October 27, 2007
Sarah Ammerman had a season-high 25 kills for Texas A&M, but it wasn?â„¢t enough as No. 21 Oklahoma held off the Aggies, 28-30, 30-21, 30-28, 30-28, tonight in front of 443 at McCasland Field House.
The loss ends A&M?â„¢s four-match winning streak and drops the Aggies to 17-7 overall and 6-7 in the Big 12 Conference. Oklahoma completes the season series sweep against A&M and improves to 18-5 overall and 10-3 in the Big 12.
?[OU?â„¢s] effort on defense and their accuracy on defense was the difference,? A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. ?OU had more success defending some of our great attacks. And as close as the match was, I think defensively, we had to have a better night in order to beat that team.?
A&M took the lead early in the first game and held off a late rally by the Sooners for a 30-28 victory. OU held a 4-3 lead when A&M went on a three-point run to take its first lead, a lead the Aggies would hold for the remainder of the game. A&M would later use a 5-1 scoring run to build its biggest lead at 20-12. A&M was up 28-22 when the Sooners began their comeback, scoring six of the next seven points to get within 29-28. Kelsey Bryant then tooled a kill off the Sooner block to clinch the game for the Aggies.
The Sooners would mount an early six-point rally to take a 7-3 lead in game two. A&M was playing catch-up for the remainder of the game, getting within two points five times, the last coming at 22-20. OU then went on a 5-0 spurt to pull away. Mary Batis ended the run with a kill and put the Aggies within 27-21, but OU answered with three consecutive points to close out the game and even the match at a game apiece.
A&M let a 27-24 lead slip away in game three. The Sooners got three kills and a block to take a 28-27 lead, their third lead of the game and their first since A&M took a 17-16 advantage. Ammerman ended the rally with her ninth kill of the game, but Francie Ekwerekwu answered with a kill to put the Sooners serving for the game. A&M?â„¢s attack sailed long on the ensuing play to end the frame and give OU a 2-1 lead in games.
There were nine ties and four lead changes in the third game and again in the fourth game. OU built its biggest lead at 18-12, but the Aggies used runs of four and five points to eventually tie the score at 25. Oklahoma then got back-to-back kills by Anna Stadel and Mariana Blum and added a block to go up, 28-25. A kill by Kelly Stanton and an OU attack error put A&M within 28-27. OU held off the Aggies with a kill, but Ammerman kept A&M alive with her 25th kill of the match. Bridget Laplante answered with her 14th kill of the match to clinch the victory for Oklahoma.
Oklahoma had five players record double-digit digs. Libero Hannah Sharp led all players with 26 as OU posted 82 digs to A&M?â„¢s 73. In addition, five Sooners posted double figures in kills. Sarah Weiland led with 21 kills, and Ekwerekwu and Blum added 13 kills apiece. Stadel and Laplante pitched in 12 kills apiece, as Oklahoma tallied 73 total while hitting .268.
?They were more balanced on the attack tonight,? Corbelli said. ?That?â„¢s kind of a product of your defense. We weren?â„¢t digging very well. Even if we were able to get the ball up, we didn?â„¢t have it where we could go to too many options. It?â„¢s a lot of experience; five seniors over there that especially handled the match well under pressure at the end.?
Batis had 12 kills for A&M, and Stanton also reached double figures with 11 kills as the Aggies totaled 65 while hitting .233. Stanton also added a match-high eight blocks to lead A&M to a 12-9 advantage in blocking. Jen Moore led A&M in digs with 16, and Ammerman added 14. Stephanie Cadavid also had 14 digs to set a career high. Setter Kristen Schevikhoven had 52 assists for A&M.
?We just lacked a little bit of poise when it counted,? Corbelli said. ?We just couldn?â„¢t finish. We had them and had a lot of opportunities. That is something I can?â„¢t put my finger on, why we can?â„¢t figure out yet how to close that kind of game out. I see us getting closer, and I am very positive and encouraged with this group, but that part needs to change very quickly.?
A&M has a midweek bye and then returns to action with a home match against Iowa State on Saturday, Nov. 3. First serve is currently set for 6:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum.