September 18, 2002
The 17th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team opened Big 12 Conference play and extended its home winning streak to 16 matches with a 30-24, 30-26, 30-26 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks Wednesday before 1,284 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
With the win the Aggies improve to 9-1 on the season. Kansas suffered its first loss of the season in falling to 8-1.
Texas A&M began the match by going on an 11-3 run, en route to a 30-24 victory in game one. Melissa Munsch posted 10 kills in the frame, including ending a last-ditch Jayhawk run with the final kill of the game. Tara Pulaski set a career high in digs before the first game ended, getting to nine balls en route to a match-high 14 digs.
Kansas took its first and only lead of the match early in the second game on an A&M attack error, but the Aggies quickly tied the game at four and took the lead for good, winning game two 30-27. A&M was able to extend the lead to as many as seven at 25-18 after a Laura Jones service ace, but a 6-1 run by Kansas cut the lead to two. After an Aggie timeout, kills by Carol Price and Melissa Munsch along with a block by Munsch and A.D. Achilefu had A&M serving for the game. Jones ended the game with one of her 15 kills of the match.
The Aggies never trailed in the final stanza, taking their biggest lead of the game at 21-15 on a kill by Jones. The Jayhawks got within two at 27-25, but back-to-back kills by Jones put A&M serving for game point. Kansas regained the serve on a kill by Ashley Michaels before Pulaski ended the match with her eighth kill of the evening.
Munsch led the Aggies with 17 kills, and Achilefu led in blocks with five. Setter Lexy Beers dished out 45 assists as A&M outhit the Jayhawks, .276 to .191.
Josiane Lima was the only Jayhawk to reach double figures in kills with 11.
Texas A&M returns to action on Saturday when the Aggies travel to Boulder to battle the Colorado Buffaloes. First serve at the Coors Events Center on the CU campus is set for 8 p.m. (CDT).