September 01, 2004
The Texas A&M volleyball team opens its season this week with the McDonald's/Texas A&M Invitational at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The Aggies, ranked 15th in the preseason USA Today/CSTV Coaches Top 25 Poll, begin the three-day, six-team tournament Friday against Georgia Southern at 10:30 a.m. Bethune-Cookman had to pull out of the tournament due to travel issues associated with Hurricane Frances.
A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli welcomes back three starters and six others from last year's team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and ranked No. 16 in the final poll with a 23-10 mark. Corbelli, who enters her 12th season at the helm of the Aggies, also brings in five talented newcomers.
"We have some key returners who know what is expected," Corbelli said. "They are showing a lot of excitement in our practices, and their intensity level has helped the younger players get into match mode.
"After 2 1/2 weeks of practices, we are ready to compete, and it always is a lot of fun to hear that first whistle and get the season started."
A&M will play three matches, concluding the tournament against No. 3 UCLA Saturday at 7 p.m. Two-time Aggie Olympian Stacy Sykora, the top digger at the 2004 Olympic Games, will be honored prior to the match against the Bruins, and she will be signing autographs immediately following the match.
"We wanted to play a lot of volleyball on the first weekend of the season, and this tournament allows us to do that," Corbelli said. "We are lucky to have teams coming in who can provide some great matches for us at the start of the season. We are looking forward to playing strong and staying fresh for the finale against UCLA, which will be a lot of fun."
A&M is 0-3 all-time against UCLA, which advanced to the NCAA regional finals and finished No. 5 with a 24-9 record last year. The Aggies will be facing Georgia Southern, which advanced to the NCAA first round in 2003, and McNeese State for the first time.
Other teams participating in the tournament are Samford and Southern Mississippi.
The following is the complete tournament schedule:
Thursday, Sept. 2
5 p.m. McNeese State vs. Georgia Southern
Friday, Sept. 3
8:30 a.m. McNeese State vs. Samford
10:30 a.m. No. 15 Texas A&M vs. Georgia Southern
12:30 p.m. No. 3 UCLA vs. Southern Mississippi
4:30 p.m. No. 15 Texas A&M vs. McNeese State
6:30 p.m. Samford vs. Georgia Southern
Saturday, Sept. 4
10 a.m. No. 3 UCLA vs. Samford
12 p.m. McNeese State vs. Southern Mississippi
4 p.m. Georgia Southern vs. Southern Mississippi
7 p.m. No. 15 Texas A&M vs. No. 3 UCLA
Tickets are $7 for a reserve seat, $5 for adult general admission and $3 for high school age and under. A ticket is valid for all matches played on the day in which it is purchased. A&M students with all-sports passes are admitted free.
Live scoring of all matches will be available at www.AggieAthletics.com/live/volleyball. In addition, live audio of all of A&M's matches this weekend can be found on the Aggie website with Matt Simon calling the action.
Live video streaming of all three matches, including the top 15 showdown between the No. 15 Aggies and No. 3 UCLA, also will be available to Aggie Ultimate Access subscribers. For membership information, go to www.AggieAthletics.com and click on "Sign Up Now" under the AUA header on the upper right-hand side of the page.