Lion Volleyball Reveals 2025 Schedule

By Lion Athletics

The East Texas A&M University volleyball team unveiled its full schedule for the 2025 season this week.

The Lions enter their fourth season in NCAA Division I, being eligible for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the Division I era and serve as hosts for the Southland Conference Tournament.

In total, the Lions host 12 matches in the Field House during the regular season, including the Lion Invitational on August 29-30, which features East Texas A&M along with Providence, Little Rock, and North Texas.

“We cannot wait to get the season underway! Our non-conference schedule will give us the opportunity to test our team, as it is a tough schedule with three Power Four conference opponents and some teams that have a high RPI,” said third-year coach Joe Morales.

“However, to get to the elite side, we must play tough teams as well as have some rest built in. We scheduled one match a day and in some cases only two a week outside of our home tournament.”

Prior to the start of the regular season, the Lions hold their annual Blue and Gold Scrimmage on August 20 (6:30 p.m.) and welcome UT Tyler for an exhibition match on August 23 (2 p.m.).

The Lion Invitational kicks off the season as East Texas A&M takes on Providence at 1 p.m. on August 29 and Little Rock at 7 p.m. The next day, the Lions play host to North Texas at 2 p.m.

In the second weekend of the season, the Lions head to Phoenix to take part in the Grand Canyon Classic, playing the hosts, Lopes, on September 5 at 7 p.m. mountain time, Northern Arizona at 3 p.m. mountain time on September 6, and Washington State at 11 a.m. mountain time on September 7.

Non-conference play continues September 11-13 with a pair of matches in Fort Collins, Colorado. East Texas A&M faces Colorado State at 6 p.m. mountain time on September 11. The Rams won the Mountain West a year ago and played in the NCAA Tournament.

The trip to Colorado concludes on September 13 against Notre Dame at 1 p.m. Mountain Time. The final stretch of non-conference play starts with a two-match set in Coralville, Iowa, hosted by Iowa on September 19-20.

The Lions play Iowa at 6 p.m. on September 19 and Lindenwood at 2 p.m. on September 20. Lindenwood won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament last season, but competed in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship as it is in the same re-classifying class as East Texas A&M. Both teams are eligible for the NCAA Tournament for the first time this season.

East Texas A&M faces Abilene Christian on September 22 at home to close out non-conference play at 6:30 p.m. The two teams play each other for the 57^th time and first time in Commerce since 2012. The Lions came out on top in a five-set thriller during the 2023 season in Abilene.

The 18-match Southland Conference schedule remains the same for the Lions as announced earlier this year. East Texas A&M plays host to HCU (Sept. 25), UIW (Sept. 27), Nicholls (Oct. 15), SFA (Oct. 23), Lamar (Oct. 25), Northwestern State (Nov. 8), A&M-Corpus Christi (Nov. 13), UTRGV (Nov. 15), while facing A&M-Corpus Christi (Oct. 2), UTRGV (Oct. 4), New Orleans (Oct. 9), Southeastern (Oct. 11), McNeese (Oct. 18), HCU (Oct. 30), UIW (Nov. 1), and Northwestern State (Nov. 6) on the road.

Morales added, “our conference schedule is a better one for everyone with the travel and logistics from the last two years. This will be better for our student-athletes. It will hit a little more extra this year as we are now eligible for the NCAA tournament and that has been the standard from the beginning.”

For the first time since 2019, the Lions will play the conference tournament at home as they host the eight-team SLC Tournament on Nov. 21-23 in the Field House.

The winner of the SLC Tournament receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, which begins on December 4, and Championship Weekend is scheduled for December 18-21 in Kansas City, Missouri.

More information on season and single match tickets for the Lions will be released in the coming days.

2025 LION VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

Date	Opponent	Site	Time
AUG. 20	BLUE & GOLD SCRIMMAGE	COMMERCE	6:30 p.m.
AUG. 23	UT TYLEREXH	COMMERCE	2 P.M.
AUG. 29	PROVIDENCE1	COMMERCE	1 P.M.
AUG. 29	LITTLE ROCK1	COMMERCE	7 P.M.
AUG. 30	NORTH TEXAS1	COMMERCE	2 P.M.
Sept. 5	at Grand Canyon2	Phoenix	7 p.m. MDT
Sept. 6	vs. Northern Arizona2	Phoenix	3 p.m. MDT
Sept. 7	vs. Washington State2	Phoenix	11 a.m. MDT
Sept. 11	at Colorado State	Fort Collins, Colo.	6 p.m. MDT
Sept. 13	vs. Notre Dame	Fort Collins, Colo.	1 p.m. MDT
Sept. 19	at Iowa	Coralville, Iowa	6 p.m.
Sept. 20	vs. Lindenwood	Coralville, Iowa	2 p.m.
SEPT. 22	ABILENE CHRISTIAN	COMMERCE	6:30 P.M.
SEPT. 25	HCUSLC	COMMERCE	6:30 P.M.
SEPT. 27	UIWSLC	COMMERCE	1 P.M.
Oct. 2	at A&M-Corpus ChristiSLC	Corpus Christi	TBA
Oct. 4	at UTRGVSLC	Edinburg	Noon
Oct. 9	at New OrleansSLC	New Orleans	6:30 p.m.
Oct. 11	at SoutheasternSLC	Hammond, La.	Noon
OCT. 15	NICHOLLSSLC	COMMERCE	6:30 P.M.
Oct. 18	at McNeeseSLC	Lake Charles, La.	11 a.m.
OCT. 23	SFASLC	COMMERCE	6:30 P.M.
OCT. 25	LAMARSLC	COMMERCE	1 P.M.
Oct. 30	at HCUSLC	Houston	6:30 p.m.
Nov. 1	at UIWSLC	San Antonio	Noon
Nov. 6	at Northwestern StateSLC	Natchitoches, La.	6:30 p.m.
NOV. 8	NORTHWESTERN STATESLC	COMMERCE	11 A.M.
NOV. 13	A&M-CORPUS CHRISTISLC	COMMERCE	TBA
NOV. 15	UTRGVSLC	COMMERCE	11 A.M.
NOV. 21-23	SLC TOURNAMENT	COMMERCE	TBA
Dec. 4-6	NCAA Tournament-First & Second Round	Campus Sites	TBA
Dec. 11-14	NCAA Tournament-Regionals	Campus Sites	TBA
Dec. 18-21	NCAA Championship Weekend	Kansas City, Mo.	TBA

^EXH – Exhibition Match
¹ – Lion Invitational
² – GCU Classic
^SLC – Southland Conference Match

Featured photo: Lion Volleyball is eligible for the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time this season. | Photo by Lion Athletics