November 18, 2005
Texas A&M (13-12, 6-10 Big 12) faces a crucial road match at No. 24 Colorado (14-9, 10-8 Big 12) Saturday at 8 p.m. (CST) at Coors Events Center in Boulder. (A complete release in pdf format is available at AggieAthletics.com.)
The Aggies are coming off back-to-back five-game home victories against Kansas State and Kansas. Winners of four of their last five matches, the Aggies must win two of their four remaining matches to finish above .500 and be eligible for the NCAA tournament. A&M, which has made 12 consecutive appearances in the postseason tournament, is in eighth place in the Big 12 standings. The Aggies have three matches in the final week of the regular season, hosting Texas Tech and Iowa State on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, before closing out the season at No. 11 Missouri on Saturday.
Colorado, which defeated A&M in five games in College Station on Oct. 16, is in fourth place in the Big 12 after suffering a loss at Kansas State in its record-setting 10th five-game match of the season. The A&M match will be ?Senior Night? for the Buffs, who will be honoring four seniors who are playing their final home match. Colorado closes out the regular season at No. 1 Nebraska on Wednesday.
The A&M-CU match features two of the top outside hitters in the Big 12 in A&M?â„¢s Laura Jones and Colorado?â„¢s Allie Griffin. Jones, who entered the week leading the nation in kills per game, tops the Big 12 with 5.94 kills and 6.63 points per game. Griffin entered the week listed 21st in the nation in kill average and currently ranks second in the league with 4.77 kills and 5.22 points per game.
A Look at the Aggies: Laura Jones, who tied school records with 35 kills and 39 points in A&M?â„¢s five-game victory against Kansas State, leads the Aggies and the nation with 5.94 kills per game. A second-team All-American in 2004, Jones has led or tied for the team lead in kills in 24 of 25 matches and accounts for 38 percent of the Aggies?â„¢ total kills for the season. Already A&M?â„¢s all-time leader in kills, Jones needs 26 more kills in the remaining four matches to break the single season record of 577 kills set by Sheila Morgan in 1993. Jones also excels on defense, where she averages more than three digs per game this season and ranks 10th in the A&M career charts with 1,157.
Junior middle blocker Christi Hahn, who had career highs of 21 kills and a .526 hitting percentage against Kansas on Wednesday, leads the team with a .307 season hitting efficiency. The junior, who set A&M Big 12 records with four solo blocks and 11 total blocks in the earlier meeting against Colorado, also ranks second in kills (2.69), aces (0.29) and points (3.44) per game and third in blocks (0.85).
Libero Holly Clay anchors the A&M defense and ranks second in the Big 12 with 4.17 digs per game. She has 392 digs and needs 12 more to break into the A&M top 10 for digs in a season.
Senior setter Kari Kelley, who tied a career high with 59 assists against the Jayhawks, quarterbacks the offense and is averaging 10.75 assists per game,
Freshman outside hitter Lindsey Yon, who has started 11 matches -- including each of the last seven contests --, has reached double figures in kills in six matches this season, including four times in the last eight matches.
A Look at the Buffaloes: Colorado, which was picked to finish tied for seventh in the Big 12 according to a preseason vote of the league coaches, is in fourth place in the conference. The Buffs are 8-2 over the last 10 matches, including a 3-2 victory at No. 8 Missouri on Oct. 29. The Buffs were riding a season-best seven-match winning streak until Nov. 9 when they fell to No. 11 Texas in five games in Boulder.
Junior Lara Bossow leads CU and is listed fourth in the league with a .388 hitting percentage, including a .407 efficiency in Big 12 matches only. Senior Allie Griffin leads the squad with 4.77 kills per game while hitting at a .294 clip for the full season. Sophomore outside hitter Amber Sutherland, who had 26 kills while hitting .476 at Kansas State, is second on the team with 3.76 kills per game and leads CU with 2.66 digs per game. Lauren Schaefer, a 6-3 freshman middle blocker, leads the team with 0.92 blocks per game, and junior setter Ashley Nu?â„¢u leads the team and ranks third in the Big 12 with 13.25 assists per game.
Pi?â„¢i Aiu (Colorado ?'89) is 162-100 in his ninth season as head coach of the Buffaloes.
The all-time series: Texas A&M owns a 14-6 record in the all-time series against Colorado. The record, however, fails to show how tightly contested the matches have been between the two teams over recent years as six of the last nine meetings have been decided in five games. In those six matches, Colorado is 4-2, including a 20-30, 25-30, 30-26, 30-28, 15-10 victory against the Aggies on Oct. 16 in College Station earlier this season.
Laura Jones tallied 30 kills, and Christi Hahn and Kelly Stanton each posted career highs in blocks with 11 apiece in the Oct. 16 loss at G. Rollie White.
A&M outhit the Buffaloes, .199 to .181, and also led in blocks with a season-high 22 to Colorado?â„¢s 14.5, but Colorado led in kills, 74-64, and in digs, 77-59.
Allie Griffin led a group of four Colorado players who posted double digits in kills with 21. Amber Sutherland added 15, and Lara Bossow and Nicole Carr had 13 and 11, respectively. Colorado also had four players reach double figures in digs, led by Therese Vinal?â„¢s 17.
Jones, who took 67 swings in the match to become A&M?â„¢s all-time leader in career attack attempts with 4,206, posted her third 30-kill performance of the season while hitting .299 and set a career high with eight blocks. Hahn and Stanton added 14 and 11 kills, respectively. Holly Clay was the only A&M player to reach double figures in digs with 16.
Upcoming: A&M concludes the regular season with three matches in the final week. The Aggies return home on Monday, Nov. 21 to host Texas Tech. Match time is 6 p.m. The match was originally scheduled to be played Sept. 25 but was postponed because of the threat of Hurricane Rita.
A&M plays its final home match on Wednesday, Nov. 23 against Iowa State. A&M?â„¢s five seniors -- Cristin Burton, Holly Clay, Kendra Felder, Laura Jones and Kari Kelley -- will be honored prior to the match, which begins at 6:30 p.m.
A&M concludes the regular season at No. 11 Missouri Saturday, Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Hearnes Center.
NCAA Championship Selection Show: The 64-team NCAA Championship bracket will be announced Sunday, Nov. 27, 1:30-2:30 p.m. on ESPNews. First and second round matches will be held between Dec. 1-4.
A&M NCAA Regional tickets on sale: Tickets to the 2005 NCAA Division I Women?â„¢s Volleyball Regional to be held at G. Rollie White Coliseum, Dec. 9-10, are on sale at the Texas A&M Athletic Ticket Office. Semifinal matches will be Dec. 9 at 5 and 7 p.m. The regional final match will be held Dec.10 at 5 p.m. Prices are $25 for reserved seats, $15 for adult general admission and $10 for youth general admission.
All-session tickets also may be purchased by calling the ticket office at 1-888-99-AGGIE or ordering online at AggieAthletics.com/NCAAvolleyball.