September 13, 2000
Kristen Johnson and Lisa Morris posted 13 kills apiece to lead the Missouri Tigers to their 10th-straight win, a 15-12, 15-8, 15-8 upset victory over the 19th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team before 537 fans Wednesday at the Hearnes Center. The loss snapped a nine-match winning streak for the Aggies against MU, and marked A&M's first defeat at the hands of the Tigers since 1983.
"Tonight's performance was just totally unlike our team," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We just never could get in any rhythm. We had no service receptions of any quality and had key players who couldn't execute, which was contagious for the entire team."
The first game was one of momentum swings, as the Tigers rallied late to take a 15-12 victory. A&M (4-3, 0-1 Big 12) took an initial 7-2 lead before MU scored six unanswered points to go up 8-7. The Aggies responded quickly, rattling off five straight points to go up by four. Following a side out, the Tigers won six points on consecutive serves to reach game point at 14-12. After the two teams traded side outs, Morris put down a kill to give the home team a 1-0 match advantage.
Missouri (10-0, 1-0) fed off their first-game victory to take control of Game 2. The Aggies, paced by junior outside hitter Erin Gibson and senior middle blocker Heather Marshall, held a slim 6-5 lead at the start. MU put together another big rally, scoring the next eight points to take a commanding 13-6 lead. A&M was able to cut the lead to five before the Tigers scored again and served for game point. The teams traded five straight side outs before Tiger middle blocker Krista Johnson notched a kill to give Missouri a 15-8 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.
After falling behind 2-0 early in Game 3, the Tigers again rallied in a big way by rattling off the next 11 points. Up 3-2, Missouri scored points on eight straight serves to pull ahead for good. With MU serving for the match at 14-5, the Aggies were able to rally for three consecutive points before Christi Myers ended the match with a kill.
Gibson led the Aggie offensive attack with eight kills, while Marshall added seven and three players tallied six. Senior defensive specialist Christy Clark posted a game-high 14 digs in the loss. The Tigers out-blocked A&M, 7.5 to 5.5, and outhit the Aggies .241 to .083, a season-low hitting percentage for the maroon and white.
"Missouri played a flawless match," Corbelli said. "They did a super job of exploiting our weaknesses. They have improved their team, the game atmosphere and the program overall. We were their first victims in conference."
A&M will look to rebound when they open the home portion of their Big 12 schedule on Friday against the undefeated Kansas Jayhawks (9-0, 1-0), 3-2 winners over Colorado Wednesday in Lawrence. First serve at G. Rollie White Coliseum is set for 6 p.m.