November 26, 2005
Laura Jones of Texas A&M set a school record with 38 kills against No. 10 Missouri, but the Aggies?â„¢ upset bid fell short as the Tigers held on to a 25-30, 34-32, 28-30, 30-27, 15-7 victory at Hearnes Center in both teams?â„¢ regular-season finale.
The loss snapped A&M?â„¢s five-match winning streak, and the Aggies, winners of seven of their last nine matches, end the regular season 16-13 overall and finished tied with Iowa State for sixth place in the Big 12 Conference with a 9-11 record.
Missouri improves to 22-4 and finishes third in the league standings with a 16-4 mark.
Jones hit .714 with 10 kills and no errors to lead A&M to a .606 hitting percentage and a 30-25 victory in the opening frame. Jones teamed with Christi Hahn for a block on the opening play, and the Aggies never trailed until a service ace by Lindsey Hunter put the Tigers ahead, 22-21. Missouri maintained a 23-22 edge before A&M scored four unanswered points to build a 26-23 advantage. A service error ended the run, but Jones had three kills during a 4-1 run by the Aggies to give A&M the win.
A&M equaled its biggest lead of Game 2 at 21-15 after Aggie setter Kari Kelley won a joust at the net to get the kill. A&M held on to a 27-23 advantage when Missouri went on a 6-1 run to take a 29-28 lead. Jones pounded back-to-back kills to regain the lead and put the Aggies serving for the match. An A&M kill error knotted the score, but Jones pounded an errant pass by Missouri to put A&M at game-point for the second time. Missouri held off the Aggies with a kill by Nicole Wilson and a by a block by Jessica Vander Kooi and Lisa Boyd. Jones kept the Aggies alive with her eighth kill of the game, but Vander Kooi got a kill and Hunter killed a bad pass by the Aggies to take the game and even the match at a game apiece.
It was the Aggies who came from behind in the third game, overcoming an early eight-point deficit to win, 30-28, and take a 2-1 lead in the match. Missouri built its largest lead at 15-7 and maintained a 22-17 advantage when Jones and Kelley sparked the Aggies on a 5-0 rally, with three of the points resulting from blocks. Missouri went back up, 24-22, but a Jones kill and back-to-back errors by the Tigers gave A&M its first lead of the game. Missouri knotted the score at 25 with a kill, but Jones answered with consecutive kills, and Kelley put the Aggies ahead, 28-25, with an ace. Missouri got within a point at 29-28 before Kelsey Bryant clinched the game for A&M with a kill.
There were 20 ties and 12 lead changes in the fourth game. Neither team could build more than a two-point advantage until the Tigers used a four-point run to break a 25-all tie. A&M fought off two game points before Missouri got the game-winner to force a fifth game.
A&M scored the first point of the final game, but Missouri used a four-point run to take a lead it would not lose. A&M managed to tie the score at 4-4 on Jones?â„¢ 38th kill of the match, but Missouri went on another 4-0 run to pull ahead, 8-4. A&M got within three points at 8-5 and 9-6 before Missouri closed out the match with a 6-1 run.
Jones finished the match with a .354 hitting percentage, led the team with six blocks ?- including three solo ?- and tied for the team lead with 13 digs. Kelsey Bryant added a career-high 19 kills while hitting a personal-best .567, and Christi Hahn chipped in 14 kills and hit .462 as A&M hit a season-high .378 and broke its Big 12 hitting efficiency record for a five-game match.
Kelley had 71 assists, and she and Lindsey Yon tied Jones for team-high honors in digs with 13 apiece.
Na Yang led a group of five Missouri players to reach double figures in kills with 28. Shen Danru had 18 kills and tied libero Tatum Ailes for the team lead in digs with 16. Wilson had 16 kills, and Vander Kooi and Lisa Boyd pitched in 12 and 10 kills respectively.
As a team, A&M outhit Missouri, .378 to .301 and led in digs, 78-61, and blocks, 14-6. The Tigers, however, tallied 91 kills to A&M?â„¢s 85, and also aced 14 serves.
A&M?â„¢s postseason status will be revealed when the 64-team NCAA tournament field is announced Sunday at 1:30-2 p.m. (CST) on ESPNews. First and second rounds will be played Dec. 1-4.
A&M, which has made 12 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament, will serve as host of an NCAA Regional, Dec. 9-10 at G. Rollie. Tickets are available by calling the Athletic Ticket Office at 1-888-99-Aggie.
The winner of the regional advances to the Final Four, to be played at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Dec. 15 and 17.