September 06, 2000
Senior middle blocker Heather Marshall posted a game-high 12 kills and had a career-high .632 hitting percentage to lead the 18th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team to a 15-11, 15-9, 15-5 victory over the Houston Cougars Wednesday before 1,255 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The victory extended the Aggies' home winning streak to 21 matches, four wins shy of breaking the school record. A&M suffered its last loss at home on Nov. 1, 1998.
"For this game being the home opener and being very early in the season, I was extremely pleased," said Aggie head coach Laurie Corbelli, who has never lost a home opener in her eighth season at A&M. "I've been in a lot of first home matches where the team had jitters and nerves. This group handled it beautifully."
Playing in front of a vocal crowd, A&M (2-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game 1 and matched Houston the rest of the way to post a 15-11 win. The Cougars got as close as 11-9 before the Aggies took advantage of two UH attack errors to pull away.
Game 2 again saw the Aggies take an early lead, as a strong attack led by junior outside hitter Michelle Cole put A&M up 5-1. A service ace and two kills earned Houston a tie at 5-5, but two kills and a block by freshman middle blocker Tara Pulaski helped A&M to four consecutive points and a 9-5 lead. Following a timeout, the Cougars (2-1) closed to 10-8 before Cole and Pulaski powered the Aggies to a 15-9 win and a 2-0 match lead at the intermission.
"I was very pleased with our transition game tonight," Corbelli said. "We wanted to have our middles available and wanted them to be used a lot. Our first touch tonight was very good, and the setters were able to get the ball to everyone."
A&M came out of the locker room and picked up where they left off, hitting a blistering .560 in the third game while holding Houston to a .097 hitting percentage. The Aggies jumped out to leads of 6-0 and 12-2 before closing out the match with a 15-5 third-game win.
Pulaski hit .364 on the evening and was second on the team in kills with 11. Jennifer Wittenburg and Stephanie Heiskell led Houston with 11 kills each.
The Aggie defense shut down the Cougar attack, outblocking UH 12-3 for the match. Pulaski finished with a match-high seven blocks, while Marshall added five. Senior defensive specialist Christy Clark led the way with 12 digs, and junior outside hitter Erin Gibson tallied 11.
"I want us to be the best blocking team that we can be," Corbelli said. "The team knows how serious I am, and they want that too. That's very encouraging."
Texas A&M returns to action this weekend when the Aggies travel to Austin for the Longhorn Classic. A&M meets Pac-10 member Washington on Friday at 5 p.m., then faces 1999 NCAA Tournament participant Eastern Washington on Saturday at 5 p.m. A&M opens Big 12 play next Wednesday at Missouri.
"I see a lot of room for improvement," Corbelli said. "It's encouraging that we played that well tonight and still have a lot of room to improve."