MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The first weekend of the 2026 season for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team will be a challenge – a Country Roads Challenge, in fact. 
 
UTRGV opens the season with a pair of matches in Morgantown, West Virginia at Hope Coliseum as part of West Virginia's Country Roads Challenge. The Vaqueros will meet the hosting Mountaineers at 5 p.m. (CT) Friday in both teams' season openers. This will be the first meeting between these two programs. 
 
Saturday at 2 p.m. (CT) the Vaqueros will face the UMBC Retrievers for just the second time in program history. These teams last met in Sept. 2021 in a match won, 3-2, by UMBC in Fort Worth. 
 
Opening up against a Power 4 opponent in West Virginia will be a valuable test for a Vaqueros squad still searching for its identity. Yes, UTRGV returns five key pieces from a 2025 team that won the regular season Southland Conference (SLC) Championship and reached the championship match at the conference tournament. But a new setter will be running the offense and several new arms will be trying to work their way into the mix. 
 
UTRGV expects defense to keep it the early matches close as the offense sorts itself out. The Vaqueros return two of the four top blockers in the SLC in Julianna Bryant and Aaliyah Snead, and freshman Jasmyn Walker has added valuable depth in the middle blocker position. Senior libero Celianiz Cabranes anchors a sturdy back row defense that has been bolstered by the addition of freshman defensive specialist Dunja Stankovic. 
 
A sound defensive effort will go a long way to keep the Vaqueros competitive in West Virginia. The Mountaineers return four key pieces from 2025, including their kills leader in Nina Horning and an All-Big 12 honoree at opposite in Trinity Sheridan. The Retrievers also return their top hitter from 2025 in Jalynn Brown, an All-Conference First Team selection. UMBC won the America East championship last season and was picked as the favorite to repeat in the preseason poll.