November 15, 2000
The 23rd-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team hit a season-high .431 while soundly defeating the Baylor Bears, 15-3, 15-2, 15-4, before 894 fans Wednesday at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The win improves the Aggies' record to 17-7 on the year and 12-5 in Big 12 play, while Baylor falls to 14-13 overall and 7-11 in the league. A&M has just three regular-season matches left before the 64-team NCAA Tournament field is announced on Nov. 26.
I'm very proud of our performance," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. "This is a really important part of the season for us. This match tonight in a positive way really sets a great tone. The team had fun and was relaxed.
"Baylor is tons better than what they showed tonight. Some of that was due to us and some due to themselves. We kept attacking and were rarely on the defensive. We worked hard to slow down some of their key attackers."
The Aggies stormed out of the gates in game one, scoring the first 11 points of the match before Baylor finally got on the board. With A&M leading 13-2, middle blocker Heather Marshall tallied a kill, putting the Aggies in position for the victory. The Bears fought off five game points and scored once before a Sunny Nicholas attack hit the antenna, giving A&M the 15-3 win.
Strong play at the net in game two bolstered A&M to a quick 8-0 lead and an eventual 15-2 win. The Aggies outblocked Baylor seven to one in the game, hitting .500 while holding the Bears to a -.062 percentage. Following a BU timeout at 13-2, A&M closed out the game with a service ace from senior outside hitter Christy Clark and a block of a Tatiana Kenon attack by Marshall and junior outside hitter Michelle Cole. Marshall's block was one of a match-high eight for the senior from Carrollton, Texas.
A&M did not let up the pressure in the third game, hitting .467 en route to a 15-4 victory and the match sweep. A&M held leads of 5-1 and 11-2 before Baylor scored twice to cut the lead back to seven. With junior defensive specialist Beth Weynand serving and the Aggies leading 14-4, Kenon's attack went into the net to end the match.
The Aggies out-hit Baylor .431 to .088 and out-blocked the Bears 13 to four on the night. Baylor's Stevie Nicholas led all players with a match-high 14 kills. A&M was paced by Marshall and junior outside hitter Erin Gibson with 12 kills each.
Texas A&M completes the road portion of its regular-season schedule on Saturday when the Aggies travel to Lubbock for a pivotal match-up with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. First serve at the United Spirit Arena is set for 7 p.m.
"We'll go in and give them all we've got," Corbelli said. "Our team knows it's a huge challenge to go into Tech and beat them at home, and we want to take on the challenge of what they have to offer."