Sept. 4, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M (0-3) makes its season home debut this weekend as the Aggies host the Texas A&M Invitational Friday and Saturday at G. Rollie White Coliseum. No. 16 BYU (3-0), American University (2-1) and Siena College (0-2), all NCAA tournament participants last year, will participate in the round-robin event. (The complete release in pdf format is available at AggieAthletics.com)
Tournament Schedule
Friday, Sept. 5 Siena vs. No. 16 BYU 4:30 p.m. Texas A&M vs. American 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 6 No. 16 BYU vs. American 9:30 a.m. Texas A&M vs. Siena 11:30 p.m. American vs. Siena 4:30 p.m. Texas A&M vs. No. 16 BYU 6:30 p.m.
Live Stats: AggieAthletics.com TV: none Internet Video Streaming: Available free of charge for A&M matches only at AggieAthletics.com Internet Audio: BYU matches only at BYUCougars.com
BYU, which advanced to the NCAA regional finals in 2007, is pitted against Siena in the opening match at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The Aggies and American follow at 6:30 p.m.
Four matches will take place on an action-packed Saturday, starting with BYU and American at 9:30 a.m. A&M then takes on Siena at 11:30 a.m. After a short break, American and Siena play at 4:30 p.m., and A&M and BYU meet at 6:30 p.m. to close out the tournament.
Tickets can be purchased by calling 888-99-AGGIE or going online at 12thManFoundation.com. Tickets also will be available at the entrance to G. Rollie beginning one hour before each session. General admission tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for students/youth. Reserved seats are $9 each.
A&M, which has not lost a home opener since 1989, is 0-3 after competing in the Bluejay Invitational last weekend at Creighton in Omaha, Neb. The Aggies lost in five sets to No. 21 LSU, and then fell to No. 16 Minnesota, 3-1, and closed out the weekend with a 3-0 setback to Creighton.
Junior outside hitter Mary Batis was named to the all-tournament team after averaging a team-leading 3.42 kills, 4.33 digs and 3.71 points per set.
Senior Jillian Phillips leads A&M with 1.33 blocks per game after posting a career-high 11 blocks in the opener against LSU.
As a team, A&M was outhit, .265 to .152 last weekend, averaging 12.0 kills per set while allowing 14.83 kills per game. In addition, A&M was out-dug, 18.5 to 15.67, out-blocked, 28.0 to 22.0 and out-aced, 1.17 to 0.42.
A&M returns five starters from last year's team that went 21-10 overall and tied for sixth in the Big 12 Conference with a 10-10 record but missed out on an NCAA bid. Senior Kelsey Bryant is a three-year starter on the right side. Junior outside hitters Sarah Ammerman and Batis also have been starters since their freshman seasons. Phillips, who led A&M with 1.20 blocks per game while hitting .334 last season, returns in the middle, and junior setter Kristen Schevikhoven returns after leading A&M to a .272 hitting percentage last year, the second highest hitting percentage in school history.
A&M returns three other letterwinners, senior middle blocker Darla Donaldson, who has stepped in to replace last year's senior starter Kelly Stanton in the lineup, along with junior setter Jola Kelner and junior outside hitter Jennifer Banse, who could easily be starters.
Volleyball Magazine and PrepVolleyball.com Top-50 high school recruits Kelsey Black and Chelsea Ringel, along with freshman Dylan Faulkner, enrolled at A&M in January and participated in the Aggies' spring drills and went with the team on a two-week training trip through Europe in June. Freshman Stephanie Wells joined the team in August.
Ringel was the designated libero in all 12 sets at the Bluejay Invitational and ranks second on the team with 2.92 digs per set. Black saw action in eight sets and averaged 1.62 kills and 1.5 digs per set.
A LOOK AT THE OPPOSITION: AMERICAN • The Eagles are 2-1 after winning their second straight D.C. Volleyball Challenge title last weekend. American dropped a 3-2 decision to George Washington in the season opener but rebounded to defeat Georgetown, 3-0, and George Mason, 3-1. • Senior Rubena Sukaj averaged 4.83 kills per set to earn tournament MVP honors. She was joined on the all-tournament team by senior setter Christina Nash (10.08 aps) and sophomore right-side hitter Cassandra Ricketts, who averaged 2.17 kills per set while hitting .385. • Sukaj has 1,661 career kills and needs just 57 more to break the Patriot League record of 1,718 currently held by Army's Deann Machlan. She broke the AU career record for aces last weekend, and with 246 in her career, she needs nine to break the league record held by Fordham's Jenn Shea. • American won the Patriot League last year to earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship. The Eagles fell to Duke, 3-2, in the first round. • Barry Goldberg (Pittsburgh `84) is 476-179 in his 20th season as head coach of the Eagles. He returns five starters from last year's team that went 26-8 overall.
SIENA COLLEGE • The Saints are looking for their first victory of the season after going 0-2 at the Pride Volleyball Invitational last weekend. Siena fell to Seton Hall, 3-1, in the season opener and also fell to Hofstra in four sets. • Burgandy McCurty, a junior middle hitter, was named to the all-tournament team and was named the MAAC's Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 4.50 kps and hitting a .443. McCurty is the reigning MAAC Offensive Player of the Year was the 2006 MAAC Rookie of the Year. • The three-time defending MAAC-Champion Saints return five starters plus the libero from last year's team that went 24-8. Siena earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship and fell to No. 3 seed Penn State, 3-0, in the first round. • Garvey Pierre (Quebec University) is 84-72 in his fifth year as head coach of the Saints.
BYU • The Cougars went 3-0 last weekend to win their own BYU Molten Classic. BYU opened with 3-0 victories against both Utah State and Tulane and then held off Missouri, 3-2, to remain undefeated. The Cougars moved up four spots to No. 16 in this week's CBS College Sports/AVCA Top 25 Poll. • Senior outside hitter Bryn Porter led BYU with 3.67 kills per set and also averaged 2.33 digs and 1.17 blocks to garner tournament MVP honors. True freshman right-side hitter Malia Marquardt also was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 2.75 kills, 1,5 digs and 1.25 blocks per set while hitting .356. • BYU returns three starters from last year's team that went 24-8 and ranked No. 12 in the final poll after reaching the NCAA Regional Finals. • Shay Goulding, a 1998 graduate of BYU, is in her first season as head coach of a Division I program. Prior to coming to BYU, Goulding spent five seasons as head coach at Salt Lake Community College. Goulding has coached a total of six years at the NJCAA level, posting a 188-75 (.720) record.
A&M SERIES RECORD AGAINST THE FIELD • A&M will be meeting both American and Siena for the first time.
• BYU holds a 9-2 advantage in the all-time series against A&M since 1976. A&M, however, won the most recent meeting, a 31-29, 30-21, 36-38, 30-22 victory against the Cougars at the Texas A&M Invitational II on Sept. 14, 2002. BYU is 2-1 against the Aggies at G. Rollie White Coliseum. Three of the last five meetings between the two teams were decided in five games, with the winner having to score at least 16 points in the fifth game in each of those three marathon matches.
AGGIE QUICK HITS: • A&M has won 18 consecutive home openers. The last time the Aggies lost in their home season debut was to LSU in 1989, the year before this year's freshman class was born. • Aggie head coach Laurie Corbelli was hired in 1993 and has won the home opener in each of her 15 seasons at the helm of the Aggies. Last year, A&M defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 3-0, in the Aggies' first appearance at G. Rollie White Coliseum. • Corbelli is 327-147 in her 16th year as head coach of the Aggies and 427-253 in the 23rd season of her head coaching career. She is A&M's winningest coach in terms of total victories and ranks second for winning percentage. • The Aggies, who went 10-10 to tie NCAA-bound Missouri for sixth place in the Big 12 last year, have been picked to finish fourth in the league this season, according to a preseason poll of the conference coaches. Defending Big 12 co-champions Texas and Nebraska are picked to finish first and second, respectively, with Kansas State following at third place. A&M is followed by Missouri, Iowa State, Colorado, and Baylor and Oklahoma, who tied for eighth. Kansas and Texas Tech round out the poll.
NOTABLES • Sykora Dons Olympic Silver: Former Aggie volleyball All-American Stacy Sykora and the U.S. Women's Volleyball Olympic Team captured a silver medal at the Olympics in Beijing, equaling USA Volleyball's best finish in the history of the Games. Sykora, a defensive specialist and A&M's only three-time Olympian, saw action in both the second and fourth sets in the see-saw match that climaxed in an intense fourth set that saw both teams exchanging numerous leads. The top-ranked Brazilians, who had not lost a single set in the entire tournament until the gold-medal match, came through in the end, 25-15, 18-25, 25-13, 25-21, to win their first-ever gold medal in the sport. It is the first medal for Sykora (Burleson, Texas), who served as USA's libero in 2000 and 2004. In addition, it is only the third Olympic medal for USA women's volleyball and their first since winning a bronze medal in 1992 in Barcelona. The silver medal ties the 1984 team for USA's highest finish. Aggie head coach Laurie Corbelli was a member of the '84 team, and Sykora wears the No. 5 jersey in honor of her former coach. USA, ranked fourth in the world, exceeded expectations, defeating second-ranked Italy in the quarterfinals and third-ranked Cuba in the semifinals to reach the gold-medal match.
• Champion combinations: Mary Batis were teammates at Alamo Volleyball Association and were the champions at the 2003 Junior Olympics 15 Open Division. Stephanie Wells to successfully defend the title. The Lady Sandies became the first Texas Class 5A team to repeat as state champions in more than 20 years. Stephanie Minnerly and Chelsea Ringel were teammates at Texas Advantage and Arlington Martin High School, where they helped lead the Warriors to the state 5A title in 2005.
• Sykora to Appear on Oprah: Aggie three-time Olympian Stacy Sykora will be on the Oprah show to air Sept. 8. Oprah invited all USA medalists from the 2008 Olympics to join her for the show, which was taped on Sept. 3 in Chicago.
• An addition to the family: Aggie volleyball assistant coach Robyn Romansky and husband Thaddeus are the proud parents of Michael Joseph Romansky, born August 11 in College Station. He is their first child. Robyn did not make the trip to Omaha but is expected to rejoin the team soon.
• Race to 1,000: Junior outside hitters Mary Batis both are on pace to surpass 1,000 career kills this season. Batis, who had 377 kills last year, needs 212 to join the 1,000 Kills Club. Ammerman posted 447 kills in 2007 to raise her career total to 719, and after the opening weekend, is now 256 kills shy of the 1,000-kill milestone. Twelve former players are members of the 1,000 Kill Club. The most recent member was Laura Jones (2002-05), who is A&M's all-time kill leader with 2,064.
• Aggies face tough schedule: Nineteen of A&M's 30 regular-season matches this season are against teams that advanced to the 2007 NCAA tournament, including a total of five matches against regional finalists BYU, Nebraska and Texas. A total of 12 matches are against teams that advanced to at least the second round of the NCAAs, and 10 matches will be against teams that ranked in the 2007 final Top 25 Poll. A&M is slated to play 12 matches against teams ranked in the 2008 preseason Top 25 -- two matches each against Big 12 teams No. 3 Texas, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 14 Kansas State and No. 18 Iowa State, in addition to non-conference foes Minnesota, BYU, LSU and San Diego, ranked No. 16, 20, 21 and 22, respectively.
• Reunion set for Oct. 17 weekend: Many of A&M's former players will be converging on College Station on Friday, Oct. 17 for a volleyball reunion weekend. Activities include the Big 12 match against Baylor, Friday at 6:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum, as well as A&M's football game against Texas Tech on Saturday. For more information, call the Lettermen's Association at 979-846-3024.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE The Aggies host Texas State Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum and then close out non-conference play Sept. 12-13 at the University of San Diego Tournament. Other participants in the tournament include Cal State Fullerton, No. 21 San Diego and Southern Mississippi. A&M's complete schedule for next week is as follows (All times are Central):
Tuesday, Sept. 9 G. Rollie White Coliseum, College Station, Texas 6:30 p.m. Texas State at Texas A&M
San Diego Tournament Jenny Craig Pavilion, San Diego Calif.
Friday, Sept. 12 6 p.m. Texas A&M vs. Southern Miss
Saturday, Sept. 13 2 p.m. Texas A&M vs. Cal State Fullerton 9:30 p.m. Texas A&M at No. 21 San Diego
AGGIES ON THE INTERNET Free video streaming of all 14 A&M home matches will be available at AggieAthletics.com. In addition, audio broadcasts of 19 matches, both home and away, are slated with Matt Simon providing the play-by-play. The first audio broadcast is scheduled for Sept. 9 against Texas State. Simon also will call the action for all three matches at the San Diego Invitational, as well as all Wednesday and Sunday matches and selected Saturday matches.