November 26, 2002
Texas A&M (18-9, 10-8 Big 12) concludes its regular-season home schedule Wednesday against rival Texas (22-7, 13-6 Big 12). First serve is slated for 7 p.m at G. Rollie White Coliseum, where the Aggies have won four straight against the Longhorns. A&M seniors A.D. Achilefu and Julia Rex will be honored prior to the match. In addition, the annual turkey bowling contest will be held during the intermission, and an authentic Texas A&M volleyball jersey will be given away to a lucky fan courtesy of Post Oak Mall...A&M is in fifth place in the Big 12 standings and will be attempting to snap a two-match losing streak after dropping a four-game contest at Texas Tech on Saturday...The Longhorns are in fourth place in the Big 12 race entering their final match of the regular season. Texas is on a hot streak, having won four consecutive matches, including an impressive 3-1 victory over No. 19 Kansas State Saturday in Austin.
TEXAS A&M NOTES
- Senior Day: Aggie seniors A.D. Achilefu and Julia Rex will be playing in the final home match of their college careers when A&M faces Texas on Wednesday. Achilefu overcame a serious knee injury prior to her sophomore season and became a two-year starter as a middle blocker for the Aggies. As a junior, the explosive jump server set an A&M record for ace average in a season. She also recorded an A&M record for aces in a Big 12 match with six. This year, the Houston native has played in all but one match - starting 25 - and is posting career highs in kills, digs and blocks per game. Achilefu has reached double figures in kills in 13 matches, and double digits in digs in 14 contests and has tallied 10 double-double performances. She is ranked second on the team in both blocks and digs per game...Rex is a four-year letterwinner as a right-side attacker. From Yorba Linda, Calif., Rex has drawn the starting nod in nine matches this season and has played in 22. The lefty had a career performance in a five-game come-from-behind victory against Texas Tech earlier this season, hitting .355 and posting 17 kills, 13 digs and five blocks, and recording the first double-double of her career. A two-time GTE scholar athlete majoring in environmental design, Rex plans to pursue a master's degree in fine arts.
- Keeping Up With the Joneses: Aggie freshman outside hitter Laura Jones posted 15 kills against Kansas State to give her 361 for the season, breaking the A&M record for kills in a season by a freshman previously held by Kristie Smedsrud, who logged 358 kills in her 1994 rookie campaign. Smedsrud went on to finish her illustrious four-year stint as A&M's all-time career kill leader with 1,777...Jones, who now has 376 kills this season, leads the Aggies with 3.84 kills, 0.41 aces and 4.53 points per game. She has reached double figures in kills in 21 matches, including a team-leading six 20-plus kill performances, and has led the team in kills in 10 matches, including a career-high 24-kill performance against No. 5 Nebraska.
- Munsch time: Sophomore outside hitter Melissa Munsch has reached double figures in kills in 22 of 27 matches, including a career-high and a team season-high 25 kills at Colorado. She also has reached double digits in digs in a team-leading 22 matches, including the last seven consecutive contests. Munsch recorded a career-high and team season-high 25 digs against UL-Lafayette and tops the squad with 17 double-double performances. The Columbus, Texas, native leads the Aggies with 3.53 digs per game and is second on the team with 3.60 kills, 0.38 aces and 4.25 points per game.
- Beers all around: Not only has setter Lexy Beers averaged 13.58 assists per game over the last six matches to move into third place in the Big 12 with a 12.71 full-season average, but she also has averaged 3.33 digs per game over the last six contests, ranking second on the team. The sophomore had 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 No 20 Missouri and has now reached double figures in digs in four consecutive matches...Beers' 1,309 assists for the full season ranks ninth in the A&M all-time season records. She needs 43 assists to break the A&M record of 933 assists in a Big 12 season set by All-American Jenna Moscovic last year...With Beers directing the offense, the Aggies ranked second in the Big 12 for fewest blocks allowed by opponents (1.86).
- Towering Tara: Middle blocker Tara Pulaski posted a match-high 10 blocks at Texas Tech to lead the Aggies to a season-high 20 team blocks. It was the fourth time this season the 6-2 junior has reached double figures in blocks...Pulaski leads the team and is ranked fifth in the Big 12 with 1.12 blocks per game. In Big 12 matches only, she leads the Aggies and is ranked fourth in the league with a 1.21 block average...Pulaski tied her career high with 11 blocks at Missouri (Sept. 25) which ties for the Big 12 lead for most blocks in a conference match.
- The Price is right: Junior right-side hitter Carol Price has turned up her performance over the last seven matches, hitting a team-best .427 and averaging 3.3 kills, 0.93 blocks and 3.81 points per game during the stretch. The Michigan native began her hot streak by reaching double digits in kills for the first time in her career with 17 against Oklahoma (Oct. 30). 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 seven matches and has twice tied a career high with seven blocks.
- Numbers and notes: Laura Jones has 40 aces for the season and needs three more to tie for 10th in the A&M all-time season records...The loss at Texas Tech marked A&M's first loss to a team that has not been ranked in the Top 25 for at least one week during the regular season...The Aggies are 1-4 against teams that were ranked at the time the match was played. The Aggies are 1-8 against teams that were ranked in the Top 25 for at least one week during the regular season...A&M is 13-2 in home contests. Losses were to No. 5 Nebraska and No. 20 Kansas State...A&M needs to win two more matches to reach the 20-victory milestone for the eighth consecutive season...As a team, A&M is averaging 15.9 kills, 1.61 aces, 16.71 digs and 2.45 blocks per game for the full season. Opponents are averaging 14.09 kills, 1.09 aces, 15.33 digs and 1.86 blocks per game...In Big 12 matches only, A&M is averaging 16.03 kills, 1.21 aces, 16.84 digs and 2.55 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. Going into the season, A&M had never finished lower than fourth place (1997, 1998) in the final Big 12 standings and had never lost more than seven matches in league competition (1998). With two matches remaining this year, the Aggies are 10-8 in league competition and can finish no higher than fifth place.
TEXAS NOTES
Texas concludes its regular season against the Aggies and is guaranteed to finish no lower than fourth place in the Big 12 standings...The Longhorns, who are having their best season since 1999, extended their winning streak to four after defeating No. 19 Kansas State, 24-30, 30-20, 30-22, 30-25, Saturday in Austin. Texas improved to 3-3 against ranked opponents with the victory, which ended the Wildcats' record-tying 13-match winning streak...Sophomore outside hitter Mira Topic's match-high 19 kills led a foursome of Longhorns who reached double figures in kills. Sophomore middle blocker Bethany Howden added 16, and LaTonya Coates and Kathy Hahn contributed 10 apiece. Hahn and Kathy Wilson had six blocks each as Texas outblocked K-State, 13.0 to 7.5...The Longhorns are second in the Big 12 with a .263 hitting percentage, 2.72 blocks and 1.83 aces per game for the full season. They lead the league for the fewest digs allowed by an opponent (13.02) and are ranked third for lowest hitting percentage by an opponent (.178)...Topic leads the team and is ranked second in the conference with 4.68 kills per game, while Coates leads all players in the Big 12 with 0.55 aces per game. Hahn is hitting a team-best .325 for the full season, and also leads the squad with 1.13 blocks per game. Libero Stacy Millichap is the team leader in digs with a 3.21 per game average, and setter Caron Blotch is averaging 12.34 assists per game...Jerritt Elliott (Cal State Northridge '91) is 39-21 in his second season at the helm of the Longhorns.
SERIES RECORD
Texas holds a commanding 49-19 lead in the all-time series against rival A&M since 1976 and is 17-9 all-time in matches played at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The Aggies, however, have won six of the last seven meetings against the Longhorns and hold a narrow 7-6 lead against Texas in Big 12 contests only...The Longhorns ended a six-match losing skid to A&M earlier this season, coming from behind in the fifth game to defeat the Aggies, 33-31, 24-30, 30-19, 23-30, 15-11, at Gregory Gym in Austin on Oct. 9...The Aggies had an 11-9 lead in the decisive fifth game before the Longhorns reestablished their block, rattling off six straight points to win the game and the match, 15-11. Texas tallied 15 blocks on the night, the most by an A&M opponent this season. Nine of the blocks came in crucial stretches of the third and fifth games, and four of the Horns' final five points came courtesy of the block. The Aggies were out-hit by the Longhorns, .227 to .195, but led their opponent in kills, 78 to 69. Texas out-blocked A&M 15 to 9 and out-dug the Aggies, 65 to 63. A&M's Tara Pulaski tied a career high with 20 kills, hitting .484 on the night to go along with four blocks. Three other Aggies-Laura Jones, Melissa Munsch and A.D. Achilefu-also posted double-figure kills...Kathy Hahn led a foursome of Texas attackers in double figures with 19 kills. The sophomore also posted a match-high seven blocks. Mira Topic, Bethany Howden and LaTonya Coates were also in double-digit kills. Stacy Millichap led all defenders with a match-high 17 digs...A&M downed Texas three times last year, defeating the Longhorns in four games in Austin for the second consecutive year and then sweeping Texas twice in College Station, once in a Big 12 regular-season match and the last one in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
UPCOMING
The Aggies conclude the regular season at Iowa State on Saturday, Nov. 30. First serve against the Cyclones is slated for 2 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum in Ames...The Aggies are 13-0 against the Cyclones since Big 12 play began and own a 15-1 lead in the all-time series.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS BRACKET ANNOUNCEMENT
The NCAA will announce the 64-team championship bracket Sunday, Dec. 1 at approximately 8 p.m (CST). The announcement will air on ESPNEWS. The official NCAA championship web site, www.ncaasports.com, will post the bracket immediately after the television announcement...The Aggies, who advanced to the NCAA regional finals last year, are aiming to make their 10th consecutive NCAA tournament berth.