UTICA, NY - After making the Empire 8 Conference tournament for the third time in the last four seasons at the end of the 2025 campaign, the Utica University Volleyball team is set to take the court for the first time in 2026, traveling to take on the Morrisville State Mustangs on Tuesday, September 1 before traveling to the Oneonta Invitational to play four games throughout Friday and Saturday.
 
Follow Along: For those unable to attend, live video for Tuesday's matchup can be found here, and live stats here. You can follow along with all four games of the Oneonta Invitational with live video that can be found here, and live stats here.
 
Run it Back: The 2025 season saw Utica finish 13-17 overall, with Megan Wright (Clay Center, KS/Clay Center Community) and Trinity Bailey (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) earning Empire 8 Third Team honors. Wright also earned ECAC Second Team recognition and surpassed 1,000 career digs, while Lauren Jones (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham) became the latest Pioneer to reach 1,000 career assists. Jones was also named an Empire 8 Tomorrow's Leader. Wright and Bailey were additionally recognized as CSC Academic All-District selections.
 
Bench Boss: Josh Higby is entering his sixth season as head coach of the Utica University volleyball program in 2026. He is the fifth head coach in program history and took the reins ahead of the 2021 season. In his first five seasons at Utica, Higby has led the Pioneers to a 63-74 overall record and a 17-30 mark in the Empire 8 while earning three Empire 8 Conference Tournament appearances. Under his leadership, Utica appeared in back to back conference tournaments in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, with a semifinal appearance in 2022. Ryan Everding joins Higby's coaching staff as an assistant coach, after spending the last four seasons as a practice player for the University of South Carolina indoor and beach volleyball teams. 
 
The Road Ahead: The 2026 campaign begins on Tuesday, September 1 and runs through Thursday, November 5, with the 2026 Empire 8 Conference Tournament beginning on November 7 and culminating with the championship on Saturday, November 14th with the winner advancing to the NCAA Tournament. On the docket this season are 17 non-conference games, including three invitationals and a pair of tri matches. Conference play will open on October 2 with the Pioneers traveling to Elmira to take on the Soaring Eagles. The Pioneers will open Miga Court inside of the Clark Athletic Center for the first time this season on September 16 as the team will play host to the SUNY Cobleskill Tigers in the team's annual First Responders Match, supporting the Believe 271 Foundation and first responders with occupational cancer. On Friday, October 16 the team will host its annual Fight for the Cure Match, taking on the Hartwick College Hawks, raising awareness for those fighting breast cancer. 

Key Losses: The Pioneers will enter the 2026 campaign without setter Lauren Jones (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham), and middle blocker Jada Anthony (West Nyack, NY/Clarkstown South). Last season, Jones became the seventh player in Pioneer history to surpass the 1,000 career assists milestone, finishing her career in the orange and blue with a total of 1,239 through her four seasons. Jones was also a force at both the service line and defensively, tallying 47 service aces last season, and 310 digs, amassing a total of 885 through her 103 matches played. Anthony was a staple in the front row for the Pioneers throughout her career, recording a total of 32 solo blocks, and 99 assisted blocks throughout her four seasons as a Pioneer. 
 
Senior Superstars: This season, a pair of Pioneers are set to begin their final campaigns as some of the Empire 8's top performers, in Megan Wright (Clay Center, KS/Clay Center Community) and Trinity Bailey (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham). Last season, Wright, a 2025 Empire 8 All-Conference Third Team selection, was one of the best defenders in the conference, leading the league in multiple defensive categories for the second consecutive season. Racking up 550 digs, en route to her 1,000 career dig, Wright managed a staggering 5.68 digs per set average last season. The Kansas native is poised to break the all-time digs record of 1,490 this season, sitting 246 digs away from shattering the record that was set in 2009. Wright is also returning to the Pioneer attack this season for the first time since the 2024 season, where the then sophomore recorded 187 kills, averaging 2.13 kills per set. Bailey, also a 2025 Empire 8 All-Conference Third Team selection, had a breakout campaign last season, pacing both the Pioneers' attacking front, and the Empire 8. Bailey racked up a total of 327 kills last season, with an average of three kills per set, posting a mark that sat just outside of the top five hitters in the conference. The senior has tallied a total of 489 kills through three seasons, while averaging just under 2.5 kills per set. 
 
Upper Class Heroes: Alicia Ancewicz (Greenlawn, NY/John Glenn), Mackenzie O'Brien (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh), and Elizabeth Hanba (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) make up the Pioneers junior class that is poised to find themselves in bigger roles both offensively and defensively this season. Ancewicz appeared in 20 matches last season, recording a total of 266 assists, a mark that was good for second on the team, averaging 4.16 assists per set, along with 24 service aces on the season. O'Brien registered a team leading eight solo blocks last season, with 36 assisted blocks, for a total of 44 on the season, proving pivotal in the blocking corps that managed a conference fifth best 101 total solo blocks. Appearing in 28 matches, O'Brien also managed 71 kills with 14 service aces. After missing last season due to injury, Hanba is ready to build off of her stellar freshman campaign two seasons ago. In the 2024 season, Hanba racked up 128 kills, averaging over 2.25 kills per set, finding herself on the Empire 8 leaderboard in kills. 
 
Stellar Sophomores: The sophomore class, who got their first taste of playoff action as freshmen last season, has returned to continue to build off of their experience. Carley Herrington, Arianna Williams (North Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili), and Emylie Stanton (Latham, NY/Shaker) lead the pack this season after stellar starts to their careers in the orange and blue. Herrington appeared in all 30 matches last season, collecting 73 kills, 31 assists, and six service aces, along with being a contributor in the Pioneers' blocking corp with a total of 27 blocks last season. Williams appeared in 28 matches last season and cemented herself as a key piece of the Pioneer defense, tallying a total of 44 blocks on the season, with 40 assists, and four solo. Stanton appeared in 25 matches last season, racking up 80 kills, the second best total put forth by a freshman last season, as well as 11 service aces.  
 
Welcome to the U: Head Coach Higby will welcome a pair of new faces to the floor this season in Olivia Kumpon (Binghamton, NY/Susquehanna) and Layla Rice (West Winfield, NY/Mount Markham). Kumpon, a graduate of Susquehanna High School, was a 2024-25 All-Division selection, as well as a 2025-26 STAC All-Conference selection. Rice is a graduate of Mount Markham High School, where she was a two-time Section III Class C Champion, three-time Center State Conference Champion, three-time All-CNY Team selection, three-time Center State Conference All-Star and three-time Scholar Athlete. She was also named Mount Markham Tournament All-Star in 2025 before earning Mount Markham Tournament MVP, All-CNY Player of the Year, League MVP and Team MVP honors in 2026. 
 
A Look at Morrisville: The Morrisville Mustangs finished the 2025 season with a 14-13 overall record and a 4-5 record in SUNYAC play. The Mustangs entered the SUNYAC tournament as the sixth and final qualified team, and were swept by semifinalist New Paltz by a score of 3-0, putting an end to their 2025 campaign. The Mustangs have retained their top offensive threat from last season in junior pin hitter Isabella Eskiera, who brought down a total of 395 kills, and averaged just under 4.5 kills per set. Eskiera was also one of the Mustangs' biggest threats at the service line, totaling a team second-best 43 service aces. Morrisville has lost their biggest defensive piece from last season to graduation in libero Kayle Sheasby, who led the team with a total of 498 digs, averaging just less than five digs per set. All time against the Mustangs, the Pioneers are 5-5 with the last matchup coming in 2024, where the Mustangs defeated the Pioneers in four sets, 3-1 in a neutral site matchup.
 
The Oneonta Invitational: The Oneonta Invitational will take place on Friday, September 4, and Saturday, September 5 inside the Alumni Field House on the campus of SUNY Oneonta. The Pioneers are set to play four games throughout the weekend, beginning with the host Oneonta on Saturday beginning at 3pm, before taking on the first of two matchups this season with the University of Rochester, beginning at 5pm. Last season, the Pioneers and the Red Dragons of Oneota met in the 2025 edition of the Oneonta Invitational, battling through a five set thriller, before the Red Dragons would take the final set by a three point margin, taking the match by a score of 3-2. The Pioneers matchup with U of R marks the first time since 2018 that the two teams have squared off, with the Yellowjackets taking the match by a score of 3-0. Saturday's slate features a matchup against Wheaton College beginning at 10am, and concludes with a matchup against Paul Smith's College beginning at 12pm. The Pioneers have only squared off against the Lyons once during the 2023 season, where the Lyons defeated Utica by a score of 3-1 in a neutral site matchup in the Oswego State Tournament. The final matchup against the Paul Smith's Bobcats marks the first time that the two programs will meet in competition. 
 
Up Next: The team remains on the road, traveling to the Penn State Behrend Invitational, hosted by Penn State Behrend. Game one of the Invitational, against the host, is set for Friday, September 11 beginning at 3pm from Erie, PA.