August 29, 2003
Texas A&M opened its 2003 season with a 30-28, 30-26, 32-30 victory over Marquette at the Duke Invitational played at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"It feels good to get this first win under our belt," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We didn't' get into a rhythm, but we still managed to pull out the match. Offensively, its usually takes a few matches to find the rhythm, but our serve receive was better than what we have been doing in practice, and our defense was a strong point for us."
The Aggies hit only .167 but held Marquette to a .071 attack efficiency and outblocked the Golden Eagles 11 to 7. Laura Jones (Arlington, Texas) posted a double-double for the Aggies with a match-high 14 kills and 13 digs. Melissa Munsch (Columbus, Texas) led A&M with 14 digs, and Kari Kelley (Houston, Texas) also reached double figures in digs for A&M with a career-high 10. Kendra Felder (Corpus Christi, Texas) posted a career-high five blocks to tie Munsch for team-high honors.
In the opening game, Marquette equaled its largest lead of the game at 12-8, but A&M slowly fought back. After tying the score four times, the Aggies took their first lead, 22-21, since a 2-1 advantage. After matching A&M point for point and tying the score four times, the Golden Eagles regained the lead at 26-25 following an A&M ball handling error. The Aggies tied the score at 26 and 27 and took the lead at 28 on a block by Felder and Munsch. An A&M service error tied the score for the 14th time in the game, but A&M ended the game on consecutive kills by Felder and Jones.
A&M led the entire second game and at 25-20 had equaled its biggest lead of the game for the sixth time. The Golden Eagles got within two points at 28-26 before Jones put down back-to-back kills to end the game and give the Aggies a two-game advantage.
Game 3 was tied at 19 when A&M went on a 10-3 scoring run. The Aggies were serving for match point at 29-22 following a block by Christi Hahn and Felder, but the Golden Eagles fought off seven match points and tied the score at 29 on a kill and six A&M errors. Jamie Mueller put down her 11th kill of the match to give Marquette a 30-29 lead, but a kill by Tara Pulaski (Encinitas, Calif.) and consecutive blocks by Pulaski and Jones gave the Aggies a 32-30 victory and the match.
"Libero Holly Clay (Houston, Texas) did a fantastic job and was 100 percent on her execution, and her spirited play helped the team tremendously," Corbelli said. "Laura had a few streaks where she took over the offense, and Pulaski made a few key blocks at the end.
"Overall we had good efforts from everyone at different times, but not all together. We just need to put it all together at the same time, and that is something you work for all season."
Marquette (0-1) was led by Theresa Coughlin with 13 kills and Erin Freer with 15 digs. Erica Heisser recorded a match-high six blocks.
The Aggies return to action Saturday against Pittsburgh at 9 a.m. CDT and against the host Duke Blue Devils at 6:30 p.m. Live scoring of all matches will be available on the A&M website at www.AggieAthletics.com.