November 21, 2003
No. 21 Texas A&M (20-7, 12-5 Big 12) aims to continue its perfect record against Kansas (18-10, 10-7) and keep hold of third place in the Big 12 standings when the Aggies face the dangerous Jayhawks Saturday in Lawrence. First serve is at 7 p.m. at the Horejsi family Athletics Center...The Aggies, who are 16-0 all-time against the Jayhawks, remained in third place in the league race, 2 1/2 games behind Nebraska and only one game ahead of Colorado, after defeating Baylor, 3-1, in College Station on Wednesday...Kansas had its four-match winning streak snapped in a 3-0 loss at No. 10 Nebraska...Live statistics of the match will be available at http://stats.kuathletics.com/.
TEXAS A&M NEWS AND NOTES
Texas A&M reached the 20-victory milestone for the ninth consecutive year and the 10th time overall during Laurie Corbelli's 11-year A&M coaching career with the Aggies' win against Baylor Wednesday in College Station.
A record seven of A&M's 17 conference matches have gone five games, and five of those contests have been on the road...Last year A&M had a then-record-five five-game matches for the entire Big 12 season. The Aggies, who were 3-2 in conference five-game matches last year, are 4-3 in Big 12 five-game matches this season, including a five-game win over Kansas in College Station...All three of the losses have been on the road, where the Aggies are 2-3 in away Big 12 matches that have been decided in five games...In their only non-conference five-game match this season, the Aggies came back after dropping the first two games to defeat Southwest Missouri State in the opening night of the McDonald's/Texas A&M Invitational...The A&M record for most five-game matches in a full season is nine in 1988.
In the last four matches, junior middle blocker Melissa Munsch is hitting .406 and averaging 4.28 kills and 1.56 blocks per game. In the first game only of the last four matches, Munsch has totaled 27 kills and only one error in 36 attempts (.722).
A&M had a season-high 19 blocks at Colorado last week and followed that match with its second-best blocking performance of the season with 17 at Texas Tech...The Aggies have reached double figures in blocks in three of the last four matches...A&M, which ranks second in the Big 12 with 2.64 blocks per game for the full season, is averaging 3.06 blocks per game over the last four contests while holding opponents to 2.00 blocks per game.
Texas A&M continues to lead the Big 12 in digs for both the full season (17.12) and in conference matches only (17.35)...Senior Beth Skypala leads the Aggies and is ranked fifth in the Big 12 with a 3.46 dig average for the full season and a 3.47 average in conference games only.
Texas A&M leads the Big 12 with 16.42 kills per game for the full season. Sophomore Laura Jones leads the Aggies and is ranked seventh in the league with 3.93 kills per game for the full season, while Melissa Munsch is the team leader in conference matches only with a 3.69 average.
A&M, which is 12-5 in league play, needs one more Big 12 victory to surpass last season's conference win total of 12. In addition, one more win will give the Aggies 21 wins for the full season, equaling A&M's win total from the 2002 season in which the Aggies went 21-10.
Senior middle blocker Tara Pulaski is ranked sixth in the A&M career records with 297 block assists. She needs two more to pass former All-American Sherri Brinkman, who had 298 from 1983-85...Pulaski needs two total blocks to move into ninth in A&M career total blocks with 340.
The Aggies are 7-4 in away matches this season, including 5-3 in road conference matches...A&M's last three away matches have gone five games.
KANSAS NOTES
Kansas (18-10, 10-7 Big 12) fell to sixth place in the league standings and had its four-match win streak snapped with a 3-0 loss at No. 10 Nebraska on Wednesday...Josi Lima and Lindsey Morris led the Jayhawks with 10 kills apiece, but Kansas was outhit, .364 to .171, in the 30-22, 30-21, 30-21 loss...A win against the Aggies will give Kansas its first victory over A&M in the all-time series, and it also will give the Jayhawks their most Big 12 wins in the eight-year history of the league...Kansas is 9-4 in home matches and 2-5 against ranked opponents...The two victories over ranked opponents were at then-No. 13 Minnesota on Sept. 5 and against then-No. 25 Missouri on Nov. 5 in Lawrence...Both matches were decided in five games...On Oct. 29, Kansas won the first two games against then-No. 7 Kansas State in Lawrence but dropped the final three games...Sarah Rome leads the Jayhawks with 3.44 kills per game...Ashley Michaels is averaging 3.15 kills and leads the team with a 0.95 block average and a .324 hitting percentage...The Jayhawks rank last in the league with 1.77 blocks per game...Kansas, which is hoping to receive its first NCAA tournament berth, closes out the regular season next week against Baylor and Texas Tech.
SERIES RECORD
Texas A&M is 16-0 all-time against Kansas, including 7-0 in matches played in Lawrence...Last year in Kansas, the Jayhawks nearly knocked off the Aggies for the first time before losing the fifth game, 15-12. A&M trailed in the decisive final game, 11-9, when the Aggies came back from a timeout and scored five consecutive points, three on consecutive blocks by Carol Price and Tara Pulaski, who finished with 10 blocks. It was the first five-game contest between the two teams since a five-gamer in the first match of the series in 1990...Kansas took the Aggies to five games for the second consecutive time when the teams met earlier this season in College Station...Texas A&M's Beth Skypala posted a career-high 28 kills to lead the 22nd-ranked Aggies to a 30-18, 32-34, 30-24, 29-31, 15-11 hard-fought victory...The Aggies appeared poised to win the match in the fourth game as they rallied for five consecutive points to build a 29-27 edge. Josi Lima ended the run with a kill, while A&M's leading all-around player Melissa Munsch got up slowly after hitting her head on the floor while diving for the ball. Munsch remained in the game, but the shaken Aggies committed back-to-back attack errors and had a reception error as Kansas pulled out the 31-29 win to force a fifth game...The Aggies never trailed in the fifth game, building their biggest lead at 9-3. Just as they had done throughout much of the match, the Jayhawks fought back and twice got within two points. But with A&M leading, 13-11, Laura Jones notched her 14th kill of the match, and Munsch teamed with Pulaski to block Lindsey Morris' attack to end the match...Both teams had four players reach double figures in kills. Lima led Kansas with 17 kills, and Jill Dorsey led the Jayhawks in digs with 19.
UPCOMING
A&M concludes the regular season next week as the Aggies face fifth-ranked and league-leading Kansas State Wednesday in Manhattan and then make their final home appearance against Iowa State on Nov. 29.
NCAA FIELD TO BE ANNOUNCED ON ESPNEWS
The 64-team field for the 2003 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be announced Sunday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. on ESPNews. First and seconds of the tournament will be played Dec. 4-7 at campus sites, and regionals will be held Dec. 11-14 at Hawaii, Florida, Long Beach State and Nebraska...The Final Four will be hosted by the Big 12 Conference and played at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Dec. 18 and 20...Semifinals are slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. on the Dec. 18, and the championship matches is scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 p.m...Tickets are still available and may be purchased at TICKETMASTER.COM or at any TicketMaster location...All-session ticket prices for the two-day event are $35 for adults and $25 for students. If tickets remain, single-session tickets will go on sale the day of the event. Additional information about the championship can be found at www.dallasvb2003.com...The 2003 championship marks the 23rd NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship and only the second time that the event has been held in Texas. The 1994 championship was in Austin.