September 22, 2004
Eleventh-ranked Texas A&M struggled with its passing and serve reception, giving up a season-high 11 aces and falling to No. 19 Kansas State, 30-22, 30-22, 30-20, in front of 2,012 at Ahearn Field House.
A&M, still looking for its first win in nine visits to Manhattan, falls to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12 Conference. The defending Big 12-champion Wildcats, who were playing their league home opener, improve to 7-4 and 1-1.
The Aggies were outblocked for the first time this season as K-State posted seven blocks to A&M's six. In addition, K-State hit .387, and season-high by an A&M opponent, and A&M was held to a .147 hitting percentage, its second lowest hitting efficiency of the season.
Melissa Munsch led A&M with nine kills. Cristin Burton added a career-high eight kills. Laura Jones finished with six kills, one shy of reaching 1,000 kills in her career.
A&M trailed 10-7 in the opening game when the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach. K-State held a 20-8 lead when freshman setter Megan Kainz came in for a short stint and sparked the Aggies to four unanswered points. Joy Hamlin ended the streak with a kill, and the teams exchanged points until K-State went on a 5-0 run to build its biggest lead of the game at 27-14. The Wildcats maintained a 28-15 advantage before the Aggies made a last-ditch rally, scoring seven straight points to cut the lead to 28-22. But A&M's next serve went into the net, and Hamlin blocked Kendra Felder's attack to end the game.
A&M held its third and final lead of the match with a 6-5 edge in the second game. The lead was short lived as an A&M attack error and three straight Wildcat kills along with an ace, put K-State up 10-6. The Aggies twice cut the lead to one, but with K-State leading 18-16, A&M's passing broke down. The Wildcats took advantage of the Aggies' miscues and scored seven unanswered points, three on consecutive aces by Sandy Werner.
K-State took its biggest lead of the game at 28-18. Munsch posted a kill, and back-to-back Wildcat attack errors cut the lead to 28-21. Vali Hejjas ended A&M's mini rally with a kill, and after an A&M kill, ended the game with her 11th kill of the match.
The Wildcats led the entire third game to clinch the match. K-State rallied for consecutive points nine times, including a four-point run to give the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game at 28-17. K-State led 29-18 when Christi Hahn put down consecutive kills to keep the Aggies alive. Hejjas followed with her match-leading 14th kill to end the match and keep A&M winless in Manhattan.
The Aggies face their third consecutive ranked opponent Saturday as A&M faces No. 7 Nebraska in Lincoln. First serve is at 7 p.m. at Nebraska Coliseum, and the match will be televised live by CSTV (DirecTV 610).