October 20, 2007
Sarah Ammerman had a match-high 16 kills, and Kelsey Bryant and Kelly Stanton added 11 and 10 kills, respectively, to lead Texas A&M to a 30-21, 30-25, 30-14 victory over Texas Tech at United Spirit Arena.
With the win, the Aggies (16-6, 5-6 Big 12) extend their winning streak to three and also earn a season sweep against the Red Raiders as both teams begin the second half of Big 12 Conference play. Tech, which had defeated the Aggies in each of their last two visits to Lubbock, suffers its 10th straight loss and falls to 7-13 overall and 1-10 in the Big 12.
Tech found itself playing catch-up the entire match as A&M jumped out to early leads in each of the three games. The Aggies took the lead for good at 3-2 in each of the first two games. They never trailed in the third game and used a nine-point run to break away from a 2-2 tie.
?Getting out to an early lead was one of our big goals; starting really strong,? A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. ?We are trying to break it down into games of five points so that we are playing small games and keeping our intensity up for each one. The players really responded to that challenge of making sure that we started strong, and we established our offense and our defensive intensity very early in the match.?
A&M used a 11-point run to take a commanding 12-2 lead to begin the match. Jillian Phillips began the run with a kill and then stepped to the service line for the next 10 points. Tech, which was outhit .283 to .128 in the game, would rally late and get within five points at 26-21. Ammerman ended the Red Raiders?â„¢ four-point run, and Mary Batis followed with a kill. A Tech attack sailed long on the ensuing play, and Darla Donaldson capped the game with a kill.
Tech held a 2-1 lead in the second game before A&M scored six unanswered points to take a 7-2 lead. The Aggies expanded their lead to a game-high seven points at 11-4, but Tech later used an 8-2 run to cut the gap to 27-25. Stanton returned serve to A&M with her sixth kill of the game and then teamed with Kristen Schevikhoven for back-to-back blocks to end the game and give the Aggies a 30-25 win and a 2-0 game lead going into the intermission.
?There were times that Texas Tech connected some rallies together and got a little bit of the momentum,? Corbelli said, ?but I felt like we were able to either get a key block or a key dig in order to turn that around.?
The third game was tied at 2-2 when A&M reeled off nine consecutive points. Tech never got closer than seven points the remainder of the game. The Aggies, who hit .471 in the game, closed out the game and the match with a four-point run, with Batis recording an ace for the match-winner.
?Our serving was really good tonight,? Corbelli said. ?I really was impressed with the composure that our team showed in serving, and our serve receive was also one of the best nights we have had.
?Overall, we played a very consistent match, and as our energy level wavered a little bit, we continued to challenge the team to keep the energy and intensity level up.?
As a team, A&M posted 54 kills while hitting .336. Batis had a team-high 14 digs, and Ammerman and libero Jen Moore pitched in 11 and 10 digs, respectively, as A&M totaled 49 on the night. Stanton tied for match-high honors with three blocks to lead A&M to a 7-4 advantage. Schevikhoven finished with 37 assists as A&M picked up its third Big 12 sweep of the season.
Tech, which was held to a .123 hitting percentage, had 36 kills, with Michelle Flores leading the team with 10. Libero Jenn Harrell had 15 of the team?â„¢s 37 digs, and Brandi Hood had three blocks.
?This was an excellent way to start the second half of Big 12,? Corbelli said. ?We have four weeks of incredible volleyball ahead of us to establish the things that we would like to do this season with our team and our program. The goals are very clear in our heads, and we are taking it one match at a time as we did last round, but I think that we have improved a lot.?
A&M returns home Wednesday to play host to the Kansas Jayhawks. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. Kansas will be looking for its first-ever victory in College Station, having gone home winless in 12 visits to G. Rollie. Earlier this season, A&M snapped a four-match losing skid in matches played at Kansas with a 30-26, 30-25, 30-19 victory against the Jayhawks on Oct. 6.