November 12, 2001
The 13th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball reached the 20-win milestone for the seventh consecutive season and extended its winning streak to 18 matches against Oklahoma as the Aggies disposed of the Sooners, 30-19, 30-19, 30-21, Monday in front of 103 at the OU Field House.
With the victory, A&M improves to 20-4 overall and 13-3 in the Big 12 Conference. Oklahoma falls to 2-27, 1-15.
The Aggies, who came into the match with their highest ranking of the season at No. 13, jumped out to a 5-0 lead to open the match. Oklahoma never got closer than four points for the remainder of the game as A&M built a game-high lead of 12 points at 23-11 and 27-15. Julia Rex and Beth Skypala, both making the first start of their carees, posted kills to close out the game.
A&M took an 8-2 advantage to start Game 2, but the Sooners outscored the Aggies, 7-1, to tie the score at 9-9. Leading 16-14, A&M pulled away by scoring seven unanswered points to take a 23-14 advantage. The Aggies were ahead 26-19 when an Oklahoma kill error followed by back-to-back kills by Skypala and Carol Price put A&M serving for game point. An attack error by the Sooners gave A&M the win and a 2-0 game advantage.
Oklahoma took its first lead of the match to start Game 3 and was up 2-1 when A.D. Achilefu stepped to the service line for the Aggies and registered four aces as A&M rallied for seven consecutive points and an 8-2 advantage. A&M held a 12-9 lead when the Aggies reeled off seven unanswered points to take a commanding 19-9 lead. A&M matched its biggest lead of the game at 27-15 on a kill by Carol Price. With A&M leading 28-20, Skypala put down a kill. Oklahoma answered with a kill before A&M’s Kendra Felder ended the match with kill.
Skypala led the Aggies with a career-high 12 kills and a .304 hitting percentage. Achilefu tied a school record with a career-high six aces. Melissa Munsch led the team with nine digs, and Rex had a career-high and match-high five blocks as all 15 A&M players saw action.
Oklahoma was led by Logan Pierce and Christina Barlow, who posted eight kills apiece.
For the second consecutive match, A&M held its opponent to a season-low hitting percentage in Big 12 play as the Aggies out-hit Oklahoma, .250 to .035.
A&M returns home to play host to the Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday. First serve is at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The Aggies, who are in second place in the Big 12 standings, then conclude the travel portion of their regular season as they travel to Manhattan, Kan., for a crucial contest against No. 22 Kansas State on Saturday.