October 24, 2001
No. 14 Texas A&M used a balanced attack and stingy net play to defeat No. 24 Colorado, 30-19, 30-23, 30-24, in front of 983 at the Coors Events Center. The victory avenged a five-game loss to the Buffaloes earlier this season in College Station.
“Everyone was so intense and focused on winning this match,” A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. “I saw it in there eyes, even in the morning practice. They were inspired, especially after losing at home in five games to Colorado earlier this year.”
Freshman middle blocker Melissa Munsch posted 13 blocks – an A&M record in Big 12 matches – as the Aggies tallied a season-high 16 stuffs. Her 11 block assists tied the A&M all-time record for a three-game match.
Colorado jumped out to a 4-1 lead in Game 1, but the Aggies quickly closed the gap and took a 7-6 lead on a kill by randi Mount. The Buffaloes tied the score at 7-7, but Mount posted another one of her match-high 14 kills to give the Aggies a lead they would never lose.
A&M eventually built a game-high 12-point lead at 26-14, but Colorado outscored A&M, 5-1, to get within eight at 27-19. A&M then closed out the game, scoring three consecutive points with Erin Lechler recording the game-winning kill.
The Aggies took a 3-2 lead in Game 2 and held the lead for the remainder of the game as A&M outhit Colorado .387 to .150. Ahead 4-3, the Aggies broke away by scoring seven straight points, three coming on consecutive combined blocks by Mount and Munsch.
A&M held a 13-point lead at 26-13 when the Buffaloes made a late rally and outscored the Aggies 10-3 to get within 29-23. Lechler once again ended the game with one of her 10 kills of the match.
Colorado built a 9-5 lead to start the final game, but A&M reeled off four consecutive points to get within one. Mount tied the score at 10 with a kill, and Moscovic followed with two more kills to give the Aggies the lead. There were three ties before A&M took the lead for good at 19-18 following a Mount kill. Leading 20-19, A&M built some breathing room by scoring four straight points.
The Buffaloes could not get any closer than four points as Mount closed out the match with a kill.
The Aggies hit .301 for the match while holding Colorado to a .121 hitting percentage. A&M also outblocked and outdug the Buffaloes, 16-7 and 56-45, respectively.
“Our blocking was the best it has been this season,” Corbelli said. “And our serving was great. We didn’t get a lot of aces, but we didn’t have many errors and we served tough and kept them off balance.”
The Aggies improve to 16-3 overall and 9-2 in Big 12 play and extend their winning streak to four matches. The Buffaloes fall to 11-7, 6-4.
A&M is idle this weekend and returns to action against Oklahoma on Wednesday, Oct. 31. First serve is at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum.