September 18, 2001
In a tightly contested match in which each of the first three games were decided by the minimum two points, No. 16 Texas A&M pulled out a 30-32, 31-29, 30-28, 19-30, 15-10 victory against the Houston Cougars tonight at Hofheinz Pavilion.
“I can’t put a finger on it, but somehow we pulled it out,” A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. “We couldn’t get into our rhythm, and they outhit us, outblocked us and outplayed us but we still came away with the win. That says a lot about our fight and determination.”
Houston (3-5) outhit the Aggies, .301 to .179, for the match and also outblocked A&M 16-9. The Aggies, who had swept the Cougars in the second match of the season, were led by Erin Lechler’s 21 kills. Michelle Cole, who had 18 kills, posted a match-high 17 digs to give her 1,016 for her career, and Jenna Moscovic recorded a triple-double wih a career-high 12 kills, 50 assists and 14 blocks.
Jennifer Wittenburg led the Cougars with a match-high 31 kills, and Jenny Tanneberger added 22 kills along with a match-high eight blocks.
With the score tied at eight in the first game, A&M outscored the Cougars 11-4 to take its largest lead of the game at 19-12. A&M maintained a six-point lead at 25-19 when Houston rallied for five unanswered points to get within one, 25-24. A&M scored on a Cougar attack error, but Houston then recorded back-to-back kills to tie the score. The teams exchanged points with the last tie coming at 30-30. An Aggie kill error and ball handling error gave the Cougars a 32-30 win.
Houston overcame a six-point deficit in the second game and eventually took the lead at 27-26 on a kill by Loure Dews. The teams exchanged points, tying the score on every other play. A&M’s Erin Lechler posted one of her seven kills in the game to tie the score at 29, and a kill by A.D. Achilefu on an errant pass by Houston gave the Aggies the lead. Achilefu then teamed with Brandi Mount to block Jane Anne Karasek’s attack to give A&M the win and tie the match at one game apiece.
There were 17 ties in Game 3, the last one coming at 28-28. Lechler put down a kill and followed it with an ace to give A&M a one-game lead.
Houston never lost the lead in the fourth game while holding A&M to a .024 hitting percentage but the Aggies regroup and hit .318 in the deciding game for the victory.
The score was tied at five in the final game when A&M scored on back-to-back kills by Achilefu and another kill by Lechler. Houston got within one, 8-7, when the Aggies rallied for three more points and an 11-7 lead. Houston could not overcome the deficit, and Melissa Munsch and Moscovic teamed for a block for the match winner.
The Aggies (7-1) open Big 12 Conference play at Missouri on Saturday. First serve is at 7 p.m. at the Hearnes Center in Columbia. The Aggies tied Kansas State and Missouri for second place in last year’s conference race with a 14-6 record.