October 03, 2003
The No. 22 Texas A&M volleyball team (10-4, 2-2 Big 12) returns home for a Top 25 billing against No. 12 Kansas State (13-3, 3-1 Big 12) Saturday at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies, who are currently tied with Kansas for fifth place in the Big 12 Conference, will attempt to rebound after a five-game setback at unranked Texas on Wednesday. A&M won the first two games, but the rival Longhorns won the final three games to snap A&M's three-match winning streak.
Sophomore outside hitter Laura Jones leads the Aggies with 4.21 kills per game. Senior outside hitter Beth Skypala, who has led A&M in digs in four of the last five matches, ranks second in the Big 12 with a team-high 4.29 digs per game in conference matches only.
Most recently, 6-2 junior middle blocker Kendra Felder has had the hot hand for the Aggies, having posted double figures in kills in each of the last four matches and hitting .470 during the span. She leads the Big 12 with a .416 hitting efficiency in conference matches only.
KSU is tied with Texas for fourth place in the league. The Wildcats, who were idle on Wednesday, also recently experienced a hard-luck loss after suffering a four-game setback at unranked Baylor last week. The loss broke the Wildcat's 12-match winning streak.
KSU got back into the win column on Saturday with a sweep against Oklahoma but slipped three spots in the Top 25 Poll after being ranked an all-time high No. 9 last week.
KSU is led by senior middle blocker Lauren Goehring, who is ranked third in the nation and first in the Big 12 with a .457 hitting percentage. She also is tied with junior Valeria Hejjas for the team lead in kills with 3.47 per game.
Wildcat libero Laura Downey-Wallace leads the league with 4.04 digs per game for the full season and 4.54 digs per game in conference matches only. Junior middle blocker Lisa Martin is averaging a Big 12-best 1.85 blocks, and Hejjas leads the conference with 5.00 kills per game in conference matches only.
As a team, A&M leads the Big 12 with 16.47 digs per game and is ranked second in both kills (16.60) and assists (14.87) per game for the full season. The Wildcats, who are 0-2 against ranked opponents, are second in the league in both hitting percentage (.271) and opponent hitting percentage (.156) for the full season.
KSU is 8-7 all-time against the Aggies after earning the first season-series sweep by either team last year. The Wildcats, who have won three straight against the Aggies, swept A&M in Manhattan and also swept the Aggies in College Station to become the first of the two teams to claim victory on the opponent's home court.
The Wildcats, who were ranked No. 20 at the time, ended A&M's streak of 78 home matches without a three-game loss by becoming the first team to sweep a match against the Aggies at G. Rollie since A&M's three-game loss to No. 9 Nebraska on Oct. 18, 1997. A&M's two lowest hitting percentages of the 2001 season came against the Wildcats as KSU outhit A&M, .228 to .087, in Manhattan and .250 to .117 in College Station.
A free text book scholarship, courtesy of the Sterling C. Evans Library, will be given away to one lucky A&M student attending Saturday's match.