October 07, 2003
No. 24 Texas A&M (10-5, 2-3 Big 12) aims to get back into the win column and Texas Tech (8-7, 0-6 Big 12) will be looking for its first conference victory when the Aggies play host to the Red Raiders Wednesday at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum ...The Aggies, who have dropped two consecutive matches, are tied with Baylor for seventh place in the Big 12 standings...After opening the season with eight consecutive wins, Texas Tech has dropped seven straight matches, including all six Big 12 matches, and is in last place in the league race.
TEXAS A&M NEWS AND NOTES
Texas A&M (10-5, 2-3), which was picked to finish tied with Missouri for fourth place according to a preseason poll of the league coaches, slipped two spots to No. 24 in this week*s USA Today/AVCA Top 25 Poll after falling to both Texas and No. 12 Kansas State last week. The Aggies have not lost more than two consecutive matches since 1998 when A&M suffered a six-match losing skid, which included a five-game home loss to Texas Tech...The Aggies are led by junior middle blocker Kendra Felder, who is hitting a team-best .304 for the full season and leads the Big 12 with a .397 hitting percentage in conference matches only...Sophomore outside hitter Laura Jones leads the Aggies with 4.19 kills per game, and senior outside hitter Beth Skypala is the team leader in digs with a 3.70 average. Skypala, who has posted double figures in digs in each of the last five matches, also has been productive at the net of late, posting double figures in kills in each of the last seven matches.
FELDER ON FIRE: In her first year as a starter, junior Kendra Felder has had the hot hand for the Aggies. The 6-2 middle blocker posted double figures in kills in four of the last five matches and is hitting .442 during that span. Felder began the streak by posting career highs with 14 kills and a .440 hitting percentage against Houston on Sept. 21 and then bettered her personal bests in the ensuing match with 16 kills and a .500 hitting efficiency against Colorado, committing only one error in 30 attempts. Felder tallied 12 kills and a .417 hitting efficiency against Missouri on Sept. 26 and set another career high with a .524 hitting percentage against Texas with 13 kills and two errors in 21 attempts. Although she posted seven kills with a .300 hitting percentage against Kansas State, Felder had a career performance on defense with a personal-best eight blocks...Felder has now posted double figures in kills in six matches this season and is hitting .425 when recording 10 or more kills.
DIGGIN' IT: A&M continues to lead the Big 12 in digs per game for both the full season (16.39) and in Big 12 matches only (15.96)...Individually, senior outside hitter Beth Skypala leads the Aggies and is second in the league in digs per game in conference matches only with a 4.17 norm. She is ranked fifth in the Big 12 for the full season with 3.70 digs per game and has led the Aggies in digs in a team-high seven matches, including five of A&M's last six matches... Skypala has tallied double figures in a total of eight matches, including each of the last five matches in which she is averaging 4,27 digs per game. In addition, the Amarillo High School product has posted 20 or more digs three times this season.
KEEPING UP WITH JONES: Sophomore outside hitter Laura Jones, who earned all-tournament honors in all three tournaments that A&M participated in this season--including MVP honors at the Duke Invitational--has led the Aggies in kills in nine matches. She has posted double-figure kill performances in all but one match (seven kills in two games against Centenary) and has recorded 20-plus kills four times, including a career-high 29 against Southwest Missouri State. Jones also added a career-high 23 digs against the Bears to post the first 20-20 performance of her career...The Arlington, Texas, native leads A&M with 4.19 kills and 4.79 points per game, as well as eight double-doubles.
MUNSCH TIME: Junior middle blocker Melissa Munsch tied the A&M single-match record with 12 block assists against Southwest Missouri State. In addition, Munsch's career-high 14 total blocks against the Bears ranks second in the A&M records...Munsch also added 24 kills and 12 digs against SMS to post the first triple-double of her career and A&M's first triple-double since former All-American setter Jenna Moscovic tallied her nation-leading fifth triple-double of the season with 13 kills, 55 assists and 11 digs in a five-game match at Kansas State on Nov. 17, 2001...Against Colorado, the Columbus, Texas, native tied a personal and A&M record with six service aces...Munsch is the team leader in both blocks per game (1.21) and aces per game (0.32) and is second on the squad with 3.72 kills and 4.70 points per game...Munsch needs 131 kills to reach 1,000 for her career.
JOLLY ROLLIE: The Aggies are 123-21 (.854) at G. Rollie White Coliseum since Laurie Corbelli became head coach of the Aggies in 1993. Eighteen of the home losses have been to ranked opponents. Colorado and Texas Tech, who has won twice at G. Rollie, are the only unranked teams to win in College Station during Corbelli's tenure.
TEXAS TECH NOTES
The Red Raiders (8-7, 0-6 Big 12) opened the season with eight consecutive wins but have since lost seven straight and are off to their worst start in Big 12 or Southwest Conference play with an 0-6 mark...Tech, which suffered its first-ever conference loss to Iowa State last week, is coming off a 3-1 setback to Kansas in Lubbock on Saturday. The Jayhawks, who were held to a .044 hitting percentage in the opening frame, got on track after dropping the first game, 30-25, to win the next three, 30-24, 33-31, 30-25. Kansas outhit Tech .305 to .244 for the match, posting 80 kills to Tech*s 66...Junior outside hitter Kelly Johnson led the Red Raiders with a match-high and season-high 31 kills and hit .357 for the match. She leads the Red Raiders and the Big 12 with 5.67 kills per game for the full season and a 5.29 kill average in league matches only. Junior setter Laura Grote is second in the league with 12.48 assists for the full season, and junior Jessy Herrera is third in the Big 12 with 3.74 digs per game for the full season...After serving eight seasons as assistant coach of the Red Raiders, Nancy Todd was named Tech's head coach following the departure of eight-year head coach Jeff Nelson, who is now the head coach at the University of San Francisco.
SERIES RECORD
Texas A&M leads the all-time series against Texas Tech, 39-23, since 1976, including a 10-4 mark since Big 12 Conference play began in 1996. The Red Raiders, however, won the most recent meeting (Nov. 23, 2002) against the Aggies, 3-1, in Lubbock as A&M was unable to get into a rhythm. Melissa McGehee and Kelly Johnson posted 25 kills each to pace Tech. Melissa Munsch led A&M with 16 kills and hit at a .389 clip as the Aggies outhit Tech, .299 to .246. A&M also led in blocks with a season-high 20.0 stuffs to the Red Raiders' 9.5 with Tara Pulaski tallying a match-high 10 blocks for the Aggies...A&M won last year's meeting in College Station, overcoming an 11-7 deficit in the fifth game for a dramatic 30-22, 30-27, 28-30, 20-30, 15-12 victory. Munsch led four Aggie attackers in double figures with a team-high 20 kills to go along with 10 digs. Senior Julia Rex had a career-high 17 kills, while Laura Jones and A.D. Achilefu added 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Johnson led the Red Raiders with 20 kills, while McGehee added 15. The Aggies out-hit Tech, .247 to .191 for the match and out-dug the Red Raiders, 68 to 59. A&M posted 10 blocks on the night to Texas Tech's seven.
UPCOMING
The Aggies hit the road to take on the Iowa State Cyclones Saturday in Ames, Iowa. First serve is at 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum...A&M, which is riding a 15-match winning streak against the Cyclones, is 16-1 all-time against Iowa State, including a 14-0 mark in Big 12 match-ups.