October 16, 2002
The Texas A&M volleyball team held on for an exciting 30-22, 30-27, 28-30, 20-30, 15-12 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders Wednesday before 1,510 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies snap a two-match losing streak with the win and improve to 12-5 and 4-4 in Big 12 play. Meanwhile, the Red Raiders have lost three straight and fall to 7-10 and 2-6.
"We made a big step in the direction we want to be going," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We did something we really needed to do. We needed to be down and prove to ourselves what it takes to come back. I'm talking about the intangibles, and they have been missing in the matches that we lost."
The deciding fifth game was tied at five when Texas Tech scored five of the next six points to take a 10-6 lead. With the Aggies trailing 11-7, a kill through the block by Tara Pulaski and a pair of kills by Laura Jones cut the lead to one. Lexy Beers then served an ace to tie the game, but Jones was called over the net on the ensuing point as the Red Raiders regained the lead, 12-11.
The next point was a long, exciting, defense-filled rally that Jones finally ended by putting a kill through the Tech block to tie the score at 12. Pulaski and Julia Rex followed that by teaming to stuff a Kelly Johnson attack, giving A&M its first lead since the Aggies were up 5-4. Back-to-back kills by Rex, the final one dumped over the block and into the back corner of the court, sealed the thrilling 15-12 Aggie win.
Game one was back and forth early before A&M pulled away late for a 30-22 victory. With the score knotted at 15, the Aggies got two kills each from Melissa Munsch and A.D. Achilefu to go up by four, taking the lead for good and forcing a Red Raider timeout. A&M went up, 26-18, after a block by Pulaski and Jones. Achilefu and Beers teamed up to stuff Tech's final attempt of the game to seal the win.
The two teams were tied at 14 in game two before the Red Raiders went on a quick 4-0 run to take an 18-14 lead. Fueling the rally were a pair of A&M errors and a Tech service ace. The Aggies scored the next two points on kills by Jones and Kendra Felder to pull within two. A&M finally tied the game at 23 on another Jones kill, part of an eventual 4-0 run that gave the Aggies the lead. Munsch and Rex tallied two kills each down the stretch, with Rex putting down the final point to give Texas A&M a 30-27 win and a 2-0 match lead.
Once again, game three proved to be a battle most of the way, featuring 11 ties and six lead changes. The Aggies rallied from behind late to take a 24-23 lead when Achilefu slammed down a Texas Tech overpass. The Red Raiders claimed the lead for good with a Johnson service ace, one of five by Tech in the game. A&M tied the score twice more before a Melissa McGehee kill and an Aggie serve reception error gave Texas Tech a 30-28 win.
The Red Raiders went on an 8-2 run midway through the fourth game to take a 19-13 lead. McGehee provided much of the punch during the rally with three kills and a block. With A&M down, 20-15, a pair of errors coupled with a Tech service ace and a kill by Johnson, one of her seven in the game, put the Red Raiders up by nine. Johnson and Jessica Watson teamed for a block on the final point to seal Tech's 30-20 win and force the decisive fifth game. A&M was held to match-low .079 hitting percentage in the frame.
Munsch led four Aggie attackers in double figures with a team-high 20 kills to go along with 10 digs. Rex had a career-high 17 kills, while Jones tallied 15 and Achilefu added 14. Rex and Achilefu posted double-digit digs with 13 apiece.
Johnson led the Red Raiders with 20 kills, while McGehee added 15. Angie Mooney (11) and Stacey Poole (10) rounded out the Tech players in double figures.
The Aggies out-hit Tech for the match, .247 to .191 and out-dug the Red Raiders 68 to 59. A&M posted 10 blocks on the night to Texas Tech's seven.
The Aggies return to action Saturday when they travel to Manhattan to battle the Kansas State Wildcats. First serve at Ahearn Field House is set for 2 p.m.