the opportunity to win a swag pack raffle.
Due to construction around Hope Coliseum, the Gold Gate will be closed throughout the weekend. Fans attending any of the three matches are asked to enter through the Blue Gate.
The Country Roads Challenge continues Saturday, Aug. 29, with a matchup between UMBC and UTRGV at 3 p.m. Saturday's match will not be ticketed.
The weekend concludes Sunday, Aug. 30, when West Virginia takes on UMBC at noon. Sunday's match will feature Sundae Scoops, with fans able to purchase tickets at WVUGAME.com.
Entering her third season as the program's head coach, Jen Greeny guided the Mountaineers to 15 victories in 2025, WVU's highest win total since 2021. West Virginia returns seven letterwinners from last season's squad, including five starters. Ten newcomers are set to make their Mountaineer debut this fall, including eight freshmen. The roster also features four international student-athletes from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Germany.
Four players return who appeared in 100 sets or more in 2025. Redshirt senior setter Alexis Finnvold is the Mountaineers' leader in assists and service aces. Finnvold finished 2025 as the only player nationally with three consecutive matches with five or more service aces and top 20 in the nation (No. 2 in the Big 12) in total service aces (52).
WVU's 2025 kills leader, senior outside hitter Nina Horning, enters year two in Morgantown after totaling 324 at 2.84 kills per set and 383.5 points last season. Horning also ranked second on the team with 35 service aces and added double-digit kills in 19 matches.
2025 All-Big 12 Second Team recipient senior opposite Trinity Sheridan returns after finishing 318 kills at 2.79 kills per set and ranking second in points with 360.5, while adding 71 total blocks. She brings 342 sets of experience across 91 career matches.
Four-year senior Maddy McGath is the longest-tenured Mountaineer on this year's squad. She led WVU in hitting percentage, sporting a .331 with 192 kills in 2025.
Friday's matchup marks just the first-ever meeting between West Virginia and UTRGV. Todd Lowery is in his 12th season as the head coach at UTRGV. He has collected a 605-172 overall record through his 23 seasons as a head coach. In 11 seasons with the Vaqueros, Lowery holds a 189-136 record. UTRGV is coming off a 22-8 record in 2025 after falling in the Southland Conference Championship to top-seeded Stephen F. Austin.
There's still time to purchase season tickets ahead of the 2026 season opener. Pricing is set at $75 + fees. All season tickets will be sold as general admission only. Get them by visiting WVUGAME.com.
Single-game tickets also are available to purchase in advance by visiting WVUGAME.com or calling 1-800-WVU GAME. When purchasing online, tickets are $12 each.
New for the 2026 season, all student tickets for WVU's Olympic sports will transition to mobile delivery. Students will now be required to log in to their WVUGAME.com account to reserve a student ticket for each home athletics event. For Olympic sports, there is no request process. Students will simply log in to their account using the single sign-on functionality, navigate to the sport of the event they would like to attend and reserve a ticket.
Daniel Woods and Sam Bailey have the call of Friday's match on ESPN+, and live stats are available at WVUsports.com.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUVolleyball on Facebook, Instagram and X.
Players Mentioned
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