August 30, 2003
The Aggies set or tied eight personal records as Texas A&M defeated Pittsburgh, 30-25, 30-20, 23-30, 30-21, this morning at the Duke Invitational played at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Laura Jones (Arlington, Texas) posted a career-high 18 digs to go along with her match-high 22 kills as she recorded her second consecutive double-double performance. Beth Skypala (Amarillo, Texas) also posted a career high in digs with a team-best 22. In addition, she improved her personal record in blocks with six.
Carol Price (Fenton, Mich.) took match-high honors and set a career high with a .609 hitting percentage, posting 15 kills and only one error in 23 attempts.
Kendra Felder (Corpus Christi, Texas) also got in the action with a personal-best seven kills, and libero Holly Clay recorded a career-high seven digs. Setter Kari Kelley, making the first start of her career, also set a career high in digs with seven and tied her personal best with 34 assists.
Although Melissa Munsch (Columbus, Texas) did not set any personal records, she paced the Aggies with her 17-kill, 17-dig performance. In addition, Munsch took match-high honors with three aces.
A&M trailed early in the first game and was down 11-8 when Pitt committed four consecutive errors to give the Aggies their first lead of the game. The Panthers tied the game at 12-12 on a kill, but A&M rallied for three straight points to take a lead they would not relinquish.
The Aggies built their biggest lead at 26-19 following a Jones kill off the block. Twice the Panthers cut the lead to four points, the last coming at 29-25, before a Pitt attack sailed long to end the game.
The score was knotted at 7-7 in Game 2 when Tara Pulaski and Skypala put down a block to give the Aggies the lead for good. The Panthers stayed within striking distanced until, with A&M up 17-15, the Aggies outscore Pitt, 10-2, to take a 27-17 lead. The teams exchanged points until Skypala put down a kill to give the Aggies a 30-20 win and a two-game lead.
Pitt rallied and never trialed in the third game. With the Panthers up, 20-14, Sarah Rollman put down one of her 13 kills of the match, and A&M followed with three consecutive hitting errors as Pitt built its biggest lead of the game. A&M cut the lead to six at 29-23 before Rollman ended the game with a kill.
A&M recovered and dominated the final game, out hitting Pitt, .316 to .122. The score was tied at 5-5 when the Aggies went on their first of numerous scoring runs to take an 8-5 lead. The Panthers twice got within two points, the last time at 11-9 before A&M outscored Pitt, 7-1, to pull away. Jones led the charge with four kills during the scoring outburst.
A&M held a 22-13 lead when Pitt rallied for four points, but A&M answered with its own four-point spurt. The Panthers could not get any closer than eight points, and with A&M up 29-21, Price put down a kill to end the match.
With the victory, A&M improves to 2-0 going into the final match against the Duke Blue Devils tonight at 6:30 p.m. The Panthers, who downed Duke, 3-1, in the opening day of the tournament, fall to 1-1.