December 12, 2003
Texas A&M's season came to an end as the Aggies fell to defending national champion and top-seeded Southern California, 30-26, 30-25, 30-27, in the NCAA Championship regional semifinal at Nebraska Coliseum.
"Obviously I'm disappointed to be eliminated," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We had a lot of ups and downs this season, and to get this far was a pleasure. We played with a lot of spirit and heart tonight, and I couldn't be prouder how we played."
A&M, the No. 16 seed in the tournament, ends its season at 23-10 after reaching the NCAA regional for the sixth time in school history. USC ties the NCAA record for consecutive wins at 44 and improves to 32-0 for the season. The Women of Troy face the winner of No. 8 UCLA vs. No. 9 Nebraska Saturday for a spot in the Final Four.
"That was a heck of a volleyball match," USC coach Mick Haley said. "A&M played a really, really good match. We had a great battle, and A&M's intensity was really good. We were ragged in spots, but I was pleased with the outcome."
Laura Jones led the Aggies with 14 kills, and Beth Skypala added 11. Melissa Munsch led the team in digs with 18, and Kendra Felder posted a match-high five blocks.
Bibiana Candelas led the Women of Troy with 14 kills and four blocks. Keao Burdine added 13 kills, and Nicole Davis had a team-high 16 digs.
The team statistical totals were close, as USC outhit A&M, .236 to .199, posting 51 kills to A&M's 49. USC had nine blocks to the Aggies' eight, and A&M led in digs, 66-64.
A&M took the lead in Game 1 at 2-1 following a kill by Skypala. The Women of Troy tied the score three times before taking the lead for good on an ace by Emily Adams. USC held a 14-12 lead when the Trojans went on a 6-1 run to build their biggest lead of the game. USC was serving for the game at 29-24 when a kill by Carol Price and an ace by Lexy Beers put the Aggies within 29-26. A&M's comeback and the game ended when Beers' next serve sailed long.
There were five lead changes and seven ties in the tightly contested second game. A&M trailed 6-3, but Skypala posted consecutive kills and Munsch added a kill and a solo block to spark the Aggies to their first lead at 8-7. USC regained the lead at 10-9, but A&M answered with its second three-point run to go up, 12-10, and build its biggest lead of the game. The Trojans were down, 14-13, when they rallied for five unanswered points to retake the lead. They maintained their four-point advantage at 24-20, when kills by Felder and Price and two USC attack errors tied the score for the last time. USC answered with its own four-point run to pull away. Skypala ended the run by putting down an excellent one-handed set by Beers, but a service error and an attack error by the Aggies ended the game and gave the Trojans a 2-0 game lead going into the break.
Just as they had done throughout most of the first two games, the Aggies stayed within striking distance throughout the third game. A&M trailed, 18-16, when the Aggies scored three consecutive points, two on back-to-back kills by Felder, to take their first lead since scoring the first point of the game.
A&M held a 20-19 edge when USC scored four straight points to take the lead for good. The Aggies twice cut the lead to one point but were unable to catch the Trojans. USC was up 29-26, but Jones tooled a kill off the block to prolong the game. Burdine then tooled the A&M block for the match-winning kill.
"We were consistently staying with them until a few detail errors here and there," Corbelli said. "Any other team than the No. 1 team on the other side of the net and we would still be playing."
The loss marked the end of the careers of A&M's four seniors, Price, Skypala, Tara Pulaski and Rebecca Wynalda.
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