October 18, 2000
Laurie Corbelli became the all-time winningest coach in Texas A&M volleyball history as the 25th-ranked Aggies posted their first win in Austin since 1979 with a 15-9, 16-14, 14-16, 16-14 victory over the Texas Longhorns Wednesday before 2,653 fans at Gregory Gymnasium.
Corbelli moved ahead of Terry Condon in the all-time standings with her 181st victory. The eighth-year head coach sports an all-time mark of 181-65-0 and a winning percentage of .736.
"To get the career record and to beat Texas for the first time in Austin are two great things," Corbelli said. "I don't think it's sunk in quite yet. I'm happy to set records for this school that I'm so proud of."
Four school records fell in the historic, nearly three-hour long victory. Junior outside hitter Brandi Mount set a school mark for kills in a four-game match with 30 en route to hitting .614 on the night. Junior setter Jenna Moscovic dished out a record 88 assists as well. As a team, the Aggies set new marks for kills (109) and assists (104).
"Brandi came in tonight and really lit up our offense," Corbelli said. "She helped with our antenna-to-antenna attack. I've never seen a right-side player play like that on my team."
An even first game was broken open midway through when the Aggies scored five unanswered points to go up 12-7. A&M scored twice more on a block solo and a kill by Mount to serve for the early match lead. The Longhorns fought off five game points before a kill error by Kathy Tilson gave the Aggies the 15-9 win.
Sophomore outside hitter A.D. Achilefu's powerful jump serve broke open a 4-4 tie early in game two, rallying A&M to a 9-4 lead. The Longhorns came storming back and jumped ahead at 12-11 on an Amy Hultgren kill. Tilson tacked on two more kills after a timeout, putting UT at its first game point of the match. The Aggies rallied to tie the game at 14-14 on an Erin Gibson kill sandwiched between two Texas attack errors, then went ahead on a block by Moscovic and Heather Marshall. Marshall put down a Moscovic set on a backslide to give the Aggies the come-from-behind 16-14 win.
The Aggies exploded out of the locker room in game three, building leads of 8-0 and 11-3. Texas rode the arm of outside hitter Gipy Duarte and the help of several Aggie service errors to rally back and tie the score at 13. A Gibson kill had A&M serving for the match, but Duarte connected again to regain serve. UT tied the match on an Aggie attack error, went ahead on a Kathy Hahn kill and took the 16-14 win on a service ace by Katia Lara.
Riding the momentum of their dramatic come-from-behind win in game three, the Longhorns jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth game. The teams remained stuck there as they traded 15 sideouts before Tilson broke the stalemate with a kill to increase the lead to six. A&M began a comeback of its own down nine at 12-3, scoring nine of the next 10 points to pull within one at 13-12. Lara posted another service ace, moving the Horns within one point of a fifth game. Mount regained serve for the Aggies with a big kill, and another A&M kill followed by a block tied the game at 14. Cole connected on a big kill to give the Aggies match point again. UT fended off two match points before a Tara Pulaski kill gave A&M the 16-14 win and the match.
Along with the school marks set, A&M also saw several personal bests fall. Gibson's 28 kills was a new personal best as was Marshall's 23. Moscovic tied a career mark with 10 kills. For the match, A&M out-hit Texas .325 to .264 and out-blocked the Horns 13 to 11.
"Overall, both teams had to fight at different points in time to come from way behind to earn the wins," Corbelli said. "In the third and fourth game, I think the reality of where we were combined with Texas figuring us out somewhat started to creep in. We had to remind ourselves in game four that we were the team that was up because we were playing like we were down. We changed our mindset and fought hard to win it, and I'm most proud of that."
A&M looks to increase its 26-match home winning streak on Saturday when they play host to the 24th-ranked Missouri Tigers. First serve at G. Rollie White Coliseum is set for 7 p.m.