MARSHALL, Texas — The No. 14 East Texas Baptist University volleyball team will open its 2025 season this weekend at the Pikes Peak Challenge, hosted by Colorado College. ETBU will play four programs in Colorado in Edgewood College, #22 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Colorado College, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point, in which three made the 2024 NCAA Division III National Tournament.
 
The reigning American Southwest Conference champions begin play Friday, Aug. 29, against Edgewood at 1 p.m. in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Edgewood, the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference champion, finished 24-10 last season and reached the NCAA Tournament first round.
 
Later that day, the Tigers will face No. 22 Wisconsin-Eau Claire at 3:30 p.m. The Blugolds went 21-9 in 2024, advancing to the NCAA second round, and feature assistant coach Alex Berger, recently named to the AVCA Thirty Under 30 list.
 
ETBU will face host Colorado College on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 1 p.m. The Tigers last faced Colorado College on Sept. 1, 2018, falling in three sets in Colorado Springs. Colorado College reached the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference quarterfinals last season. ETBU holds a 1-3 record against Colorado College. In their most recent win in 2015 in Marshall, head coach Mallory Matthews, who was an outside hitter on that team, led the Tigers with 14 kills and three aces.
 
The Tigers will close their time at Pikes Peak Challenge by facing Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 3:30 p.m. The Pointers came up just short in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the 2024 season. 
 
Matthews, the reigning ASC Coach of the Year, enters 2025 with five returning All-ASC players — Graycee Mosley, Anita Hancock, Lexi Moody, Callie Humphrey, and McKenzie Mansell. Mosley is the three-time ASC MVP, Moody was the 2024 ASC Setter of the Year, and Humphrey the ASC Newcomer of the Year. ETBU's senior class includes five players: Mansell, Humphrey, Taylor Poore, Mosley and Moody. Five of the six have been four-year starters for the Tigers.
 
ETBU posted a 29-match streak last year that ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They carry a 26-match regular-season home winning streak and a 25-match regular-season win streak into 2025. The Tigers have not lost a regular-season home match since 2022, when they fell 3-2 to LeTourneau. Matthews is 3-0 in season openers entering her fourth year as head coach.