October 25, 2005
Texas A&M (9-10, 2-8 Big 12) looks to avenge an earlier five-game loss to rival Texas (14-3, 9-2 Big 12) when the two teams meet in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown Wednesday at Gregory Gym in Austin. The match begins at 8 p.m. and will be televised live by CSTV. (The complete release in pdf format is available at AggieAthletics.com.)
In addition, Aggie All-American Laura Jones, who leads the nation with 5.8 kills per game, is set to break the A&M all-time career record for kills, needing only seven to tie and eight to break the record of 1,777 kills held by Kristie Smedsrud (1994-97).
The Aggies enter the second half of the Big 12 season in 10th place in the Big 12 standings and mired in a three-match losing skid after falling to Texas Tech, 30-28, 30-25, 28-30, 27-30, 17-15, in Lubbock on Saturday.
Fourteenth-ranked Texas, which ended a seven-match road losing skid against the Aggies with a 30-19, 28-30, 30-25, 28-30, 15-9 victory in College Station on Oct. 5, is 5-0 in home matches and tied for second in the league standings after defeating No. 23 Kansas State, 3-1, in Austin on Saturday.
Middle blockers Leticia Armstrong, the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week, and Brandy Magee lead the Longhorns with 3.35 and 3.32 kills per game, respectively, while hitting a combined .406.
All-time series: Texas owns a lopsided 57-22 record against the Aggies, but A&M is 11-9 against the Horns since Big 12 play began in 1996, including an NCAA second-round victory against Texas in 2001. Texas, however, has won the last three meetings in Austin, with each match going five games.
In the most recent match-up, a boisterous crowd of 3,509, the second largest home crowd in A&M history, witnessed Texas' Brandy Magee and Leticia Armstrong execute the slide attack with near perfection as the two posted 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 ended a seven-match losing skid in College Station.
Texas outhit then-No. 23 A&M .278 to .194 to snap the skid. In addition, Armstrong had eight blocks to lead Texas to a 15 to 10 advantage in blocks.
Laura Jones led the Aggies with 23 kills and 15 digs. Christi Hahn had 14 kills and Lindsey Yon added a then-career-high 11 kills. Kelly Stanton also reached double figures in kills with 10. Yon also recorded a personal-best 12 digs.
The teams have split the season series the last three seasons with each team winning on its home court. Last year, Texas came to G. Rollie ranked No. 9 and sporting a 9-0 record. No. 20 A&M, however, posted a come-from-behind 32-34, 30-24, 30-27, 30-21 victory against the Longhorns. Laura Jones led the Aggies with 27 kills while hitting at a .333 clip. Mira Topic led the Horns with 25 kills but was held to a .159 hitting percentage.
When the teams met in Austin last year, Topic led No. 9 Texas with 33 kills and a .328 hitting percentage, and the Horns avenged the earlier loss, defeating No. 13 A&M, 23-30, 40-38, 30-23, 25-30, 15-10.
TEXAS A&M NOTES: Jones needs 8 kills for third A&M career record --- Having already set the A&M all-time career records for attack attempts and points, Aggie senior outside hitter Laura Jones is expected to break the A&M career record for kills when the Aggies meet the Longhorns on Wednesday. Jones, who leads the nation with 5.8 kills per game and has reached double figures in kills in 18 of 19 matches this season, needs only seven kills to tie and eight to break the record of 1,777 held by Kristie Smedsrud (1994-97).
Jones leads nation in kill average --- A&M's Laura Jones is the national leader in kills per game with a 5.8 average. This is the third consecutive week the Arlington, Texas, native has led the country in kill average.
Jones, who also leads the Big 12 with a 5.78 average in conference matches only, has reached double figures in kills in 18 of 19 matches overall, including an A&M record-tying 35-kill performance against LSU on Sept. 10. In addition, Jones has tallied two 30-kill matches in the last six matches and is averaging 6.07 kills per game during that span.
With a 5.8 full-season average and a 5.78 average in Big 12 matches only, Jones is on pace to break the school full-season record of 4.94 kills per game, which she set last year, as well as the A&M Big 12 season record of 4.84, which Jones also set last year.
Kelley climbs in assists records - Senior setter Kari Kelley, who moved into seventh place in the A&M records with 54 assists against the Longhorns in College Station, now needs 14 assists to move into sixth place in the career charts . Kelley, who is averaging 10.52 assists per game, will move ahead of her predecessor, Lexy Beers, who recorded 2,579 assists from 2001-03.
Austin City Limits - Texas A&M lists two players from Austin, as well as two others from the surrounding area. Sophomore Meghan Kainz and freshman Kelsey Bryant both attended Austin's Westlake High School, which won the state 5A volleyball championship in 2002 and 2004 under coach Al Bennett. Junior Christi Hahn, whose older sister Kathy was an All-Big 12 middle blocker for the Longhorns (2000-02), hails from Austin-suburb Leander, and freshman Jillian Phillips is from Marble Falls, less than 50 miles west of Austin.
A&M in the Big 12 - The Aggies finished the first half of Big 12 play with an uncharacteristic 2-8 mark. The eight losses equal the 2002 team for most conference losses in a season. A&M began league play by dropping its first five matches, a first in school history. The five consecutive losses, however, do not mark the longest skid overall for the Aggies in Big 12 play as the 1998 team suffered a six-match losing streak midway through the season and rebounded with an eight-match winning streak to close out the season, including a victory over No. 3 Nebraska.
Taking on the ranked - Six of Texas A&M's losses are against ranked opponents. The Aggies fell to 1-6 against ranked opponents following the 3-2 loss to No. 19 Texas on Oct. 8. Four of A&M's losses have been against teams ranked in the Top 10: 3-1 losses to No. 6 Florida, No. 8 USC and No. 10 Missouri, and a 3-0 loss at No. 1 Nebraska. The other loss was a 3-0 setback at No. 16 Kansas State on Oct. 1. A&M's one victory against a ranked team was a 3-0 sweep against No. 23 Saint Mary's on Sept. 2 at the Texas A&M/McDonald's Invitational.
Upcoming: Texas A&M returns home to host Oklahoma Friday at 6 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The match time has been pushed up 30 minutes to allow fans the opportunity to also see the Aggie soccer team in its final home match against Baylor at 8 p.m. at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
The Sooners enter the week 0-11 in the Big 12 and face Texas Tech in Norman on Wednesday. A&M defeated OU, 3-1, on Oct. 8 in Norman.