December 05, 2003
Melissa Munsch posted 17 kills and six blocks to lead No. 24 Texas A&M to a 30-28, 30-24, 31-29 NCAA first-round victory over Nicholls State in front of 1,477 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies (22-9), seeded 16th in the 64-team tournament, now advance to the second round to face Wisconsin Saturday at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie. The Badgers defeated No. 22 Arizona, 30-24, 25-30, 32-30, 30-26, to advance.
"We're really excited to get this win behind us," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "(Nicholls State) had some really nice attackers who didn't make a lot of errors. We came out a little over stimulated, but we were able to settle down and get in our rhythm."
Nicholls State, which had won six consecutive matches and was making its first appearance in the postseason tournament, completes its season with an 18-15 record.
"We came here knowing it would be tough match-up against Texas A&M at their place with their marvelous fans," Nicholls State coach M.J. Engstrom said. "I'm really proud of my team. I think they did very well holding their poise. They weren't intimidated at all. Give or take a couple points here and there and the match might still be going on."
There were 20 ties and 10 lead changes in the tightly contested first game. Neither team was able to build more than a three-point lead until the Colonels pulled out to a 21-18 advantage. A&M fought back, and consecutive aces by Munsch regained the lead for the Aggies at 26-25.
A&M went on to build its biggest lead at 28-25 and 29-26, but Nicholls State got a kill by Caley Carter and an ace by Jennifer Fukino to get within 29-28 before Laura Jones ended the game with her fifth kill.
A&M couldn't shake the determined Colonels in the second game as Nicholls State trailed by only two points at 23-21. The Aggies finally pulled away by going on a 7-3 run to cap the game. Munsch had seven kills with no errors as A&M outhit the Colonels, .400 to .200.
Nicholls State built seven-point leads at 19-12 and 20-13 in the third game when A&M went on a 12-5 scoring run to tie the score. The teams exchanged points and the score remained tied at 27 when a Nicholls State attack error gave A&M its first lead of the game. The Colonels tied the score at 28 and 29 before Carol Price and Beth Skypala posted back-to-back kills to give A&M the victory.
Although Nicholls State posted 51 kills to the Aggies' 50, A&M outhit the Colonels, .314 to .192. A&M also outblocked Nichols State, 11-2.
Carter led the Colonels with 14 kills and Brenda Ross added 12.