September 16, 2005
No. 10 Missouri remained undefeated and picked up its first win in 10 visits to G. Rollie White Coliseum with a 29-31, 30-28, 30-24, 30-25 victory against No. 15 Texas A&M in front of 2,455.
"This Missouri team was a really, really strong, strong team, and they outplayed us tonight," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "They execute well. They are very consistent. They don't make a lot of errors, and that will get you into the Top 10.
"It is just an eye-opener for us to see that we hung in there with another top team in the country, but we just have a little further to go."
Missouri overcame a 17-11 deficit in the opening frame and was serving for the game at 29-28 when Laura Jones put down one of her match-high 22 kills for the Aggies. Christi Hahn then aced her serve, and setter Kari Kelly clinched the game for A&M by killing a Missouri overpass.
A&M's win in the first game was the first time this season the Tigers (8-0, 2-0 Big 12) dropped a game, having won their first seven matches in the minimum three games, including sweeps against then-No. 9 Tennessee and previously ninth-ranked Wisconsin.
A&M built a 13-8 lead in Game 2, but Missouri reeled off six consecutive points - three on blocks and two on aces - to take a 14-13 lead. The teams exchanged points until A&M regained the lead at 18-17 following a kill by Jones and a block by Kendra Felder and Kelly Stanton. The lead was short lived as Missouri went on a five-point run. The Aggies later used a three-point spurt to get back within a point at 27-26. Missouri took a 29-27 lead, but another block by Felder and Stanton kept the Aggies alive. A&M, however, was whistled for a ball handling error on the ensuing play, which ended the game and tied the match at a game apiece.
A slow start doomed the Aggies in the third game as they quickly fell behind, 18-8. Corbelli had made a few lineup changes midway through the game, the most notable being the insertion of outside hitter Lindsey Yon for a struggling Cristin Burton. The freshman provided a spark that put A&M within 29-24 before Missouri, which outhit A&M .294 to .130 in the stanza, closed out the game with a kill.
"We were really proud of her," Corbelli said when asked about Yon's performance. "She is just such an incredible competitor. She just wants to find a way to get something done."
Yon, who finished with four kills in the frame, continued to be a bright spot for the Aggies in the fourth game. Although she added six kills in the final game to finish the match with a career-high 10 kills while hitting at a .412 hitting efficiency, it wasn't enough to carry the Aggies to victory.
"We didn't pass particularly well tonight for some reason," Corbelli said. "We typically pass really well at home. I thought they out-passed us. They also played some great defense. I don't know how often we got them out of system, but it wasn't often. And even if they were a little bit out of system on their first touch, their second touch by whoever touched it was golden. It was right where it needed to be for someone to swing."
A&M and Missouri were tied at 20 in the fourth game when the Tigers scored five unanswered points, including two points on A&M attack errors and another with an ace. A&M got within 27-25 following back-to-back kills by Hahn before Missouri put down three consecutive kills to end the match.
Jones posted her first 20-20 of the season with 22 kills and 23 digs. Hahn added 12 kills, and Yon was the only other A&M player to reach double figures in kills with 10.
Holly Clay led the Aggies in digs with 24, and Kelley recorded a career-high 19 digs. In addition, Stanton finished with a career-high seven blocks.
Missouri, which outhit A&M, .242 to .219, had five players reach double figures in kills, including Na Yang, who posted a team-leading 19 kills. Jessica Vander Kooi had 18 kills, and Shen Danru and Nicole Wilson added 12 each, while Lisa Boyd pitched in with 10 kills. Libero Ailes Tatum led in digs with 24.
"From coming off a road trip Wednesday night (a three-game loss at Kansas) to getting a team prepared for the No. 10 team in the country, I was really proud of how the team executed the plan that we had," Corbelli said. "I knew that Missouri had a very efficient attack. I knew they come quicker than any other team we have seen yet by a lot. We learned a lot from it, and I think it was very good for us to play against. I rather play a team like this any day than a team that can't do those things."
A&M falls to 7-4 overall, 0-2 in the Big 12, after suffering its third consecutive loss. The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Aggies, who face No. 1 Nebraska in Lincoln on Wednesday. The match, which will be televised live by CSTV, represents A&M's fourth match against a Top-10 opponent in six matches. First serve is at 7 p.m. at Nebraska Coliseum, where the Aggies are 0-12 all-time.