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Jamie Morrison and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie volleyball team open the 2025 season on Monday with a neutral-site showdown vs. No. 11 Minnesota in the AVCA First Serve. We’re looking ahead to the upcoming campaign with our 2025 Texas A&M Volleyball Preview Series.
Ranked No. 9 by the AVCA, Texas A&M volleyball is set to start the 2025 season with the new addition of exceptional talent.
Boosted by the No. 7 nationally-ranked signing class, Jamie Morrison’s Aggies continue to assemble standouts to add to an ensemble of star power.
The five incoming true freshmen — Addi Applegate, Megan Fitch, Taryn Morris, Kirra Musgrove and Djurdja Stanojevic — are being guided to play a significant role now and beyond to ensure that this isn't a one-and-done program.
"Our program has been and will always be about development," Morrison said. "I think that's the thing that's gotten us here, and it's not going to change from that just because expectations are higher. I think development leads to championships, and that's over time and in individual seasons."
"Our program has been and will always be about development. I think that's the thing that's gotten us here, and it's not going to change from that just because expectations are higher. I think development leads to championships, and that's over time and in individual seasons."
Development is the core philosophy behind Morrison's strategy of running a volleyball program. In his vision, the 2025 recruiting class is an investment in success.
The foundations of this coaching philosophy are consistency and growth. The longer the staff sustains this player development structure, the greater the program's exponential growth will be.
"Across the board, we have 17 athletes on our team, and they're all going to be treated fairly evenly, as we're here to develop you both as a human being and as a volleyball player, and I think that's how you go about that," Morrison said. "You make sure that people aren't feeling like they're giving feedback and they're moving along in the right direction because that is the present and the future."
Morrison's approach also accounts for the unexpected as seasons change, roles evolve and injuries happen. Through it all, the plan stays the same — keep going and keep growing.
Based on the incoming class’ extensive resume, the five freshmen seem to be a natural fit into Morrison’s system.
Texas A&M’s five freshmen
#2 Addi Applegate - L/DS - Yorktown, IN
Arriving from Yorktown, Ind., Applegate is one of two new recruits from outside of Texas. At Yorktown High School, she became the program’s all-time digs leader with 2,015. During her senior year, she helped lead the team to the Indiana High School State Championship.
Applegate played club volleyball with Munciana as well, where she earned All-American honors and was a key piece of the team that won a Junior Volleyball Association national championship. She also participated in the USA Volleyball’s National Team Development Program.
“Yorktown is a really competitive program with a lot of amazing athletes that go on to play in the Big Ten and the SEC,” Applegate said. “My club is also five minutes down the road from Yorktown, so I think Munciana helped a lot, too.”
“It doesn’t really matter what age you are when it comes to helping your teammates as much as possible. I want to learn as much as I can and grow as a player.”
Additionally, Applegate seems to know how her role will already fit into Morrison’s development philosophy in 2025.
“I’ve talked to Jamie about being more vocal and being a leader in the back row, even though I’m a freshman,” Applegate said. “It doesn’t really matter what age you are when it comes to helping your teammates as much as possible. I want to learn as much as I can and grow as a player.”
#20 Megan Fitch - OH - San Antonio, TX
Coming from Cornerstone Christian in San Antonio, Fitch has proven herself to be a consistent offensive threat. She recorded over 1,000 career kills in high school, where she was ranked as the No. 4 player and No.3 outside hitter in Texas by Prep Dig. She appeared on the High School Volleyball Player of the Year Watchlist by MaxPreps and was named an All-American.
Fitch played club volleyball with Alamo, where she helped lead the team to the 2022 USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships 15 Open title. She continued to progress each year as she was consistently invited to the Under Armor Next Camp Series from 2022-2024, as well as the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program in 2022 and 2023.
With three senior outside hitters, the Aggies expect Fitch to grow into a long-term offensive threat.
#6 Taryn Morris - OH/OPP - Little Elm, TX
A native of Little Elm, Texas, Morris played both outside and opposite at Braswell High School. At 6-foot-3, she distinguishes herself by being the tallest recruit in this Aggie freshman class. Her playing style stood out as she was listed as an All-American by Prep Volleyball.
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Taryn Morris is among A&M’s tallest players, joining Emily Hellmuth, Logan Lednicky and Taylor Humphrey as Aggies who stand at 6-foot-3.
In the club volleyball world, she helped lead Drive Nation to the USA Volleyball National Qualifier title. Furthermore, she helped Texas Advantage secure a top-five finish at the USA Volleyball Nationals. Additionally, Morris was invited to attend the USA National Team Development Program in 2022.
Morris’ versatility fits well with the team’s competitive playing style, which challenges players to adapt under pressure.
#14 Kirra Musgrove - S - Houston, TX
Joining the Aggies from Houston, Musgrove has already proven herself to be a natural leader on the court. At Lutheran South Academy, the No. 24 nationally-ranked recruit racked up 2,030 assists, 1,854 kills and 1,271 digs across her high school career. Her hard work is evident in her decorated resume that includes being named the 2023 VYPE Private School Setter of the Year, a Prep Volleyball All-American, District MVP and Varsity Team MVP, as well as being included on the 5A State Championships All-Tournament Team twice.
Additionally, she played club volleyball for Houston Skyline, where she helped lead them to a third-place finish at the USA Volleyball Junior National Championship in 2022.
In the national team world, she was selected to the U19 Women’s National Team training roster in 2024. She has been consistently involved with the USA National Team Development Program since 2021.
#7 Djurdja Stanojevic - MB - Belgrade, Serbia
All the way from Belgrade, Serbia, the 6-foot-1 Stanojevic was a driving force behind her club team, OK Tent, that received gold medals at both the Serbian Super Cup and the Serbian Cup in 2024. On top of that, OK Tent earned two silver medals at the respective championships in 2023. She ended up recording 130 kills, 89 blocks and 45 service aces during her stint with her club team.
Will Huffman, TexAgs
Djurdja Stanojevic officially joined Texas A&M’s roster on April 25, 2025.
Stanojevic has also represented Serbia as a member of the national team for the European Championships at the U17, U18 and U20 levels.
Morrison first experienced Stanojevic’s playing style when he coached the United States U19 team in 2023. Team USA faced Serbia in a match, and Morrison was highly impressed by her blocking efficiency.
Development beyond 2025
With nine seniors on the roster, Morrison has strived to ensure the freshmen have a smooth transition process without getting overwhelmed.
“One of the things I learned from the professional world was to focus on transitions,” Morrison said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges in an athlete’s life — going from high school to college — so we’ve been really cognizant of that, so I think that transition has gone well. We’ve tried to slow those moments down to make sure those transitions happen, and I think the freshmen have acclimated really well to being a piece of a team.”
Applegate reinforced this attitude and assured that she and the other newcomers are being eased into playing at a collegiate level.
“Playing with a level of maturity and keeping that pace off the court has been really helpful with the transition into college,” Applegate said. “The seniors have been helping me with classes and not only volleyball, but with life, school and time management, so it’s been awesome to have them.”
The mentorship system that is a part of Morrison’s program allows the incoming talent to grow naturally and not burn out immediately, helping the Aggies form long-term success.
“You want to create a layerable process that is sustainable and creates long-term success, and I think that’s the way you do things year-to-year. That’s the way we train, the way we integrate freshmen into our program, and then there’s the recruiting piece that comes along with that. That’s your lifeblood that you got to go after.”
The high ranking for the 2025 recruiting class serves as proof that Morrison’s goal of A&M reaching sustainability is becoming more inevitable than ever.
“You want to create a layerable process that is sustainable and creates long-term success, and I think that’s the way you do things year-to-year,” Morrison said. “That’s the way we train, the way we integrate freshmen into our program, and then there’s the recruiting piece that comes along with that. That’s your lifeblood that you got to go after. The only ranking that really matters is the one at the end of the year.”
To Morrison, sustainability for an athletic program is more than the type of player you are.
It’s about your growth as an individual.
“We try to create sustainable patterns with things that are happening year-to-year,” Morrison said. “It’s continuing to fill up our program with good human beings that are athletically able to play the game at a high level, and then I think we can develop them. Development is long-term. Talent takes time, and we’re going to take the time to make sure we develop everybody within this. If you can develop within, all of a sudden you're going to have sustained success.”
This freshman class is a part of an endurable blueprint that will carry the program through this era and beyond.
Applegate, Fitch, Morris, Musgrove and Stanojevic serve as another of the many building blocks in what will hopefully be a dynasty designed to last.
“We were Jamie’s [full] first recruiting class, so I think the staff took a lot of time with our really talented group,” Applegate said. “I’m really excited to see what we’re all going to do this year.”
The freshmen class will experience their first regular-season matchup on Aug. 25 for the AVCA First Serve against No. 11 Minnesota.
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