September 13, 2005
The 15th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball teams opens its Big 12 Conference season Wednesday as the Aggies take on the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
Live audio of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
A&M is 7-2 overall after going 1-2 at the UTSA Dome Rally in San Antonio last weekend. Despite one of their better performances of the season, the Aggies fell to No. 6 Florida, 3-1, on Friday. Big 12 Player of the Week Laura Jones then led A&M to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory against LSU, posting a school-record 39 points and tying an A&M record with 35 kills against the Tigers. A&M concluded the tournament with a 3-1 setback to No. 8 Southern California on Sunday.
Jones leads the Aggies and the Big 12 with 5.83 kills and 6.57 points per game. Libero Holly Clay, who tallied a career-high 28 digs against USC, leads the league with a 5.23 dig average.
As a team, A&M is hitting .250 and averaging 16.47 kills, 2.66 blocks, 2.09 aces and a conference-leading 18.25 digs per game. Opponents are being held to a .142 hitting percentage and 12.62 kills, 2.36 blocks, 0.88 aces and 14.84 digs per game.
Kansas is 8-1, including 6-0 in home matches. The Jayhawks are riding a four-match winning streak and have not dropped a game since suffering their only loss of the season, a 3-1 setback at BYU on Sept. 2.
The Jayhawks have three players who are averaging more than three kills per game, including Preseason all-Big 12 selection Josi Lima, who leads the team with 3.87 kills and 1.2 blocks per game.
As a team, Kansas is hitting .262 and averaging 16.73 kills, 14.43 digs, 3.12 blocks and a league-leading 2.47 aces per game. Opponents are being held to a .167 attack percentage and are averaging 13.13 kills, 12.53 digs, 2.53 blocks and 1.17 aces per game.
A&M owns a 17-2 record in the all-time series against the Jayhawks. The two losses, however, have been in each of the Aggies' last two visits to Lawrence. Last year, A&M defeated Kansas, 3-1, in College Station but got swept for the second consecutive year at Kansas.
The Aggies, who are 6-3 in Big 12 openers, including a 3-3 record when opening on the road, were picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 according to a preseason poll of the conference coaches. Kansas, which tied for sixth last season, is picked to finish fifth.
The Aggies play their first Big 12 home match of the season Friday, taking on 10th-ranked Missouri at 6:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The Tigers, who are 0-9 in matches played at G. Rollie, tied A&M for third place in the Big 12 last season and are picked to finish second this year according to the preseason coaches poll.