November 04, 2006
Texas A&M gladly ended several streaks today as the Aggies swept Kansas State, 30-28, 34-32, 30-25, in front of 618 at Ahearn Field House.
With the victory, the Aggies (11-12, 4-11 Big 12) not only snap a three-match losing streak, but they earn their first-ever win in 11 trips to Manhattan and complete their first season sweep against the Wildcats.
?This is the first victory that I have ever had at K-State in my career at A&M,? said Laurie Corbelli, who is in her 14th season as head coach of the Aggies. ?We?â„¢ve had some top teams in the nation for many, many of these years and K-State has too, and we battled and battled for five games many times here. We haven?â„¢t had many 3-0 victories this season, and for this to be one of them at this place is just a little ironic to me.?
The Aggies took an early lead in the opening game, scoring three consecutive points to take a 7-5 advantage. A&M would not relinquish the lead and later used an 8-2 run to build its biggest lead at 22-13. K-State attempted a comeback, cutting the lead to 28-26 before a Wildcat attack sailed long to put the Aggies serving for the game. K-State held off two game points and cut the lead to 29-28 on back-to-back kills by Megan Farr and Angie Lastra. Christi Hahn ended K-State?â„¢s comeback hopes, putting down the game-winning kill for the Aggies, who took a game off the Wildcats for the first time at Ahearn since 2001.
There were 18 ties and 12 lead changes in the high-scoring second game. After Corbelli used her final timeout with the Aggies trailing, 28-26, Hahn came out and nailed back-to-back kills to tie the game for the 15th time. Sarah Ammerman gave A&M its third consecutive kill to put the Aggies ahead, 29-28, and serving for the game.
The momentum quickly shifted as A&M then had an attack go long and another go into the net to put the Wildcats serving for the game. Sandy Werner?â„¢s attack went long but she came back with a kill to put the Wildcats at 31-30. Lindsey Yon?â„¢s kill kept the Aggies alive, but the Wildcats got a kill from Farr to put K-State at game point for the third time. Consecutive attack errors by K-State returned the lead to A&M at 33-32, and Kelsey Bryant finished off the game as she tooled the Wildcat block for her fifth kill of the game.
?The team was relaxed and confident and executed no matter what the score,? Corbelli said. ?I know we have shown that when a team has gotten runs on us, we have had a difficult time coming back, but tonight the team felt that resiliency, and they were each contributing to it.?
A&M scored the first two points of Game 3 and never trailed for the rest of the match. The Aggies built a five-point lead several times early in the game, including an 11-6 advantage before the Wildcats made a run and knotted the score at 12-all. Ammerman kept the lead for the Aggies with a kill and sparked a 6-1 surge that gave A&M an 18-13 lead. K-State never got closer than three points the remainder of the match. Yon, who was playing front row for Mary Batis, the Aggies?â„¢ season kill leader, put down the match-winning kill.
?We were really going aggressively and confidently, and our left sides were in a good groove,? Corbelli said. ?With Mary?â„¢s temporary injury, she needed to come out of the front row, and Lindsey Yon is a great backup for us because I know she can go out and beat the ball from anywhere at anytime. She was ready tonight, so Lindsey and Sarah together had a great showing on the left side.?
Ammerman led the Aggies with 17 kills while hitting a career-high .324. Hahn finished with 13 kills and only one error for a .414 hitting percentage as the Aggies hit .275, their second highest hitting percentage in a Big 12 match this season.
?This might be the best passing we have had in this gym,? Corbelli said. ?It is a gym where it can be very challenging to get your spatial orientation because of the lighting and how big the gym is. We?â„¢ve never really had a lot of quality passing nights in this gym. All of our primary passers are freshmen, and they buckled down and got great position and passed the ball to the target better than just about any team I?â„¢ve ever had.
?Courtnee Rhodes did a nice job of setting. We asked her to run (the offense) antenna to antenna and get the ball to the slide a lot, and she did exactly what we asked.?
Zanny Castillo and Stephanie Cadavid led A&M in digs with 13 apiece. Bryant and Kelly Stanton led in blocks with six and five, respectively, to help A&M hold the Wildcats to a .172 hitting percentage and give the Aggies a 9 to 6.5 edge in total team blocks.
?Our blocking was really, really strong tonight,? Corbelli added. ?The girls worked hard to make it more of a unit on our defense, because we have struggled to figure out the back court defense a little bit when our block has been challenged.?
Angie Lastra had a team-leading 13 kills for K-State, which suffers its fifth straight loss and falls to 9-16 overall and 1-14 in the Big 12. Megan Kroeker added 10 kills, and Leslie Townsend and Lauren Rosenthal led the team in digs with 11 each. Farr also had a team-high five blocks.
A&M continues its two-match road swing Wednesday when the Aggies take on No. 8 Texas in another edition of the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. The match begins at 7 p.m. at Gregory Gym and will be televised by CSTV.
?(Texas) is always a great match to prepare for, always a lot of fun to be a part of and get into your rival?â„¢s gym and just go for it,? Corbelli said. ?They are a great team, and we have a great young team, and we?â„¢ll just go head-to-head and see what happens. I think it is going to be very exciting.?
Short Box Score
Texas A&M def. Kansas State 30-28, 34-32, 30-25
Texas A&M (11-12, 4-11 Big 12) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Ammerman, Sarah 17-2-0; Hahn, Christi 13-0-4; Bryant, Kelsey 9-0-6; Stanton, Kelly 7-0-5; Yon, Lindsey 4-0-1; Batis, Mary 3-0-0; Rhodes, Courtnee 2-0-1; Cadavid, Stephanie 1-0-0; Castillo, Zanny 0-1-0; Totals 56-3-9.0. (Assists) - Rhodes, Courtnee 51. (Dig leaders) - Castillo, Zanny 13; Cadavid, Stephanie 13; Batis, Mary 8.
Kansas State (9-16, 1-14 Big 12) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Lastra, Angie 13-0-1; Kroeker, Megan 12-0-2; Werner, Sandy 10-0-1; Chipman, Kelsey 8-0-3; Farr, Megan 8-0-5; Spiegelberg, Stacey 3-1-1; Gabruseva, Ginta 2-0-0; Townsend, Leslie 0-1-0; Rosenthal, Lauren 0-1-0; Totals 56-3-6.5. (Assists) - Spiegelberg, Stacey 43. (Dig leaders) - Townsend, Leslie 11; Rosenthal, Lauren 11; Spiegelberg, Stacey 10; Lastra, Angie 8.
Site: Manhattan, Kan. (Ahearn Field House)
Date: Nov. 4, 2006 Attend: 618 Time: 1:40
Referees: Tim Neels, Dave Spencer