September 11, 2005
No. 13 Texas A&M had four players reach double figures in kills, but the Aggies came up short in a 30-26, 30-23, 28-30, 30-25 loss to No. 8 Southern California today at the UTSA Dome Rally at the Alamodome.
"We had trouble executing today and getting into the rhythm that we are used to," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "I thought we were pretty flat to begin, and we just looked like a totally different team from what we are used too. We were struggling and clawing to try to get back to the game plan and the execution of what we thought we needed to do to win."
The Aggies (7-2) scored the first three points of the match, but USC answered with a 10-1 rally. The Women of Troy built their biggest lead at 24-16 following a three-point run. A&M managed to get within 28-25 but could get no closer. Diane Copenhagen put down her seventh kill of the game to put USC serving for the game. A Cristin Burton kill kept A&M alive, but Bibiana Candelas killed an errant pass by the Aggies to clinch the game for USC.
The Aggies trailed 13-10 in Game 2 when Meghan Kainz came off the bench and directed A&M to two three-point rallies and a 16-14 lead. A&M held its biggest lead at 21-18, but an Aggie service error followed by consecutive blocks by USC and an A&M attack into the net put the Women of Troy back in the lead, 23-21. Laura Jones ended the run with a kill, but USC answered with a block and three consecutive kills by Staci Venski. Jones once again ended the run with her fifth kill of the game. The Aggies were called for being in the net on a block attempt on the ensuing play. Katelyn Bishop then made the Aggies pay for another pass that hung over the net to put USC serving for the game. The game ended when A&M was whistled for a ball handling error.
"We kind of didn't play to win maybe, and that was really the disappointing part," Corbelli said. "We questioned ourselves at certain times, and I thought our passing kind of broke down a tiny bit. They started to really come at us hard on serving, so they took us a little bit out of our system."
The Women of Troy were unable to hold off an A&M rally late in the third game. A kill by Christi Hahn put A&M ahead, 25-24, but A&M's next two attacks landed out of bounds. USC scored its third straight point on a kill of an A&M pass over the net. A serve into the net ended the run, and Kendra Felder tied the score with a kill. Consecutive kill errors by USC put the Aggies ahead, 29-27. A&M's next attack sailed wide, and USC got within a point before Felder put down the game-winning kill.
"When we were in system and really getting our speed going, we were dominating the net, and our offense was really sharp," Corbelli said. "It was really hard for them to stop. It just wasn't often enough."
There were nine ties in the fourth game. The last tie occurred at 24 before USC had three consecutive kills to pull away. Jones posted a booming kill from the back row to end the run, but Venski and Copenhagen recorded back-to-back kills to put the Women of Troy serving for the match. USC clinched the match on the next play as A&M's attack went into the net.
Jones led the Aggies with 25 kills and was named to the all-tournament team. Hahn and Burton had 13 kills apiece, and Felder added 12.
Defensively, Holly Clay and Jen Moore recorded career highs in digs with 28 and 10, respectively, for the Aggies. Jones also reached double figures in digs with 18 as A&M outdug USC, 81-64.
Candelas and Venski led USC (3-4) with 20 kills each and hit a combined .380. Copenhagen had 17 kills. Libero Debora Seilhammer led in digs with 19, and Kelli Tennant posted a match-high seven blocks.
"We know that we can play a very high quality game," Corbelli said following the tournament. "We just needed to take care of things on our side and I think we could have had a better performance today or a better outcome overall. So I think playing this level is what we needed this weekend. If we had played at a lower level or a level that didn't challenge us, then we may not have discovered some things that we really need to know about the team and them about themselves. So we were excited to get to be here, and hopefully it will just elevate our level of play."
A&M begins Big 12 Conference play Wednesday at Kansas (8-1). First serve is at 7 p.m. at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
Live audio of the match will be available at www.AggieAthletics.com.