November 23, 2004
No. 18 Texas A&M (17-7, 13-5 Big 12) wraps up its regular season this week with two crucial home contests, beginning Wednesday when the Aggies take on No. 23 Kansas State (18-9, 12-6 Big 12. First serve is at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. (Complete release in pdf format is available at AggieAthletics.com.)
Both Texas A&M and K-State enter the match coming off losses to unranked opponents. The Aggies, who are 8-0 in home conference matches, are tied with Missouri for third place in the Big 12 after falling to Kansas in three games in Lawrence on Saturday. The Wildcats remained a match behind A&M and in fifth place in the league after losing, 3-2, to Texas Tech Saturday in Manhattan.
A&M concludes the regular season by playing host to No. 2 Nebraska on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Huskers enter the week 25-1 overall and 18-0 in the Big 12 and have already clinched the Big 12 title and the league?s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
SERIES RECORD: KSU leads the all-time series against the Aggies, 11-7, and has won the last six meetings. On Sept. 22, the Wildcats defeated No. 11 A&M, 30-22, 30-22, 30-22, in Manhattan. With the win, KSU improved to 9-0 in home matches against the Aggies. A&M is 6-2 against KSU in College Station, but the Wildcats have gone home victorious in their last two visits to G. Rollie White Coliseum. A&M has not defeated KSU since Oct. 22, 2001, when the No. 14 Aggies defeated unranked KSU, 3-1, in College Station.
TEXAS A&M QUICK HITS: The Aggies are 11-1 in home matches, including 8-0 in Big 12 home matches. A&M, whose only home loss of the year was to No. 3 UCLA on Sept. 4, went 10-0 in home conference matches in 1999, the only year the Aggies have not dropped a home league match.
A&M is outhitting its opponents, .280 to .123, in the homey confines of G. Rollie White Coliseum. A&M is outhitting its opponents, .253 to .185, for the full season and .248 to .203 in conference matches.
A&M has outblocked its opponents in 20 of 24 matches and entered this week ranked 12th in the nation with 3.22 blocks per game. Nebraska leads the nation with 4.02 blocks per game. In conference matches only, the Aggies are second to the Huskers (4.09) with 3.15 blocks per game.
With a 13-5 record in conference matches, A&M has equaled its total number of league wins last year when the Aggies went 13-7 and tied Colorado and Kansas for third place.
A&M is 3-5 against ranked opponents. Wins were at No. 8 California and against No. 9 Texas and No. 24 Kansas, both at G. Rollie White Coliseum. Losses were to No. 3 UCLA, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 9 Texas, No. 13 UC Santa Barbara and No. 19 Kansas State all on the road.
A&M has three starters hitting above .300. Junior middle blocker Kendra Felder hit .519 against Kansas with 15 kills and one error in 27 attempts to improve her season hitting percentage to a team-leading .322. Sophomore right-side hitter Christi Hahn is hitting .314, and senior middle blocker Melissa Munsch is hitting .307.
Texas A&M is listed No. 3 in the most recent RichKern.com/AVCA Central Region rankings and No. 16 in the RichKern.com national ranking, which mimics the NCAA RPI. Nebraska is ranked No. 1 in the region, followed by Texas, A&M, Missouri and Kansas State.
Texas A&M dropped five spots to No. 18 in this week?s USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches Poll, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced Monday. The Aggies made the tumble after getting swept by unranked Kansas in Lawrence on Saturday. The No. 18 ranking is the lowest since a No. 20 ranking on Oct. 11.
A&M entered the week rank 11th in the nation in attendance, averaging 1,813 per match. The Aggies drew a season-high 3,150 in a 3-1 victory over previously undefeated and ninth-ranked Texas on Oct. 16. It ranks fourth in the A&M all-time home attendance records. A&M ranked eighth in the final 2003 national attendance records with an all-time high 1,801 average.
KANSAS STATE NOTES: Kansas State (18-9) dropped three spots to No. 23 in the national rankings and remained in fifth place in the Big 12 standings after being upset by unranked Texas Tech, 3-2, in Manhattan. The Wildcats won the first two games, but Kelly Johnson led the Red Raider comeback, totalling 33 kills in the match. KSU outhit Tech, .276 to .075, over the first two games before the Red Raiders settled down offensively to outhit the Wildcats, .263 to .232, to win the last three games. It marked only the third time since 1998 that KSU fell at home to an unranked opponent. Vali Hejjas led the Wildcats with 17 kills, while Agata Rezende added 16 kills with a .406 hitting percentage. Martin contributed 15 kills while hitting at a .464 clip.
Kansas State went 18-2 last year to capture its first Big 12 title. The Wildcats were picked to finish second this year according to a preseason poll of the league coaches.
KSU leads the Big 12 with 1.92 aces per game for the full season and a 2.15 average in Big 12 matches only. Freshman libero Angie Lastra ranks 16th in the nation and is the conference?s individual leader with 0.58 aces per game for the full season and 0.56 aces per game in league play.
The Wildcats are 1-7 against ranked opponents. Their one victory was against No. 11 Texas A&M in Manhattan on Sept. 22...KSU is 7-4 in away matches, including 6-3 in away conference matches.
Suzie Fritz (Florida Atlantic ?94) is 89-31 in her fourth year as head coach of the Wildcats.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE: A&M concludes the regular season against No. 2 Nebraska Saturday in College Station. First serve is at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. A&M?s four seniors, Lindsay Frantz, Carrie Moreira, Melissa Munsch and Sarah Vick will be recognized prior to the start of the Nebraska match. Nebraska, which has already clinched the Big 12 title with an 18-0 mark, has won the last 10 meetings against the Aggies.
NCAA TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENT: The 64-team field for the 2004 NCAA Division I Women?s Volleyball Championship will be announced Sunday, Nov. 28 at 5:45 p.m. on ESPNews. First- and second-round matches will be played Dec. 2-5 at campus sites, and regionals will be held Dec. 10-11 in Louisville, Ky., Minneapolis, Minn., Seattle, Wash., and Green Bay, Wis. The semifinals and championship will be played Dec. 16 and 18 in Long Beach, Calif.
San Antonio?s Alamodome will serve as the host site for the 2005 NCAA Final Four.