September 12, 2003
Texas A&M had several career-performances and key contributions from the bench as the Aggies rallied to win their home opener against Southwest Missouri State, 29-31, 24-30, 34-32, 30-20, 15-12, in front of 1,393 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
"I can't think of many matches like this, much less a home opener," a relieved A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "A lot of teams would have given up, but we put some fresh feet and fresh minds out on the court and it made a difference. We started playing like a team."
Corbelli nearly witnessed her first home-opener loss in her 11th season at A&M after the Aggies dropped the first two games and trailed the Bears by as many as eight points midway through the third game. But setter Kari Kelley (Houston, Texas) and outside hitters Jayna Baker (Duncanville, Texas) and Carrie Moreira (Stockton, Calif.), all came off the bench and sparked the Aggies to a dramatic come-from-behind victory, and they helped carry that momentum throughout the remainder of the match to stun the Bears.
With A&M trailing 27-20 in the third game, the Aggies went on a nine-point scoring run. SMS was whistled for a ball-handling error before middle blocker Melissa Munsch (Columbus, Texas) pounded an SMS overpass for a kill and followed with another kill. Munsch then teamed with Baker for a block and Moreira on another block, and then Baker posted a kill down the line. A SMS attack error knotted the score at 27, and the Aggies took their first lead since an 8-7 advantage on another block by Baker and Munsch. Baker added another kill down the line to put the Aggies serving for game point.
A Bear kill due to an A&M blocking error ended the run, and the Bears rallied for two more points to take a 30-29. With SMS serving for the match, Munsch posted her seventh kill of the game, and the Aggies regained the lead when an SMS attack sailed wide. Consecutive kills by the Bears' Katie Werges once again put SMS serving for the match, but Munsch nailed her eighth kill of the game and teamed with Jones for a block to give the Aggies their fourth lead of the game. Jones then gave the Aggies the win with a kill.
The Aggies carried the momentum into Game 4 and quickly opened up an 8-2 advantage. A&M continued to build onto the lead and gained its first 10-point advantage at 25-15. With the Aggies leading, 29-20, Kendra Felder (Corpus Christi, Texas) put down a kill for the Aggies to force a fifth game.
The score was tied at 3-3 in the fifth when the Aggies went on a seven-point run, punctuated by Kelley's first career kill following an SMS overpass. The teams exchanged a series of points, and with A&M leading, 12-8, Jones and Moreria put down back-to-back kills to put the Aggies serving for the match. The Bears made a run with four unanswered points before a kill error ended the match.
Jones posted career highs and match highs in both kills and digs with 29 and 23, respectively, as the Aggies improved to 7-1. Munsch tallied the first triple double of her career with 24 kills, 12 digs and a career-high 14 blocks, which ranks second in the all-time A&M match records.
Erin Murphy led a group of four Bears to reach double figures in kills with 20, and Jane Parker had a team-high 19 digs.
As a team, A&M hit .230 and posted season highs in kills (84) and blocks (18.0). SMS (6-2) hit .181 and had 76 kills and eight blocks.
A&M continues action at the McDonald's/Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday with a noon match against Centenary and the marquee match against No. 1 USC at 7 p.m.
USC swept Centenary, 30-6, 30-13, 30-14, to open the tournament.