September 24, 2000
The 23rd-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team tied a school record by winning its 24th-consecutive home match on Sunday, sweeping the Texas-Pan American Broncs 15-3, 15-5, 15-1 in just over an hour before 781 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies, whose last loss at home came on Nov. 1, 1998, can break the record on Wednesday, Oct. 4 when they play host to Iowa State.
"The streak was another big goal for us," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We don't want to lose at home, and the team wants to protect this as long as they possibly can. We love being in G. Rollie White-we think we have a great home court advantage."
The Aggies' attack was flawless in the first game, notching 14 kills with no attack errors en route to a .438 hitting percentage and a 15-3 victory. After a Yvonne Garcia kill tied the game at one for the Broncs, A&M scored the next 12 points to go up 13-1. Pan Am would score twice more before Cynthia Kasper's attack was long, giving the Aggies the win.
Texas-Pan American rallied from an early 3-0 deficit in game two to tie it at four. Led by its pair of true freshmen, middle blocker Carol Price and outside hitter Beth Skypala, the Aggies scored the next six points to put the game out of reach. Senior setter Claire Harvey served an ace-one of her five on the afternoon-to close out the 15-5 game-two victory.
Harvey served A&M to a quick 9-0 lead to start game three. The Broncs scored on an Aggie attack error before the Aggies closed out the match by scoring the next six points, the last coming on a kill by senior defensive specialist Christy Clark.
Skypala, from Amarillo, Texas, led all players with a career-high 10 kills. Price, from Fenton, Mich., put down a career-best seven kills and hit .778 on the afternoon. Sophomore outside hitter Julia Rex set a career high of her own with seven kills. Seeing the first action of her career was redshirt freshman outside hitter Rebecca Wynalda, who posted a kill in five attempts.
"We were hoping to get to play some of the younger players," Corbelli said. "The team was very well prepared to make this a team-oriented afternoon. We were able to get everyone on the court and not skip a beat. Each player did a superb job of keeping up their own level of intensity."
As a team, the Aggies out-blocked UTPA six to zero and out-hit the Broncs .409 to .010. A&M also notched eight service aces, a season best.
A&M takes Wednesday off from Big 12 play before they return to action on Saturday when they travel to Lincoln to face the No. 1-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. First serve at the Nebraska Coliseum is set for 2 p.m.