September 07, 2001
The 18th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team used a balanced offensive attack and a solid defensive effort to sweep the Florida State Seminoles, 30-25, 30-18, 30-19, in the opening game of the Verizon Texas A&M Invitational before 1,254 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies (6-0) hit .355 for the match and tallied 61 digs. Two players--Brandi Mount and Erin Lechler--each posted 14 digs and a match-high 16 kills. Michelle Cole had nine kills and a match-high 17 digs on the evening.
"I may be more pleased with this one than any others this year," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said, "simply because we came up against a better team than we've played all year. (Florida State) had a bigger block and harder hitters, and they were just an all around more difficult team to play against. One thing that stood out to me was how intense we stayed for an hour and a half. We just kept going at them. I was just really, really happy with that team effort."
A tight first game saw Texas A&M pull away late for a 30-25 win. FSU claimed an early 5-3 lead before the Aggies rattled off two straight points to tie the score at 5-5. In a game which saw 11 ties and several lead changes, A&M grabbed the lead for good at 17-16 on a kill by Lechler. The Aggies extended their lead to five at 25-20 on a Jenna Moscovic kill. The Seminoles would pull no closer than four points before Lechler ended the first frame with her 10th kill of the game.
A&M broke open the second game very early behind the arm of Cole, who served the Aggies out to a 9-3 lead. Florida State pulled within two at 18-16 on a Norisha Campbell kill, but an FSU attack error and two Aggie kills extended the A&M lead to five. With the score 25-18, Mount stepped to the service line and served out the game, the final point coming off a Tara Pulaski kill.
With the score tied at 6-6 in the third game, Beth Weynand served the Aggies out to a five-point advantage at 11-6 behind a service ace, two A.D. Achilefu kills and another by Moscovic. Holding that same five-point lead at 19-14, the Aggies went on an 11-4 run to close out the match. Mount ended the match with one of her 16 kills.
The Seminoles (1-3) were held to a .159 hitting percentage but out-blocked the Aggies seven to six. Campbell led all FSU players with 15 kills, while Kristin Frye posted a team-high 13 digs.
In other tournament action Friday, 9th-ranked Stanford posted a 30-21, 30-20, 30-17 win over No. 25 Texas.
A&M returns to action Saturday at 7 p.m. when they play host to Olympian Logan Tom and the four-time national champion Cardinal. Texas will battle Florida State in the first match at 5 p.m.
"I think its going to be a super crowd to come and watch a perrenial national power in Stanford," Corbelli said. "And yet, with the state that our team is in, it's just a great time for (Stanford) to come in. It'll just be a great match to see, I'm sure."