November 09, 2005
No. 1 Nebraska extended its winning streak to 24 and remained undefeated with a 30-19, 30-24, 30-21 victory over Texas A&M in front of 1,679 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Cornhuskers, who lead the nation in block average, totaled 13.5 blocks to A&M?â„¢s 2 and hit .382 for the match while holding the Aggies to a .134 hitting efficiency.
Nebraska (24-0, 15-0 Big 12) dominated the first game, connecting on 22 kills in 34 attempts and committing only two errors for a .588 hitting percentage. The Huskers, who held A&M to a .200 hitting efficiency in the opening stanza, led the entire game, quickly jumping out to an 11-5 advantage. Nebraska continued to pull away, building a 10-point lead at 25-15. A&M cut the lead to 28-25 with three consecutive kills before the Huskers went on a 5-1 run to close out the game.
The Aggies were playing without starting setter Kari Kelley, who was out with a concussion, which she suffered last week in practice. Sophomore Meghan Kainz filled the role and kept the Aggies close in the second and third games.
?I thought Meghan did a really nice job given that she found out this morning that she was going to start.? A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. ?It is a big load. You are one-third of the team, and without a lot of experience doing that fulltime against the No. 1 team, I thought she handled herself very, very well.?
Nebraska appeared to hold a comfortable lead at 18-11 in the second game when A&M began to turn things around. Laura Jones tooled a kill off the intimidating Nebraska block and then aced a serve. Lindsey Yon and Kendra Felder extended the scoring for the Aggies with back-to-back kills to put A&M within 18-15. A&M cut the lead to two points at 20-28 and again at 21-19 but Nebraska answered with a three-point run, and the Aggies were unable to overcome the deficit.
?They have an answer to just about everything you throw at them, and they don?â„¢t make a lot of unforced errors,? Corbelli said about the Huskers. ?They have the range and all, but I thought there were times when we did take them out (of system).?
Nebraska built an 8-3 lead in Game 3, but A&M cut the lead to one after Felder and Yon sparked a four-point run by the Aggies. The Huskers regained the five-point advantage at 14-9, but the Aggies used a 5-1 spurt to once again get within a point. A&M got within a point a third time at 17-16 before Nebraska pulled away.
?There were really some great rallies out there and we kept it really close,? Corbelli said. ?In games two and three, we had some opportunities to match their score or maybe start getting ahead.
?They did find the play that we couldn?â„¢t stop, and they ran it whenever they needed that definite sideout. It was disappointing that we couldn?â„¢t find a way to slow that down when they came down the middle on those twos.?
Four Nebraska players posted double digits in points, led by Christine Houghtelling who had 15.5 points following a team-high 13-kill performance. Pavan added 13.5 points and Jordan Larson and Jennifer Saleaumua added 12.5 and 11.5 points, respectively. Melissa Elmer, who leads the nation in blocks per game, recorded a match-high seven blocks, and Larson led the team with 10 digs.
Jones was the only A&M player to reach double digits in points and/or kills with 19.0 points and 18 kills. She tied Holly Clay for team-high honors in digs with 11. Kainz finished the match with 31 assists.
The Aggies, who fall to 11-12 overall and 4-10 in the Big 12 after seeing their two-match winning streak come to an end, continue their three-match home stand Saturday as they take on Kansas State at 1 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies will host a free youth clinic immediately following the match.