September 05, 2005
No. 13 Texas A&M hits the road for the first time this season, taking its 5-0 record to Huntsville, Texas, to take on Sam Houston State (1-2) Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum. (A complete release in pdf format is available at AggieAthletics.com).
Live Internet audio of the match will be available at www.AggieAthletics.com.
The Aggies, who are undefeated after five matches for only the third time in school history, are coming off a 3-0 weekend in which they swept No. 23 Saint Mary's, Lehigh and Virginia to win the Texas A&M/McDonald's Invitational.
Sam Houston, which will be making its home season debut, is 1-2 following its first weekend of action. The Bearkats fell to Ole Miss, 3-1, in the opener of the Houston Invitational and defeated Arkansas State, 3-2. SHSU concluded the tournament by falling to Miami, 3-0.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
Texas A&M is 27-7-1 in the all-time series against SHSU and is riding a two-match winning streak against the Bearkats. Although the Aggies hold a commanding lead in the all-time series, their record in Huntsville is 5-4. The teams last met Sept, 13, 2002, at the McDonald's/Texas A&M Invitational II, where the Aggies defeated the Bearkats, 3-1, en route to the tournament title. The Bearkats' most recent victory against A&M was Sept. 7, 1994, the last time the Aggies made a trip to Huntsville.
TEXAS A&M NOTES
Undefeated after 5 - A&M's 5-0 start has been accomplished by only three other Aggie teams. The 1982 squad holds the record for the best start, winning its first seven matches before falling to 19th-ranked Nebraska, 3-2. In 2001, A&M opened 6-0 and had not lost a single game before dropping a 3-1 decision to ninth-ranked and eventual national-champion Stanford. The 2002 A&M team is the most recent group to open 5-0, but the streak ended at five following a 3-1 loss to No. 16 Wisconsin in Madison.
Aggies Jump to No. 13 - A&M jumped three spots from its preseason No. 16 national ranking to No. 13 in the first CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Poll of the regular season released Monday. Nebraska remained at No. 1. Washington, Stanford, Penn State and Minnesota round out the top five. The Big 12 also is represented by No. 14 Missouri, No. 17 Texas and No. 24 Kansas State. Kansas is receiving votes and is listed 38th.
Jones Climbs to Sixth - Laura Jones, the Texas A&M/McDonald's Invitational MVP, is averaging 6.0 kills per game and is rapidly climbing the A&M record books for career kills. The fourth-year starter had 22 kills against Virginia to move into sixth place with 1,438. She needs 25 kills to move into fifth place, surpassing Sherri Brinkman, who tallied 1,462 kills from 1985-88. Krisitie Smedsrud (1994-97) is the all-time leader with 1,777.
Clay Digging In - Libero Holly Clay, who had averaged 1.74 digs per game over the past two seasons, is averaging a team-leading 5.21 digs per game this season. She has broken her previous career high of 15 digs in three of A&M?s five matches this season, including a team-season high 22 digs in the sweep against Virginia. Clay earned all-tournament honors at the Texas A&M/McDonald's Invitational after averaging 5.62 digs per game.
Breaking Records - With Clay leading the backcourt defense and fending off opponents' potentially point-producing kills, A&M has already twice broken its record for fewest points allowed in a match. In the season opener, A&M held Prairie View A&M to 42 total points in a 30-12, 30-8, 30-22 victory. The 42 points allowed broke the previous record of 46 points in a 30-14, 30-17, 30-15 victory against McNeese State on Sept. 3, 2004. In only the third match following the record-setting performance against Prairie View A&M, the Aggies once again set a record, holding Lehigh to 39 points in a 30-9, 30-16, 30-15 victory at the McDonald's Invitational.
SAM HOUSTON STATE NOTES
The Bearkats (1-2) return four starters from last year's team that went 16-15 and placed sixth in the Southland Conference with a 10-10 mark. Senior middle blocker Alisha Fowler, a two-time SLC high jump champion in track and field and a volleyball All-SLC second team in 2004, has led the Bearkats in kills in every match and leads SHSU with a .330 hitting percentage and 3.92 kills and 1.5 blocks per game. Senior middle blocker Chrissy Engle is adding 2.17 blocks per game.
UPCOMING
Texas A&M faces its biggest challenge of the season this weekend as the Aggies face No. 6 Florida, LSU and No. 8 Southern California, Fri.-Sun., respectively, at the UTSA Dome Rally at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Alamodome also will serve as host of the 2005 volleyball Final Four, Dec. 15 and 17. A&M opens the Dome Rally against the Gators at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The match will be televised by Sun Sports (formerly known as Sunshine Network) Thursday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. (CDT) and again on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 11 p.m. (CDT). The Aggies face LSU Saturday at 11 a.m. and conclude the tournament against USC Sunday at 1 p.m. Live audio of the LSU and USC matches will be available at www.AggieAthletics.com. The tournament is A&M's final tune-up before beginning Big 12 Conference play Wednesday, Sept. 14 at Kansas.