October 05, 2005
Texas had lost its last seven matches against rival Texas A&M at G. Rollie White Coliseum, but that skid came to an end tonight as the 19th-ranked Longhorns went home with a 30-19, 28-30, 30-25, 28-30, 15-9 victory. In addition to the victory, Texas gained a half point in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown series to take a 1.5-0 lead.
A boisterous crowd of 3,509, the second largest home crowd in A&M history, witnessed Texas' Brandy Magee and Leticia Armstrong run a nearly unstoppable slide attack, posting 22 and 18 kills, respectively, while combining for a .484 hitting percentage. Middle blocker Lauren Paolini pitched in 16 kills while hitting at a .609 clip as the Horns outhit No. 23 A&M .278 to .194.
"The hardest side of the net to defend is behind the setter," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "They served tougher and they passed nails; very low, fast balls to their setter, and all of them did it very disciplined and very accurately and it started that slide play off very quick and (made it) hard to defend. They out-served us and they out-passed us in our own gym, which doesn't happen very often."
Texas (10-2, 5-1 Big 12) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening game, and A&M was unable to get closer than three points the remainder of the game as the Horns out-hit A&M, .378 to .139.
The roles were reversed in Game 2 as A&M jumped out to an early lead and stayed ahead for the rest of the frame to even the match. With the score tied at two, A&M took the lead for good by scoring four unanswered points. The Aggies built their biggest lead at 17-11, but Texas managed to get back within a point at 26-25 following a four-point run. Laura Jones posted four of her 10 kills in the game in the final stretch to give A&M the win and knot the match at a game apiece.
As they had done in the opening game, the Longhorns led Game 3 from start to finish. Texas built its biggest lead at 17-9, but A&M fought back to get within 26-22. Texas went on a three-point run and was serving for the game when A&M answered with its own three-point run to stay in the game. Armstrong finished off the game with a kill to give the Longhorns a 2-1 lead.
Game 4 was tightly contested with nine lead changes and 17 ties. A&M held the biggest lead of the game at 24-21 when Texas rallied for four points to take a 25-24 advantage. Lindsey Yon posted a kill for A&M to tie the score, and a Texas hitting error put the Aggies on top. Armstrong tied the score with a kill, but back-to-back errors by Texas gave A&M a lead it would not relinquish. The teams traded points for the remainder of the game, with a Texas serve into the net resulting in the game-winner for A&M.
Magee hit .833 and posted five of Texas' 10 kills in the decisive fifth game, and the Longhorns raced away with the victory. The junior middle blocker had back-to-back kills to give Texas its largest lead at 11-4. A&M used a three-point rally to get within 13-9 before a kill by Magee and a block by Armstrong and Paolini ended the match.
Jones led the Aggies with 23 kills and 15 digs. Christi Hahn and Yon each posted career highs in kills with 14 and 11, respectively, and Kelly Stanton also reached double figures in kills with 10. Yon also recorded a personal-best 12 digs.
The Aggies, who were facing their fifth Top-20 team in their last six matches, fall to 7-7 overall and 0-5 in the Big 12. They will attempt to end a six-match losing skid when they take on Oklahoma Saturday in Norman. First serve is at 7 p.m. at McCasland Field House.