October 22, 2001
Brandi Mount posted a season-high 22 kills and Michelle Cole tallied a career-best 32 digs as the 14th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team won a battle for second place in the Big 12 Conference Monday with a 30-28, 23-30, 34-32, 30-25 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats before 800 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies improve to 15-3 on the year and finish the first half of Big 12 play at 8-2. Meanwhile the Wildcats, who are winless in six tries in College Station, saw their three-match win streak snapped as they fell to 11-6 and 7-4 in league action.
The Aggies never trailed in the first game, hitting .340 en route to a 30-28 victory. A&M jumped out to an early 5-1 lead before K-State rallied to pull within one at 7-6 on an Aggie ball handling error. Three Liz Wegner attack errors and a ball handling error by Jayne Christen, however, forced a Wildcat timeout with A&M leading 12-6. KSU would fight back several more times, cutting Aggie leads to two at 13-11 and later to one at 20-19. Holding a two-point lead at 23-21, a kill by Mount and a Jenny Pollard attack error put A&M within five points of the win at 25-21 and forced another K-State timeout. The Wildcats held off the Aggies' first game point, as a Gabby Guerre service ace shaved A&M's advantage to one at 29-28, but Jenna Moscovic ended the comeback by scoring on a setter dump for the win.
Twelve ties and six lead changes highlighted an entertaining game two that saw Kansas State pull away late for a 30-23 victory. K-State, which hit .364 in the frame, went on a 12-5 run to end the game. After a Tara Pulaski kill cut the Wildcat lead to one at 22-21, back-to-back slams by Lisa Mimick and Pollard put KSU back up by three and forced an Aggie timeout. The teams traded errors before two more K-State kills gave the Wildcats a 27-22 lead. Following another A&M timeout, Pulaski notched a kill before a Guerre kill and back-to-back kills by Wegner sent the match into intermission tied at one.
Holding a 13-10 advantage in the third game, the Aggies went on a 6-2 run that ended on a Melissa Munsch kill and forced a K-State timeout at 19-12. Two Wildcat kills and two Aggie errors, however, pulled KSU back within three points. A&M would keep a five-point lead until K-State went on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 23-23. The Aggies would hold on to the lead, as a Pollard attack error and back-to-back kills by Mount -- the first ending the longest rally of the game -- gave A&M some breathing room at 26-23. KSU battled back yet again, pulling within one before another one of Mount's eight kills in the game made the score 27-25. After a Cole attack hit the end line and had the Aggies serving for the game, kills by Cari Jensen and Wegner tied the game again at 29-29. The teams would sideout six straight times before Lechler and Mount blasted kills off the Wildcat block to give A&M a 34-32 victory.
Texas A&M jumped out to a 6-1 lead to start Game 4, making Kansas State burn an early timeout. Trailing 15-9, the Wildcats went on an 8-1 run paced by three Jensen kills to take their first lead of the game at 17-16. With the game knotted at 19-19 and Mount on the service line, the Aggies rattled off four straight points to grab the lead for good at 23-19. K-State would get no closer than two points at 25-23, and a block by Pulaski and Mount would give A&M the 30-25 victory.
For the match, the Aggies edged the Wildcats in hitting percentage (.218 to .215) and assists (74 to 73). K-State out-dug A&M 106-105 and out-blocked the Aggies 9.5 to seven.
Mount led A&M with her 22 kills and a .354 hitting percentage to go along with nine digs. Lechler posted 17 kills and 20 digs, while Cole had 12 kills to go along with her 32 digs. Munsch added a team-high four blocks to go along with a career-best 20 digs.
Mimick also notched 22 kills and added 18 digs to lead the Wildcats, while Wegner (18 kills, 22 digs) and Goehring (11 kills, 15 digs) each posted double-doubles. Six K-State players posted double figures in digs on the night. Christen led all players with five blocks.
Texas A&M returns to action on Wednesday when the Aggies travel to Boulder to battle the 24th-ranked Colorado Buffaloes (11-5, 6-3). First serve at the Coors Events Center is set for 8 p.m. (CDT).