August 27, 2005
Holly Clay posted a career-high 16 digs and All-American outside hitter Laura Jones had 17 kills and 15 digs to lead 16th-ranked Texas A&M to a 30-21, 30-16, 30-22 victory over Texas-Arlington in front of 2,394 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
"Holly has just been more focused than I've seen her," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said about her senior libero. "This is her fourth season, and she is on a mission. She and Jones are just really focused on the season and their games, and they really feed off of each other."
The victory was A&M's ninth consecutive victory against UTA. In addition, the victory was A&M's second consecutive sweep in as many matches as the Aggies finish 2-0 at the Fazoli's FunFest. UTA, which defeated Prairie View A&M, 3-0, in its season opener earlier in the day, falls to 1-1.
The match opened with both teams trading points until A&M took its first lead at 8-7 following a UTA kill error. A&M then reeled off strings of points to eventually pull away in the first frame.
UTA scored the first two points of the second game, but A&M answered with an 11-1 scoring run. Jones, who tallied 10 kills in the game, posted five kills during the spurt. The closest UTA could get was 17-12 following a three-point run. Kendra Felder ended the rally with a kill, which marked the start of an 8-1 scoring run for A&M. Leading 27-16, middle blocker Kelly Stanton and right-side hitter Christi Hahn recorded back-to-back kills for the Aggies, and a UTA error gave A&M a two-game lead.
"I thought both teams had better skill level than I was expecting this early in the year," Corbelli said. "One thing we knew we had to do to beat them was to really keep our speed as the focal point of our offense, keep the speed on the set. To our slide hitter, we needed more speed there and it didn't get going in the first two games. That was a big adjustment that this team needed to make that I thought was hard for UTA to handle."
After running a 5-1 offense in the first two games with Kari Kelley setting in the first game and Meghan Kainz directing the offense in the second game, Corbelli decided to incorporate both to run a 6-2 offense. It proved to be as effective.
"Using both setters was fun, and I think the team really likes that," Corbelli said. "It offers us a lot of options, and it gives us a new look. Both setters are extremely capable. They are very similar in their style and their delivery, so we don't really have a big change-up from one to the other. The hitters are comfortable with both, so it is really nice and I feel very fortunate to have it, and it is fun to see."
A&M jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the final game. UTA got within four points at 18-14 and 19-15, but A&M put the match out of reach following a 7-2 scoring run, which included kills from five different players. The Aggies held onto a 29-22 lead when Hahn put down her 11th kill of the match to clinch the sweep for A&M.
Hahn tied her career high with a .476 hitting percentage as A&M outhit UTA, .333 to .089. Kainz, a sophomore, finished the match with 25 assists and seven kills, both career highs.
Morgan Rogers led the Mavericks with eight kills, and Ashley Van Antwerp had a team-high 15 digs.
The Aggies return to action next weekend as they host the Texas A&M/McDonald's Invitational Friday and Saturday at G. Rollie. Other teams participating are No. 23 Saint Mary's, Lehigh and Virginia.