October 23, 2002
Freshman outside hitter Laura Jones posted a match-high 20 kills as Texas A&M defeated Baylor, 30-24, 30-20, 30-22, in front of 1,405 fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
A&M, which won its sixth consecutive match against the Bears, improves to 13-6 overall and evens its Big 12 record at 5-5. Meanwhile, Baylor suffered its fourth consecutive loss and falls to 8-12, 2-8.
The teams battled back and forth early in the opening game before Jones gave A&M the lead for good at 10-9 with one of her eight kills of the game. The Aggies held a narrow 17-15 lead when they pulled away by scoring five consecutive points -- three on kills by A.D. Achilefu and two on kills by Jones. A&M took its biggest lead of the game at 28-20 following a kill by Melissa Munsch, who made the Bears pay for an overpass. Baylor answered with four straight points before Achilefu and Carol Price blocked a Tisha Schwartz kill, and Munsch followed with a game-ending kill.
Neither team could pull ahead by more than three points to begin the second game, and the lead changed five times. Baylor was up, 16-15, when A&M went on a 6-0 run to take the lead for good. Jones put down three of her seven kills of the game, and Achilefu contributed a block and a kill during the stretch. A&M held a 25-20 advantage when the Aggies ended the game with a five-point rally.
The Bears led 4-3 in the third frame but were unable to pull away as A&M tied the score for the seventh time of the game on a kill by Jones and then regained the lead at 11-10 on an ace by Jones. A&M held a 19-15 advantage when the Aggies put the game out of reach by outscoring the Bears, 8-1. A&M equaled its largest lead of the game at 28-17 before Baylor reeled off five unanswered points. A service error thwarted the rally, and Tara Pulaski put down a kill to end the match.
The Aggies led in every statistical category, posting 58 kills, 52 assists, 5 aces 76 digs and 9 blocks, while holding Baylor to 35 kills, 31 assists, 3 aces , 48 digs and 2.5 blocks. In addition, A&M hit.284 -- a season-high for a Big 12 match -- while Baylor hit .131.
Jones' 20 kills was a season-high by an A&M player in a three-game match. Munsch also reached double figures with 13 kills and led a group of five Aggies who posted double digits in digs with 20. Pulaski took match-high honors in blocks with five, and setter Lexy Beers recorded 44 assists.
Schwartz led the Bears with 12 kills but was held to a .098 hitting percentage. She was the only Baylor player to reach double figures in kills.
A&M returns to action Saturday as the Aggies take on league-leading and fourth-ranked Nebraska in Lincoln. First serve is at 3 p.m. at the Nebraska Coliseum.