October 06, 2002
The 25th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team saw its home winning streak snapped at 17 matches as 5th-ranked Nebraska defeated the Aggies, 30-26, 28-30, 30-26, 30-20, before a season-high of 2,540 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
A&M falls to 11-4 and 3-3 in Big 12 play, while the Huskers improve to 15-1 and 5-0.
"I felt we had opportunities to get the win," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. "When our passing broke down late in game three, it seemed like we got stuck and had a difficult time getting back into our groove. We kind of had them where we wanted them, but when things went bad, they went bad pretty fast and that cost us the match."
Game one was tied early at five before the Huskers looked as if they would run away with the win, using an 11-2 run to open up a quick 16-7 lead. A&M battled back, however, pulling within 23-22 on a Tara Pulaski kill. Three consecutive Aggie errors, though, gave Nebraska a five-point lead. The Aggies fought off two game points before Laura Pilakowski slammed down a kill to give Nebraska a 30-26 win.
A&M tied the match at one game apiece with a 30-28 win in the second frame. In doing so, the Aggies handed Nebraska its first loss in 27 games, when the Huskers dropped the first of an eventual four-game win at Arizona on Sept. 7.
In game two, A&M held a 21-16 lead following an A.D. Achilefu kill, but Nebraska rattled off six straight points with Melissa Elmer at the service line to take a 22-21 lead. Melissa Munsch broke the string, putting down a kill to tie the game again at 22, and a Husker attack error gave the lead back to the Aggies. After fending off the first game point with a kill, Pilakowski's ensuing serve went wide to seal the A&M win and tie the match.
The Aggies carried the momentum of their game two victory into the third frame. After opening up a quick 9-4 lead behind the attack of Laura Jones and Achilefu, who combined for six kills in the run, two A&M errors and a pair of Husker blocks cut the lead to 11-10. The Aggies held onto the lead, extending it back to five at 22-17 before a service error, a Nebraska kill and three consecutive A&M attack errors tied the game at 22 and forced the Aggies to use a timeout. The Huskers continued to apply the pressure and opened their first lead of the game to three at 27-24. After A&M pulled within two, Nebraska got a kill from Anna Schrad and a block from Amber Holmquist and Jennifer Saleaumua to win, 30-26.
"We're just still discovering how to not let one big switch determine our destiny," Corbelli said. "Volleyball is a game of momentum, and we need to figure out how to get that momentum back on our side when it's not."
A&M trailed 16-12 in the fourth game before a pair of kills by Jones brought the Aggies within two and forced a Husker timeout. After a Holmquist kill gave Nebraska the ball back, Saleaumua served the Huskers to a 21-14 lead to put the game out of reach. Holmquist and Schrad stuffed A&M's Munsch on the final play to give the Huskers the match with a 30-20 win.
Jones posted a career-high and a match-high 24 kills in the loss. Achilefu added 15 while hitting a match-high .429. Setter Lexy Beers recorded 54 assists and also registered a career-high and match-high 19 digs.
Pilakowski's 14 kills led the Cornhuskers, who had four players reach double figures in kills. Holmquist, a Houston native, had 13 kills and added a match-high eight blocks as Nebraska outblocked A&M, 11-4.
The Aggies return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Austin to battle the Texas Longhorns. First serve at Gregory Gym is set for 7 p.m.