Oklahoma Begins 2026 Season at Texas State Invitational

Friday, August 28

San Marcos, TX

6 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Texas State

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Oklahoma Begins 2026 Season at Texas State Invitational

August 27, 2026 | Volleyball

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Oklahoma volleyball officially opens the 2026 season Friday, Aug. 28, against Texas State at the Texas State Invitational in San Marcos, Texas.

NORMAN - Oklahoma volleyball officially opens the 2026 season Friday, Aug. 28, against Texas State at the Texas State Invitational in San Marcos, Texas.

The Sooners will conclude opening weekend Saturday against Louisiana in a neutral-site matchup. OU enters the regular season following preseason exhibitions against TCU and Kansas State and looks to build on a 2025 campaign that saw the Sooners finish 16-11 overall and 7-9 in SEC play.

WHO'S BACK, WHO'S NEW
Five Sooners return from the 2025 squad, while 10 newcomers join the program for the 2026 season. Ada Awagu, Tekoa Barnes, Carley Butler, Alyssa Flack and Avaya Maga make up the returning group, with eight transfers and freshmen Halle Delince and DaMya Mann rounding out the roster. While two-thirds of the roster is new to Norman, 13 of Oklahoma's 15 players enter the season with previous collegiate experience.

READY TO DIG IN
Oklahoma completely revamped its libero room for 2026 with the additions of transfers Kinsley Singleton, McKenna Brand and Aniya Warren. Brand led UConn with 387 digs and 3.69 digs per set in 2025, while Singleton paced Nevada last season with 361 digs and averaged 3.65 per set. Warren adds Big Ten experience after appearing in 23 matches during her freshman season at Wisconsin. All three are poised to contribute immediately as the Sooners replace their entire back-row rotation from 2025.

SETTING THE TABLE
Oklahoma returns its assists leader from a season ago in sophomore setter Avaya Maga. The Hamilton, Ontario, native dished out 750 assists in 106 sets during her freshman campaign, averaging 7.08 assists per set while appearing in all 27 matches. Maga is one of just five returning Sooners and is joined in the setter room by freshman DaMya Mann, a two-time all-state selection from San Antonio, Texas.

CENTER STAGE
Oklahoma's middle blocker group features a mix of familiar faces and veteran additions, with returners Carley Butler and Ada Awagu joined by transfers Elise Hani and Amaya Tobias. Butler appeared in 21 matches with seven starts for the Sooners last season, while Awagu saw action in seven matches as a freshman. Hani arrives in Norman after starting the final 12 matches of the 2025 season at Washington, averaging career highs of 1.28 kills and 0.92 blocks per set while hitting .265. Tobias adds another experienced presence in the middle after leading Southern Utah with 83 blocks last season.

PIN POINT
Oklahoma will have six options on the pins in 2026 with returners Tekoa Barnes and Alyssa Flack joined by transfers Mari King, Mikala Young and Alaleh Tolliver and freshman Halle Delince. Tolliver brings the most proven offensive production of the newcomers after leading Butler with 382 kills last season, while Flack averaged 2.08 kills per set and hit .283 in 40 sets for the Sooners. Barnes added 91 kills in 87 sets during her freshman campaign, while King and Young bring experience from Marquette and TCU, respectively. Delince rounds out the group after amassing nearly 600 kills and more than 100 blocks during her prep career at John Carroll Catholic in Florida.

NATIONAL EXPOSURE
The national spotlight will shine on the Sooners five times during the 2026 regular season, including four appearances on SEC Network and one on ACC Network. The Sooners will make their first national television appearance on Tuesday, Sept. 8, when they travel to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech on ACC Network as part of the SEC/ACC Showdown at the Net. Four SEC Network appearances follow, beginning with a road contest at South Carolina on Friday, Oct. 2. Oklahoma will host Texas A&M on Wednesday, Oct. 7, for its lone nationally televised home match of the season before closing out its national television slate with back-to-back road matches at Arkansas on Friday, Oct. 30, and Auburn on Sunday, Nov. 1. The Southeastern Conference will once again host a conference tournament, with every round carried across SEC Network and SEC Network+.

BACK IN THE LONE STAR STATE
Oklahoma opens the 2026 season in Texas, the most represented home state on the Sooners' 15-player roster. Four Sooners hail from the Lone Star State in Ada Awagu (San Antonio), McKenna Brand (Lucas), DaMya Mann (San Antonio) and Mikala Young (Dallas), while Florida follows with three in Tekoa Barnes, Halle Delince and Mari King. Oklahoma's roster spans eight states overall, with Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Oklahoma and Washington also represented. Alyssa Flack and Avaya Maga both hail from Ontario, Canada.

THE OPPOSITION
TEXAS STATE: The Bobcats enter a new era in 2026 as they begin their first season as a member of the Pac-12. Texas State finished 17-12 overall and 11-5 in Sun Belt Conference play in 2025, advancing to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals. The Bobcats were one of the league's top blocking teams last season, averaging 2.51 blocks per set, while holding opponents to a .205 hitting percentage. Texas State opens the regular season at home against the Sooners after hosting exhibition matches against Tarleton State and Lamar.

LOUISIANA: The Ragin' Cajuns return 14 players from a 2025 squad that finished 15-11 overall and 7-9 in Sun Belt play, posting the program's fourth winning season in the last five years. Louisiana ranked among the top three in the Sun Belt last season in both kills per set (13.28) and hitting percentage (.238) with five players recording at least 150 kills. The Ragin' Cajuns were picked to finish tied for fourth in the Sun Belt West Division in the 2026 preseason coaches' poll.

SERIES HISTORY
TEXAS STATE: The Sooners lead the all-time series 4-0-1. The two teams last played in 1993, with Oklahoma winning 3-2 in San Marcos. OU has won the last four matchups.

LOUISIANA: Oklahoma carries a 2-1 edge in the all-time series into Saturday's matchup. The two teams last played in 2019 when OU swept the Ragin Cajuns in Norman. Louisiana's last win over the Sooners was on Aug. 31, 2001.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Sooners return to Norman to host the Big Ten/SEC Challenge at McCasland Field House Sept. 2-4. Oklahoma and Ole Miss will represent the SEC alongside Big Ten foes Ohio State and Washington. The Sooners are set to face Ohio State on Thursday at 7 p.m. before taking on Washington on Friday at 2 p.m.