September 17, 2004
Melissa Munsch posted the third triple-double of her career and Laura Jones tallied 20 kills to lead No. 12 Texas A&M to a 30-18, 25-30, 30-21, 30-26 victory over No. 24 Kansas in front of 2,182 tonight at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Munsch completed the night with 14 kills, 10 digs and a season high 10 blocks as the Aggies improved to 6-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference and handed Kansas its first loss of the season. The Jayhawks, who were opening Big 12 play, fall to 8-1 overall and remain winless in 10 visits to College Station.
Christi Hahn, making the first start of her career while Kendra Felder was out with an ankle injury, also reached double figures in kills for the Aggies with a career-high 13 while hitting at a team-leading .455 clip.
"Our players really, really wanted to win tonight, and the 12th Man was incredible," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said.
The score was tied at 3-3 in the opening game when Jones put down a kill which sparked an 8-1 scoring run for the Aggies. The Jayhawks closed the gap to five points at 12-7 but could not manage to get any closer for the remainder of the game as A&M outhit Kansas, .571 to .100.
"We were on fire in Game 1," Corbelli said. "Kansas was trying to figure out Jones and Munsch, because they knew they needed to stop those two."
There were four lead changes and 11 ties in the second stanza. Kansas took its second lead of the game at 18-17 on a kill by Paula Caten. The teams exchanged points and were tied at 19 when a kill by KU's Emily Brown broke the tie for the last time.
The Jayhawks built a 25-21 lead, but A&M scored three unanswered points to get within a point. A kill by Josi Lima ended the Aggies' short-lived rally, and the Jayhawks pulled away for a 30-25 win and evened the match at a game apiece.
The Aggies built a 10-5 lead in Game 3, but back-to-back kills by Caten and Lima and a string of three A&M attack errors put the Jayhawks back within a point. But the Aggies went on an 8-1 scoring run to build an 18-10 advantage. The Jayhawks cut the lead to four at 20-16 but were unable to overcome the deficit as A&M scored four straight points.
A kill by Hahn gave A&M its biggest lead of the game at 29-19, and she later put down the game-winning kill to give the Aggies a 2-1 game lead.
"Kansas made some great defensive adjustments in Game 2 and we just tried to get back to the things that had worked for us," Corbelli said. "We moved Laura around a lot, and we had gotten away from the slide and needed to continue to get back and execute that play."
The fourth game was a battle as there were nine lead changes and 15 ties. Kansas held a 25-22 advantage to mark its biggest lead of the game, but A&M scored six consecutive points to regain the lead. The Jayhawks got within two points at 28-26 before Jones capped off the match with back-to-back kills.
Lima led the Jayhawks with 17 kills. Caten and Lindsey Morris, who went out with an injury in the fourth game, finished with 10 kills apiece.
The Kansas match represented the first of three consecutive ranked opponents for the Aggies, who hit the road next week to face defending Big 12 champion and 16th-ranked Kansas State in Manhattan on Wednesday and No. 8 Nebraska Saturday in Lincoln.