November 14, 2007
Defending national champion and second-ranked Nebraska overcame early deficits in each of the first two games en route to a 30-26, 30-23, 30-22 victory against Texas A&M in front of 1,613 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
?I liked our start, the energy that we had and the confidence that we started with,? A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. ?For the most part, I liked our game to 20 (points), but we had to go to 30. That was the problem.?
There were eight ties and five lead changes in the opening game, with A&M holding the advantage throughout most of the first half. The Aggies took their biggest lead at 16-12 and held on to a 20-18 edge when Nebraska reeled off three unanswered points to take its first lead since 10-9. A&M tied the score at 21 and again at 22 before Jordan Larson put down a kill and followed with an ace to put the Huskers ahead, 24-22. Nebraska went on to build its biggest lead at 28-24, but back-to-back errors put the Aggies within 28-26. Sarah Pavan ended A&M?â„¢s rally with her seventh kill of the game, and Larson capped the 30-26 win with the first of her match-high four aces.
A&M built a 14-9 lead in the second game, but Nebraska went on a 7-2 run to tie the score at 16. A&M kept the lead, courtesy of a Husker service error, but Christina Houghtelling evened the score at 17 with a kill. An A&M attack into the net then gave Nebraska its first lead since 6-5. The Aggies managed to tie the score at 18 and 19 before Nebraska went on a 4-1 run and began to pull away. Leading 27-23, the Huskers reeled off three straight points, with a block by Tracy Stalls and Rachel Holloway resulting in the game-winning point.
The Huskers, who out-hit A&M .281 to .000 in the second game, led the entire third game while out-hitting A&M .227 to .060 in the frame. Nebraska used a four-point spurt to build its biggest lead at 25-17, but A&M answered with its own four-point run to get back within 25-21. The Aggies, however, were unable to get any closer as Nebraska outscored A&M, 5-1, to close out the match.
A&M was held to a season-low .099 hitting percentage in the match. The previous low was .124 in a three-game loss at Nebraska.
?We didn?â„¢t execute, regardless of who was on the other side, obviously a great team,? Corbelli said. ?But when we had the ball on our side, we were out of sync in our offense. Not necessarily at the beginning of games, but we started hesitating or our timing was a little bit skewed and we started worrying. We worried too much and absorbed energy instead of giving energy, and it became more individual than team effort, and that doesn?â„¢t work in our game.?
Mary Batis led A&M with 13 kills, and Jen Moore took match-high honors for digs with 13.
?Our defense was one of our best nights of digging,? Corbelli said. ?I was really pleased with some of the things we came up with, which we have not been coming up with that kind of dig lately.?
Pavan, a three-time All-American and the reigning NCAA Player of the Year, led Nebraska with 20 kills and also pitched in 10 digs. Kayla Banwarth led the Huskers with 11 digs, and Tracy Stalls posted four blocks to lead the Huskers to a 10.5-4 advantage in team blocks.
Nebraska (24-1, 16-1 Big 12), which hit .254 for the match, extended its season winning streak to five while winning its 17th straight against the Aggies.
A&M ( 18-10, 7-10 Big 12) concludes a treacherous a stretch in which the Aggies played the top three teams in the conference, all of which are ranked No. 12 and higher.
?We?â„¢ve just been through the toughest 10 days of volleyball that maybe any team in the nation has had, from No. 12 (Kansas State) to No. 3 (Texas) to No. 2,? Corbelli said. ?We have definitely grown from it, and this team is smart enough to say we know now that when we do execute, we can play with these teams.?
The Aggies return to G. Rollie Saturday for a crucial match-up against the Missouri Tigers (16-10, 9-8 Big 12), who also are fighting for an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament with three matches remaining in the regular season. Match time has been changed to 4:30 p.m. so that A&M fans can also attend the NCAA soccer match at the Aggie Soccer Complex.