September 15, 2000
Senior middle blocker Heather Marshall and junior outside hitter Michelle Cole paced a strong Aggie attack to lead the 19th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team to their 22nd-straight home win, a 15-8, 15-13, 15-9 sweep of the Kansas Jayhawks Friday before 1,249 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The home-court victory moves the Aggies (5-3, 1-1 Big 12) to within three wins of breaking the school record. A&M suffered its last loss at home on Nov. 1, 1998.
"Being at home is a big advantage for us, as it is for everyone else in the conference," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. "It's always a much easier task to play well at home. Kansas was coming off a big win (over Colorado on Wednesday) and hadn't lost all year. I think the combination of (the atmosphere at) G. Rollie White and us being on tonight really took them out of their game."
With the loss, the Jayhawks' saw their season-opening nine-game winning streak come to an end. KU (9-1, 1-1) is winless in 10 tries against A&M.
Kansas served to start the match and jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but the Aggies pleased the partisan crowd by scoring the next 12 points to go up by 10. The Jayhawks, led by middle blocker Danielle Geronymo, rallied to cut the lead to 12-6 before A&M scored the next two points on kills by junior outside hitter Erin Gibson. Facing a Game 1 loss, the Jayhawks rallied to score two more times while fighting off eight game points before falling 15-8.
A very competitive Game 2 saw four ties and three lead changes before A&M pulled out a 15-13 victory. Down four points at 11-7, the largest deficit faced by either team in the game, Kansas scored five points in a row on the strength of outside hitter Nancy Bell's arm who finished the match with a team-high 16 kills. After the Aggies regained serve on a Gibson kill, a KU attack error tied the score. Gibson then served an ace and Cole put down a big kill to set up game point. Kansas cut the lead to one on a service ace, but Cole gave A&M the ball back with another huge kill. Freshman middle blocker Tara Pulaski and junior setter Jenna Moscovic blocked KU outside hitter Sarah Rome's attempt down to give A&M the Game 2 win.
Game 3 saw the Aggies keep the momentum gained from their late rally in the previous game, opening up a 10-2 lead. The Jayhawks closed the gap to 11-9 thanks to strong play by outside hitter Amy Myatt and several A&M attack errors before the Aggies rattled off four consecutive points to close out the match.
For the match, A&M out-hit the Jayhawks .358 to .229, a season-best for the Aggies. Cole set a career-high with a .536 hitting percentage (16-1-28), second-best on the team in kills behind Marshall's game-high 17. Junior defensive specialist Beth Weynand set a career-high of her own with 13 digs out of the back row. The Jayhawks were led by Bell and Myatt (15 kills) and defensively by Geronymo and setter Molly LaMere who posted 10 digs apiece. The Aggies out-blocked KU 8 to 2 on the night.
"It's nice to be at home because you can get a clear picture of what you have to work on," Corbelli said. "But, the teams that get better and can get some of those prized road wins will be the ones that have a shot at the championship."
The Aggies will return to the road on Wednesday when they travel to Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners (5-3, 0-0). First serve at the OU Field House is set for 7 p.m. Oklahoma opens conference play this Saturday at Colorado.