September 07, 2006
Laurie Corbelli will be aiming for her 400th coaching career victory and her 300th victory at Texas A&M when the Aggies make their home debut with a pair of matches Friday at the Texas A&M Invitational at G. Rollie White Coliseum. (A complete release in pdf format is available at Aggie Athletics.com)
| MATCH INFO |
| Texas A&M Invitational Friday, Sept. 8, 2 p.m./6:30 p.m. (CDT) G. Rollie White Coliseum (7,800), College Station |
| RECORDS (entering weekend) |
| Texas A&M: 5-1 Loyola Chicago: 2-5 McNeese State: 1-3 |
| RANKINGS |
| A&M is receiving votes in the latest AVCA Poll. |
| INTERNET |
| Live Video (Free): (Aggies All-Access) Live Stats (LOY): (aggieathletics.com) Live Stats (McN): (aggieathletics.com) |
| SERIES |
| A&M leads Loyola, 2-0 Last Meeting: (9/6/96) A&M leads McNeese State, 1-0 Last Meeting: (9/3/04) |
| UP NEXT |
| A&M hosts Oklahoma Wednesday, Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m. (CDT) G. Rollie White Coliseum, College Station |
Corbelli, in her 21st year as a head coach and her 14th at A&M, will get her first shot at 2 p.m. when the Aggies take on Loyola (Chicago). A&M then faces McNeese State at 6:30 p.m.
Loyola and McNeese open the tournament Friday at 10 a.m. and also close the tournament with a 10 a.m. match on Sunday.
Live scoring (Gametracker) will be available for all matches at AggieAthletics.com. In addition, free video streaming of all A&M home matches will be available on the Aggies' website.
Tournament Schedule
Friday, Sept. 8
McNeese State (1-3) vs. Loyola (2-5) 10 a.m.
Texas A&M (5-1) vs. Loyola 2 p.m.
Texas A&M vs. McNeese State 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 10
McNeese State vs. Loyola 10 a.m.
Texas A&M is 5-1 and is coming off a 4-game victory against No. 22 Minnesota Saturday at the SLU Billiken Invitational in St. Louis.
Loyola is 2-5 after dropping its last three matches, including a 3-0 loss at Marquette in its most recent outing.
McNeese is 1-3 following a 3-game loss at Rice on Wednesday.
A&M QUICK HITS
* Corbelli perfect in home openers: Texas A&M has won its home opener in each of the last 16 seasons, including all 13 with Laurie Corbelli at the coaching helm.
* More on the Corbelli record: Corbelli enters the Texas A&M Invitational with a 399-225 (.639) record in her 21st season as a head coach and a 299-119 (.715) mark in her 14th season at A&M. In addition, Corbelli-coached teams are 153-29 (.841) in matches played at G. Rollie, including 12-0 in home NCAA matches. Corbelli has led the Aggies to 13 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, twice coming within one match of advancing to the Final Four.
* Final tune-up: A&M's two matches on Friday mark the Aggies' final tune-up before beginning Big 12 Conference play against Oklahoma on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The Aggies tied Iowa State for sixth place with a 9-11 record last year, while the Sooners finished last with a 2-18 mark.
* Free streaming: A&M offers free video streaming of all 12 Aggie home matches this season. In addition, free audio streaming of select home and away matches will be available with Matt Simon providing the play-by-play. Visit Aggies All-Access at AggieAthletics.com for more information.
* Statistically speaking: A&M is leading its opponents in every positive statistical category except service aces. A&M is hitting .258 and averaging 16.3 kills per game. In addition, the Aggies are averaging 14.91 assists, 14.61 digs and 2.8 blocks per game.
Opponents are being held to a .188 hitting percentage and are averaging 15.43 kills, 14.35 assists, 14.0 digs and 2.13 blocks per game. Opponents also are averaging 1.43 aces per game, just above A&M's average of 1.39 aces.
Mary Batis leads the Aggies with 4.22 kills and 4.76 points per game. Christi Hahn tops the team with a .455 hitting percentage, and Meghan Kainz is dishing out an average of 12.52 assists per game. Lindsey Yon has taken over the lead in digs with 3.0 per game, and Kelly Stanton sports a team-best 1.59 blocks per game.
* Hahn and Batis, 2-for-2: Christi Hahn and Mary Batis have been selected to the all-tournament team at both of the tournaments the Aggies have participated in this season.
Hahn earned MVP honors after leading the Aggies to a 3-0 record and the tournament title at the season-opening Hilton Classic at Colorado State. Hahn, a senior 6-1 middle blocker and preseason All-Big 12 selection, hit .522 and averaged 3.73 kills and 1.09 blocks while at CSU and followed the performance by hitting .395 and averaging 3.0 kills per game at the SLU Billiken Invitational.
Batis averaged a team-leading 3.64 digs and added 3.64 kills per game at the Hilton Classic. The freshman outside hitter led the Aggies in kills and points in all three matches in St. Louis, including a personal best and a team season-high 21 kills in the 4-game victory against No. 22 Minnesota.
* Yon takes advantage: Sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Yon made the most of her playing opportunity at the SLU tournament, coming off the bench in the second match to spark the Aggies to a come-from-behind victory against a scrappy Billiken team. With seven kills, seven digs, two blocks and a .312 hitting percentage in the final 2 1/2 games against SLU, Yon earned her first start of the season in the following match against No. 22 Minnesota. She responded with 18 kills (.333) and 19 digs, both career highs. Yon now leads the Aggies with 3.0 digs per game for the full season and is averaging 3.0 kills while hitting .243.
* A&M receives votes: A&M received votes in the first CSTV/AVCA Top 25 poll of the regular season and is listed 30th, up five spots from the preseason poll. Big 12-foe Nebraska, which advanced to the 2005 NCAA championship match, is ranked No. 1 and received 51 of 60 first-place votes. Texas, which won the AVCA Showcase by defeating Wisconsin and defending national champion Washington, moved up one to No. 7, while Missouri dropped two spots to No. 15. Kansas State, ranked No. 25 in the preseason poll, dropped out of the Top 25 and is listed No. 26.
OPPONENT NOTES
Loyola is 2-5 after dropping all three matches at the Marquette Kick-Off Tournament last weekend in Milwaukee, Wis. The Ramblers fell to Mississippi, 3-0, and Illinois, 3-1, and then fell to host Marquette, 3-0, in the tournament finale.
Loyola's two wins came against DePaul in the season opener and against Oregon State of the Pacific 10 Conference.
Senior libero Ann Deelo was named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 5.40 digs per game (81 digs, 15 games) at the Marquette tournament and becoming the Ramblers' all-time career leader in digs. Deelo broke the career record Sunday against Illinois after posting a career-high 32 digs. She leads the Horizon League in digs (144, 5.14 dpg) and has notched 20-plus digs in four of Loyola's first seven matches.
Senior outside hitter Courtney Ashley leads the Ramblers in kills with a 3.46 per game average.
Junior middle blocker Melissa Craig is from Magnolia, Texas, and played club ball for Texas Tornadoes. She is averaging a team-leading .78 blocks per game.
The Ramblers went 13-18 last year and were the Horizon League representative in the NCAA tournament. Loyola fell to Wisconsin in the first round.
McNeese State is 1-3 after dropping a 3-0 decision at Rice on Wednesday. The Owls outhit McNeese, .317 to .071, and did not allow a Cowgirl to reach double figures in kills.
Freshman outside hitter Chanel Tyler, from Warren High School in San Antonio, leads the Cowgirls with 3.54 kills per game but is hitting .089 for the season. Junior libero Jessica Strama, who had 16 digs in the loss to Rice, is averaging an impressive 6.15 digs per game. Junior 6-2 middle blocker Lindsey Petzold is averaging a team-leading 1.0 blocks per game.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
A&M is 2-0 all-time against Loyola and 1-0 against McNeese State. The Aggies defeated Loyola, 3-1, when the teams last met in 1996 in Madison, Wis.
In the only match against McNeese, A&M defeated the Cowgirls, 3-0, at the 2004 McDonald's/Texas A&M Invitational.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Aggies open Big 12 Conference play Wednesday, Sept. 13 against Oklahoma in College Station. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Aggies then hit the road to face No. 15 Missouri Saturday, Sept. 16 in Columbia, Mo.