September 14, 2005
The 15th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team dropped its Big 12 Conference opener, falling to the Kansas Jayhawks,30-26, 30-27, 30-19, in front of 941 at Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
Kansas improved to 9-1 overall and remained undefeated at home with a 7-0 mark. The Aggies, who suffered their third consecutive three-game loss at Kansas, fall to 7-3.
Kansas used a four-point run to take a 13-12 lead, the Jayhawks' first lead since a 2-1 edge at the start. A&M tied the score at 13 and again at 16, but a kill by KU's Emily Brown and back-to-back attack errors by A&M put the Jayhawks ahead for good. The closest A&M could get was 19-18 before Kansas used an 8-2 scoring run to pull away. A kill and a block by Kendra Felder got the Aggies within 29-26 before Brown ended the game with her sixth kill of the frame.
The Jayhawks carried the momentum into the second game, while A&M got off to a shaky start. Fifteen of Kansas' first 21 points were courtesy of either an A&M block, kill, service, reception or ball handling error, and the Aggies quickly fell behind, 21-11. Then the momentum made a sudden change, and A&M erupted for seven unanswered points. The Aggies managed to tie the score at 24 following a three-point run. The teams exchanged point for point and the score was tied at 27 before Kansas used a three-point rally to end the game and take a two-game lead going into the intermission.
A&M held a 10-8 advantage to start the third game when Kansas posted four consecutive kills to take its first lead in the stanza. The Jayhawks, who hit .412 while holding the Aggies to a .000 hitting percentage in the final game, continued to pull away, using a four- and a five-point run to build a 27-17 lead. Kansas led, 29-18, when Jones posted her team-leading 17th kill for A&M. The Aggies next attack went into the net to conclude the sweep.
Kansas had 52 kills and a .314 hitting efficiency in the match and was led by Josi Limi, who had 19 kills and a .467 hitting percentage.
A&M was held to 39 kills and a .142 hitting percentage.
The Aggies play their first Big 12 home match of the season Friday, taking on 10th-ranked Missouri (7-0, 1-0 Big 12) 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 poll of the league coaches.