October 27, 2000
The 21st-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team earned its 10th Big 12 win of the season, sweeping the Oklahoma Sooners 15-4, 15-5, 15-9 Friday before 1,351 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The win was the Aggies' 28th in a row at home, extending the school record set earlier this season. A&M (15-5, 10-3 Big 12), which has won seven of its last eight matches, remained in sole possession of second place in the league with the victory.
"I thought the team executed really well, especially early in the match," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. "Switching players in and out makes it harder to get into a rhythm, but it had to be done. You have to keep everyone game ready. Overall, I was really pleased with the effort."
The Aggies cruised to a 15-4 victory in game one, out-hitting the Sooners .405 to .077 in the process. Senior outside hitter Erin Gibson led A&M with five of her match-high 18 kills in the first game. With senior middle blocker Heather Marshall back to serve for the game, redshirt freshman middle blocker Tara Pulaski put down a kill past the OU defense for the decisive point.
A Marshall kill began a six-point Aggie run to start game two. Oklahoma got no closer than four points early before the A&M lead ballooned to eight at 13-5. Pulaski and senior setter Claire Harvey teamed on a block of a Logan Pierce attack to move the Aggies within one of the win. A long rally on the game's final point ended when Carolyn Kittell's attack went into the net, giving A&M the 15-5 victory and the 2-0 match lead heading into the locker room.
Oklahoma (6-14, 1-11) came out after the break fired up, opening up a quick 5-1 lead in game three thanks in large part to solid play at the net. Following an A&M timeout, the Aggies rallied to tie the match at five on a Marshall kill. After the teams traded sideouts, A&M rattled off five straight points to go up 10-5. The Sooners closed to within four at 12-8 before the Aggies responded with points off an OU attack error and a Gibson kill to serve for the match. After Oklahoma scratched out another point, a bad pass by Kittell went out of bounds and gave A&M the 15-9 win.
Gibson recorded her seventh-consecutive double-double of the season, posting 16 digs to go along with her 18 kills. Marshall was second on the team with 13 kills and posted a .524 hitting percentage, while junior outside hitter Michelle Cole led all players with 19 digs. Cathy Cook was the leading attacker for the Sooners, hitting .406 on the night with 14 kills.
For the match, the Aggies out-hit Oklahoma .348 to .121 and out-dug the Sooners 70 to 52. OU won the war at the net, out-blocking A&M seven-and-a-half to five.
Following the match, Corbelli was honored by the Texas A&M Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as its 1999-2000 Head Coach of the Year. Corbelli, the all-time winningest volleyball coach in school history, earned the award on a vote by the A&M student-athlete body.
Texas A&M returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 1 when the Aggies travel to Boulder to face the Colorado Buffaloes. First serve at the Coors Events Center on the CU campus is set for 8 p.m. (CST).
"Colorado always comes to play tough against us," Corbelli said. "We have the weekend to rest, get ready and refresh, and that's really important right now. I think the team will be fired up, very sharp and very ready to go."