The popularity of women’s volleyball has skyrocketed in recent years, becoming the most-played high school girls’ sport. Perhaps fueling this popularity is the recent addition of League One Volleyball, which was created in 2025 to give players more opportunities to play professionally.

Despite this growth at the high school and professional levels, college volleyball probably has the biggest fanbase. Viewership–both in-person and on television–has grown exponentially in the last year, rising almost 40% and averaging 190,000 total viewers each match. 

Just last season, the college volleyball playoffs broke the record for the most overall viewership of college volleyball playoffs, with the semi-finals averaging 1.1 million viewers and the championship bringing in 1.4 million viewers. Of course, schools with successful past seasons and huge fanbases like Nebraska, Texas, and Kentucky usually bring in a big crowd, but this year, there was a team that surprised everyone: the Texas A&M Aggies. Texas A&M’s historic run was nothing short of the Cinderella story sports fans love to see and that I’m excited to tell you about.

Just before Christmas, Texas A&M’s women’s volleyball team made history by being the first team in the program to make it to the Final Four, but they didn’t stop there; they also brought home the national championship! Their road to victory was anything but easy, as they faced three number-one seeds (the aforementioned Nebraska, Pittsburgh, and Kentucky) but overcame the odds to defeat all three.

After a 29-4 regular season, the Texas A&M Aggies met the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Elite Eight. The Huskers are a volleyball powerhouse, finishing the 2025 regular season with a perfect 30-0 record; they also have five national championship titles and hold the world record for the most attended women’s sporting event with 92,003 fans.

The undefeated Huskers hosted the match and were favored to win, making the Aggies the underdog. Texas A&M came out strong, winning the first two matches, but then Nebraska showed why they are a top team and came back to win the next two sets. Although it was not all easy sailing for the Huskers, the fourth set was neck-and-neck, ending with the Huskers winning 37-35. 

The excitement and back-and-forth nature of the fourth set carried into the fifth and final set, where the Aggies won 15-13, just barely moving onto the Final Four and putting the Huskers into the postseason. 

The Aggies then moved on to the Final Four and faced Pittsburgh (30-3). Their big win in Nebraska lit a fire under Texas A&M and gave them the confidence to win in three quick sets. The first set was a close one with the Aggies barely coming out on top with a 29-27 victory, but after that they won 25-21 and 25-20. 

Finally, the Aggies went on to the National Championship, where they faced yet another number-one seed, Kentucky (30-2). As they made their way through tournament play, the Aggies’ refrain was, “Why not us?” This question was now being asked louder than ever. The team that everyone counted out was now fighting for the title of National Champions. 

When the final match of the season began, Texas A&M came out strong, and Kentucky just couldn’t catch up. The Aggies swept the Wildcats in three sets, with scores of 26-24, 25-15, and 25-20 to win the championship for the first time in program history. 

Texas A&M will lose nine seniors after this season, including All-American players such as Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Logan Lednicky, Kendall Stowers, and Maddie Waak), and Emily Hellmuth, who is slated to transfer to LSU to play beach volleyball. These losses could hurt the Aggies’ chances next year, but their historic playoff run and championship have surely brought more attention and funding to the program, so another winning season is still in the cards.