September 08, 2004
No. 14 Texas A&M faces tough competition on its first road trip of the season as the Aggies face both No. 13 UC Santa Barbara and No. 8 California at the Golden Bear Invitational.
The Aggies meet the Gauchos Thursday at 7 p.m. (PDT) at Haas Pavilion and then take on the host Bears Saturday at 7 p.m.
A&M is 3-1 after sweeping Texas State Tuesday in College Station. All-American middle blocker Melissa Munsch led A&M with 13 kills, a .526 hitting percentage and eight blocks as A&M outhit the Bobcats, .348 to -.100 and held them to 19 kills.
For the season, Munsch is hitting .481 with 3.83 kills, 2.75 blocks and 5.58 points per game, and she needs only five digs to become the seventh player in A&M history to surpass both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. Junior outside hitter Laura Jones leads the team with 4.0 kills and 3.00 digs per game, and junior setter Kari Kelley is averaging 11.36 assists per game.
UCSB, where A&M associate head coach John Corbelli was a four-year letterwinner on the nationally ranked Gaucho men's team from 1975-78, moved up three spots in the Top 25 Poll to No. 13 after going 3-0 to capture the San Diego State Invitational trophy last weekend. Junior middle blocker Megan Blackshire led the Gauchos with a .517 hitting percentage and 3.7 kills per game to earn MVP honors at the season-opening tournament,
Cal (4-0) moved up two spots to No. 8 after going 3-0 and capturing the Houston Tournament crown last weekend. The title marked the Bears' sixth consecutive regular-season tournament championship, and they extended their tournament-match winning streak to 18. The Bears, who swept then-No. 14 Kansas State in the tournament opener, have yet to drop a game this season.
A&M is 0-3 in the all-time series against UCSB; however, the teams have not met since 1982 when they faced each other three times at neutral locations.
A&M took a 4-3 lead in the all-time series against Cal when the teams last met, Sept. 19, 1997, at the Tournament of Champions in South Bend, Ind. A&M defeated the Golden Bears, 15-3, 15-4, 15-8, en route to the tournament title. The only time the teams met in Berkeley was in 1981 with A&M winning the best-of-three match.
The Cal tournament represents A&M's final tune-up before beginning its quest for a Big 12 Conference championship. The Aggies open league play at Iowa State Wednesday, Sept. 15.