September 07, 2003
Texas A&M defeated Murray State, 30-18, 30-22, 27-30, 30-25, to take second place at the Michigan/Pepsi Challenge at Cliff Keen Arena with a 2-1 record. Melissa Munsch (Columbus, Texas) and Laura Jones (Arlington, Texas) represented the Aggies on the all-tournament team.
The Aggies, who posted a season-low .129 hitting percentage in a three-game loss to Michigan on Saturday, rebounded to hit a season-high .311 against the Racers.
"The team got the wake-up call last night," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "This was a huge match for us in terms of emotionally and mentally after having such a flat performance."
The Aggies led the entire first game and were up 19-16 when they took command as Lexy Beers (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) served A&M to 10 unanswered points. The Aggies hit .433 and posted five blocks in the 30-18 win. Kendra Felder (Corpus Christi, Texas) led A&M with six kills in the game, one shy of her career high for kills in an entire match.
"We've never started a match as aggressively as we did today, and that set the tone for an aggressive atmosphere and more determination on the court," Corbelli said. "That made the difference in the match."
The Aggies took their first lead of the second game at 12-11 following a kill by Jones. A&M held the lead for the remainder of the game, and with the Aggies ahead, 28-22, Beth Skypala (Amarillo, Texas) had an off-speed shot fall for a kill, and Munsch added another kill to end the game.
A&M overcame a five-point deficit in Game 3 to tie the score at 24. Munsch then put down a MSU overpass to extend the Aggies' unanswered scoring run to five points and give A&M its first lead since a 6-5 edge. The Racers, however, scored four consecutive points on a kill, two aces and an A&M attack error to regain the lead at 28-25. A&M got within one on a Munsch kill and a MSU attack error, but a block and kill gave the Racers the win to avoid the sweep.
A&M jumped out to a 13-5 advantage in the fourth game, but MSU had three multiple-point scoring runs to cut the lead to 16-15. The Racers could not get any closer as A&M built its biggest lead of the game at 26-20. MSU made another four-point run to get within 26-24, but A&M sandwiched four kills around a service error to win the game and the match.
Jones posted a match-high 15 kills for the Aggies, who improved to 5-1. Munsch added 14 kills and a match-high seven blocks, and Felder finished with a career-high 12 kills. Michigan native Carol Price also reached double figures in kills with 11 and added a season-high six blocks as A&M outblocked the Racers, 12-5.
MSU (0-3) was lead by Abbi Gui and Paige Sun, who posted 14 kills apiece.
` The Aggies make their home debut Friday at the two-day McDonald's/Texas A&M Invitational. Tournament action gets underway with Centenary facing No. 1 USC at 4 p.m. followed by A&M and Southwest Missouri State at 6 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. On Saturday, A&M takes on Centenary at noon and then faces the defending national champion Trojans at 7 p.m.