December 02, 2000
The 7th-ranked Pacific Tigers won their 20th straight match on Saturday night, eliminating the 23rd-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team from the NCAA Championships with a 17-15, 15-9, 15-8 victory over the Aggies in second-round action before 1,670 fans at the Alex. G. Spanos Center.
The Aggies, making their eighth-straight trip to the NCAAs under head coach Laurie Corbelli, end the season at 20-9. UOP improves to 28-3 on the year and advances to next week's Mideast Regional in Madison, Wis.
"We couldn't get into our rhythm tonight and that kind of threw us off a bit," Corbelli said. "At some points tonight we looked like the team that we could be, but we missed too many serves and I thought our passing really held us back. When you're playing against a very strong team those things can't happen on your court very often if you want to have a chance to win."
The host Tigers edged out A&M 17-15 in a hard-fought, 40-minute first game. The Aggies opened up a 6-2 lead before UOP came storming back to take its first lead of the match at 7-6 on an Elaine Goeders kill. Three consecutive Tiger attack errors and a Brandi Mount kill put A&M back on top at 10-7. Pacific tied the score at 11, then went up by one on a kill by Jamie Hamm. The Aggies battled from behind again to serve for the game at 14-13. UOP scored the next two points to serve for the game themselves, but a Heather Marshall kill tied the score. Hamm put down another ball and, when a Michelle Cole attack went wide, the Tigers got the win.
"I thought we went after this team as best we could given our ball-handling problems," Corbelli said. "They ran a quick attack and handled the ball very well tonight. That makes it tough to defend against those types of hitters. When we got good swings and got outside their block we saw a lot of success."
A&M couldn't find a rhythm in the second game, falling behind 6-1 early. A.D. Achilefu came off the bench for the Aggies and sparked the team to a five-point rally, tying the game at six. The Aggies would eventually lead 8-6 on a Jenna Moscovic kill before Pacific rattled off four points to regain the lead. A&M would score just once more before Kara Gormsen served UOP to a 15-9 win.
UOP again used a strong start to jump ahead 5-0 in game three. The Aggies would tie the game at five with Moscovic on the service line and again at six on a kill by Cole. The Tigers fought off the A&M rally, however, scoring the next six points to take a commanding 12-6 advantage. A UOP attack error would pull the Aggies as close as five points at 13-8, but a Tiger service ace and a kill by Jennifer Joines, one of her game-high 16 on the night, ended the match.
Erin Gibson led the Aggies with 13 kills on the night. Marshall and Mount were also in double figures in kills with 12 and 11, respectively. Redshirt freshman Tara Pulaski, playing in her home state, hit .412 with nine kills and four blocks. Joines added to her 16-kill performance by hitting .467 and tallying five blocks for the Tigers. Hamm and Danielle Shinn each posted double-doubles for UOP.
Pacific out-blocked the Aggies 15 to seven and hit .253 to A&M's .214. Six of the Aggies' season-high 12 service errors came in the first game.
"I think we allowed them to be good on blocking," Corbelli said. "With our passing off, our attack was predictable, and they took a lot of court away from us. Jenna (Moscovic) did the best she could with the passes that brought her off the net, and our hitters did the best they could with what they got."