September 12, 2007
No. 25 Texas A&M came from behind to win the first two games, but Oklahoma rallied to win the match in both teams?â„¢ Big 12 Conference opener.
A&M entered the match undefeated and riding its best start in school history with a 10-0 record, but the Sooners ended the Aggies?â„¢ streak with a 26-30, 26-30, 30-27, 30-24, 15-13 victory in front of 2,363 boisterous fans at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
?In my mind, this boiled down to serving and passing,? A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. ?At the net, they are going to get their kills, and we are going to get ours. We are going to get great digs, and they are going to get theirs. But when our passing broke down in Games 3, 4 and 5, we were not quite as sharp with our serve receive, and our blocking was a little bit too little, too late.?
The Sooners, who didn?â„¢t have an ace in the first two games, tallied 11 aces throughout the final three games to sway the momentum of the match.
In the deciding fifth game, OU used a five-point run, which included three consecutive aces, to build what appeared to be a commanding 13-7 lead. A&M came right back with its own five-point run to get back within a point. Bridget Laplante put down her 20th kill of the match to put the Sooners serving for the match, but Mary Batis kept A&M alive with her 21st kill. Laplante came right back and answered with a tip kill over the Aggie block to clinch the victory for the Sooners.
?I saw us get frustrated and I noticed just a sense of a little bit of doubt that I hadn?â„¢t seen with this group,? Corbelli said. ?We kind of lost some our spunk with our approaches to attack. We started to get a little shaken in our serve receive.?
A&M was out of sync to start the match, and Oklahoma quickly pulled out to a 15-8 lead. But just as quickly as the Aggies fell behind, they scored five unanswered points to pull within 15-13. The Sooners held onto a 20-17 advantage when they were whistled for a reach over. Kristen Schevikhoven followed with an ace, and Batis tipped down an overpass to tie the score.
A kill by Francie Ekwerekwu temporarily preserved the lead for Oklahoma, but Sarah Ammerman answered with a kill from the back row. Kelsey Bryant and Jillian Phillips then teamed for a block to give A&M its first lead of the match. An OU attack error and another kill by Ammerman put the Aggies up, 24-21. Mariana Blum ended the streak with a kill, but the Aggies went on a 5-1 run to build their biggest lead at 29-23. The Sooners refused to back down, posting three consecutive kills before Kelly Stanton put down the game-winning kill for A&M.
Oklahoma equaled its biggest lead of the second game at 13-9 when A&M once again mounted its comeback. Trailing, 16-14, A&M reeled off five unanswered points to take the lead for good. The Sooners closed the gap at 25-24, but a kill by Phillips along with a block by Phillips and Ammerman put A&M head, 27-24. A&M went on to build a 29-25 advantage. OU held off game-point with a kill, but the Sooners?â„¢ ensuing serve sailed long to give A&M the game and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Sooners used a 7-1 run to build a 12-7 lead in Game 3. On four occasions, A&M managed to cut the lead to two points, the last coming at 29-27 before Sarah Weiland tooled the Aggie block to clinch the game for the Sooners.
Oklahoma held a narrow 12-11 lead in the fourth game before using an 8-1 run to build a 20-12 lead. A&M was unable to overcome the deficit, never getting closer than five points as the Sooners went on to win the game and force a fifth game.
?We went away from what was working,? Corbelli said. ?We were really balanced in the first two games in terms of our attack, and we started to play a little conservatively and started to go to the outsides when normally we go to our middles and rights.
?Our passing and our first touch to get our offense going to our setter became a little tentative. Maybe they had that little big of not-playing-to lose but didn?â„¢t mean too?...just playing very guarded.?
Ammerman, a sophomore, led A&M with 22 kills and a career-high 21 digs to record the first 20-20 performance of her career. Batis also posted a double-double with 21 kills and 18 digs. Stanton added 12 kills, while Schevikhoven and libero Jen Moore reached double figures in digs with 15 and 10, respectively.
Phillips led the Aggies with a career-high nine blocks as A&M posted a season-high 14 total team blocks.
Blum led the Sooners with 24 kills. Anna Stadel and Weiland added 10 apiece. Hannah Sharp led OU defensively with 24 digs, and Stadel and Weiland tied for the team lead in blocks with six each.
As a team, A&M led in hitting percentage (.230-.209), blocks (14-10.5) and digs (83-79), but OU led in total kills (76-72) and aces (11-5).
?We were in two-a-days just a couple of weeks ago,? Corbelli said. ?We still showed some signs of youth, yet we are still the same team and can still do the things that got us to 10-0. We just have to learn to do them when they count and not have those little lulls.?
The Aggies return to action Saturday as they take on the Iowa State Cyclones. Match time is 6:30 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.