November 15, 2002
Texas A&M (18-7, 10-6 Big 12) looks to extend its season-high five-match winning streak and continue its ascent in the Big 12 standings as the Aggies play host to No. 20 Kansas State (17-6, 13-2 Big 12) Sunday. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum...The Wildcats, meanwhile, are looking to extend their 11-match winning steak - the second longest winning streak in school history - and break an 0-6 skid at the Holler House...Fans with a ticket stub from Saturday's Missouri-A&M football game will be admitted for $2. In addition, Post Oak Mall will give away an authentic Aggie volleyball jersey, and the Aggies will hold an autograph session following the match...Live scoring of the match will be available at www.AggieAthletics.com, and the Kansas State radio broadcast can be heard at www.k-statesports.com or www.1350kman.com...The Aggies, who are tied with Texas for fourth place in the Big 12 standings, equaled their longest winning streak of the season with a hard-fought five-game victory at Kansas on Wednesday...The Wildcats, who have a solid hold on second place in the league, have not played since Nov. 9 when they crushed Baylor in three games in Manhattan.
TEXAS A&M NOTES
- Jones approaching kill record: Aggie freshman outside hitter Laura Jones is on pace to set the A&M record for kills in a season by a freshman. The Arlington, Texas, native, who has posted back-to-back 22-kill performances, leads the team with 346 kills and needs only 13 kills to surpass the record of 358 set by Kristie Smedsrud in 1994. Smedsrud went on to finish her illustrious four-year stint as A&M's all-time career kill leader with 1,777...Jones is ranked seventh in the Big 12 with 3.80 kills per game. She has reached double figures in kills in 19 matches, including a career-high 24 against No. 5 Nebraska, and has reached 20 or more kills in six matches.
- Wynalda receives academic honors: Texas A&M libero Rebecca Wynalda has been named to the 2002 Verizon Academic All-District VI volleyball second team, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday. Wynalda is averaging 1.85 digs per game and has appeared in every match and in 95 of 96 games this season. She has reached double figures in digs in eight matches, including a career-high 16 digs in a four-game victory over BYU. In addition, Wynalda has led the team in digs in three matches, including a team-high 15 digs in the Aggies' 3-2 come-from-behind victory at Kansas on Wednesday. A junior from Kennedale, Texas, and a member of the Professional Program in Accounting, Wynalda has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while concurrently pursuing both her bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting.
- Jolly Rollie: The Aggies are 13-1 in home matches this season with the only loss coming against No. 5 Nebraska on Oct. 6. Since then, A&M has won its last five home matches, including a four-game upset over No. 20 Missouri on Nov. 8...The Aggies, who are 4-6 on the road, are outhitting their opponents, .264 to .163 at G. Rollie White Coliseum but are tied with their opponents with a .224 hitting percentage in road matches.
- Late season surge: The Aggies have won their last five matches, equaling this year's longest winning streak set at the start of the season. A&M is outhitting its opponents, .285 to .200, and averaging 16.55 kills to opponent's 14.45 kills per game during the streak...The Aggies have defeated Oklahoma, Colorado and No. 20 Missouri at G. Rollie White Coliseum and downed Baylor and Kansas on the road during the current streak.
- The Price is right: Junior right-side hitter Carol Price has been leading the charge over the last five matches, hitting .493 with 3.75 kills, 0.8 blocks and 4.15 points per game. The Michigan native got A&M started on its five-match winning streak by reaching double digits in kills for the first time in her career with 17 against Oklahoma. Price, who hit a career-high .552 against the Sooners, then snapped her career high with 23 kills and a .568 hitting percentage in the following match against Colorado to earn Big 12 Player of the Week laurels for Oct. 27 - Nov. 2...Price has reached double figures in kills in four of the last five matches and tied a career high with seven blocks against Missouri.
- Beers all around: Not only has setter Lexy Beers averaged 14.05 assists per game over the last five matches to move into third place in the Big 12 with a 12.66 full season average, but she also has averaged 3.05 digs per game over the last five contests, ranking second on the team. In the last five matches, the sophomore has set team season highs for assists in a three-game, four-game and five-game match with 49 assists against Oklahoma, 61 assists against No. 20 Missouri and a career-high 73 assists against Colorado, ranking ninth in the A&M all-time single match records. In addition, Beers had a match-high and a career-high 21 digs against the Tigers...With Beers running the offense, the Aggies ranked second in the Big 12 for fewest blocks allowed by opponents (1.78).
- Munsch time: Sophomore outside hitter Melissa Munsch has reached double figures in kills in 20 of 25 matches, including a career-high 25 kills at Colorado. She also has reached double digits in digs in a team-leading 20 matches and tops the squad with 15 double-double performances. The Columbus, Texas, native leads the Aggies with 3.44 digs per game and is second on the team with 3.54 kills, 0.4 aces and 4.19 points per game.
- Towering Tara: Middle blocker Tara Pulaski tallied a career-high four solo blocks in the win against Kansas. The 6-2 junior posted 10 total blocks to reach double figures in stuffs for the third time this season and lead the Aggies to their second-best team performance of the season with 15 total blocks. Pulaski, who leads the Aggies with 1.05 blocks per game for the full season and a 1.12 average in Big 12 games only, recorded 11 blocks against both Louisiana-Lafayette (Sept. 14) and Missouri (Sept. 25). Her 11 blocks against the Tigers is the most by a Big 12 player in a conference game this season.
- Numbers and notes: Setter Lexy Beers needs 53 assists to give her 1,268 assists for the season and move into 10th place in the A&M season records...Laura Jones has 40 aces for the season and needs three more to tie for 10th in the A&M all-time season records...All seven of A&M's losses have been against teams that have been ranked in the Top 25 for at least one week during the regular season. With the win against No. 20 Missouri, the Aggies improved to 1-3 against teams that were ranked at the time the match was played...As a team, A&M is averaging 15.96 kills, 1.68 aces, 16.38 digs and 2.36 blocks per game for the full season. Opponents are averaging 13.81 kills, 1.08 aces, 14.88 digs and 1.78 blocks per game...In Big 12 matches only, A&M is averaging 16.13 kills, 1.26 aces, 16.33 digs and 2.42 blocks per game.
- Old news: Texas A&M's historic streak of 111 consecutive appearances in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 Poll came to an end on Oct. 14 as the Aggies fell out of the Top 25 for the first time since breaking in at No. 24 on Sept. 26, 1995. A&M, which held onto a No. 25 ranking on Oct. 7, toppled to No. 34 after dropping a five-game match to then-unranked Texas in Austin on Oct. 9...During the Aggies' seven-year stay in the Top 25, A&M reached an all-time high No. 9 ranking in the 1999 final poll after defeating No. 3 Hawaii to reach the NCAA regional finals for the first time in school history. The Aggies first broke the top-10 milestone in 1996, spending four consecutive weeks at No. 10 (Oct. 15-Nov. 5). A&M reached its second-highest final ranking following the 2001 season, coming it at No. 11 after reaching the Elite Eight for the second time. The Aggies began the 2002 season listed No. 17 in the preseason poll and moved up to a season-high No. 16 on Sept. 9 despite losing five starters from last year's 26-6 team.
- A&M, picked to finish second in the league according to a preseason poll of the conference coaches, placed second with a 16-4 mark last year to tie the 1999 Aggies for the school's best record and equal A&M's highest finish. A&M has never finished lower than fourth place (1997, 1998) in the final Big 12 standings and has never lost more than seven matches in league competition (1998).
KANSAS STATE NOTES
The 20th-ranked Wildcats (17-6, 13-2 Big 12), who are in second place in the Big 12 standings, are riding an 11-match winning streak - the second-longest winning streak in school history and the ninth-longest current streak in the nation....K-State, which is 0-6 all-time in College Station, also has won 11 consecutive Big 12 road matches...The Wildcats have not played since whipping Baylor, 30-25, 30-15, 30-16, on Nov. 9 in Manhattan. It was the third consecutive match K-State held its opponent to a hitting percentage below .100...The Wildcats jumped five spots to No. 20 in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 Poll, their highest ranking of the season...K-State, which swept Texas A&M in Manhattan on Oct. 19, has registered a sweep in 14 of its 17 victories...Libero Laura Downey-Wallace leads the Big 12 and is ranked third in the nation with 5.37 digs per game for the full season. She is averaging a league-best 5.92 digs in Big 12 matches only...The Wildcats lead the Big 12 with 18.34 digs per game and are ranked second with a .251 hitting percentage, a .161 opponent hitting percentage and 2.80 blocks per game in conference games only...Suzie Fritz (Florida Atlantic '94) is 37-14 in her second season as coach of the Wildcats.
SERIES RECORD
The series between Texas A&M and Kansas State is knotted at 7-7 since the teams first met in 1981. Neither team, however, has been able to win on the road as the Wildcats are 0-6 in College Station, while A&M fell to 0-7 in Manhattan following a 3-0 loss to K-State on Oct. 19..., Unforced errors plagued A&M as the Aggies hit a season-low .087 for the match in the most recent meeting. In addition, A&M committed 35 errors, a season high for a three-game match. The Wildcats led 7-4 in the opening game when A&M scored six consecutive points to take what would be its only lead of the match. With the Aggies up 11-8, KSU reeled off five straight points to regain the lead. A&M managed to tie the score three times, the last tie occurring at 18. The Wildcats, who outhit A&M .179 to -.021 in the frame, built a 25-21 advantage and then reeled off six consecutive points to end the game...KSU jumped out to an 8-1 start and never trailed in the second game. The Wildcats built their biggest lead of the game at 17-6, and the Aggies could never get closer than seven points. The Wildcats outhit A&M, .250 to .067, in the game...A&M spotted the Wildcats a 10-2 lead in the third game before rallying to get within 11-9. Laura Jones sparked the run with five of her nine kills of the game. The Aggies eventually tied the score at 25 following an ace by Jayna Baker. The Aggies also tied the score at 27 following a Melissa Munsch kill, and kills by Jones knotted the score at 29 and 30. Cari Jensen gave the Wildcats the lead for good with a kill, and an A&M attack into the net ended the match...Jones led the Aggies with a match-high 15 kills. Munsch also reached double figures with 12 kills and added a team-high 14 digs. Jensen led the Wildcats with 13 kills, and Laura Downey-Wallace paced the back-row defense with a match-high 20 digs...The Aggies posted 48 kills to KSU's 42 and also outdug the Wildcats, 64-54. The teams tied with eight blocks each.
UPCOMING
The Aggies do not play again until they head west to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders Saturday, Nov. 23. First serve is at 7 p.m. at the United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas...A&M owns a 39-22 lead in the all-time series and has won the last three meetings against Tech, including a thrilling come-from-behind five-game victory in College Station earlier this season...The Red Raiders, who play at Texas on Saturday and at Colorado on Wednesday, enter the weekend in eighth place in the Big 12 with a 6-9 league mark.