Sept. 11, 2008
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 11, 2008
Texas A&M Volleyball
Aggies Compete at USD Tourney in Final Pre-Big 12 Tune-up
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M wraps up the pre-conference portion of its schedule this weekend as the Aggies participate in the USD Tournament, Friday and Saturday in San Diego. The Aggies open against undefeated Southern Mississippi (7-0) Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus. On Saturday, A&M takes on Cal State Fullerton (2-5) at 2 p.m. (CDT) and then closes out the tournament against No. 20 San Diego (5-1) at 9:30 p.m. (CDT).
The tournament will be a homecoming of sorts for A&M senior starting middle blocker Darla Donaldson, who hails from nearby Temecula, Calif.
Free audio of the A&M matches will be broadcast on AggieAthletics.com, with Matt Simon calling the play-by-play. In addition links to live stats for A&M matches and free video streaming of the A&M-USD match can be found at AggieAthletics.com
The Aggies enter the tournament 4-3 and riding a four-match winning streak after defeating Texas State, 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-23) Tuesday in College Station. Junior outside hitter Mary Batis had a match-high 13 kills and hit .321, and senior middle blocker Kelsey Bryant added 10 kills while hitting .533 to pace A&M to a season-high .350 hitting efficiency. It was the Aggies' 13th straight victory against the Bobcats.
Batis, the MVP of the Texas A&M Invitational last weekend and a member of the all-tournament team at the season-opening Bluejay Invitational at Creighton, leads the Aggies with 3.69 kills, 3.69 digs and 4.08 points per set for the season. Bryant, who has moved to the middle blocker position for the first time in her collegiate career while senior middle Jillian Phillips is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in her lower right leg, is hitting a team-high .360. Junior setter Kristen Schevikhoven is averaging 10.48 assists per set and is second on the team with 2.44 digs per set.
As a team, A&M is hitting .221 and averaging 13.73 kills, 0.85 aces, 15.15 digs and 2.04 blocks per set. Opponents are hitting .197 and averaging 12.35 kills, 0.81 aces, 15.77 digs and 2.02 blocks per set.
A LOOK AT THE OPPOSITION:
SOUTHERN MISS
• The Golden Eagles are off to a school-record 7-0 start, having dropped only three sets total along the way. They are coming off a 3-0 victory 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-23) victory over Southern Louisiana Tuesday in Southern Miss' home opener. The match had originally been scheduled for Sept. 3 but was postponed because of Hurricane Gustav.
• Senior outside hitter Stevi Cherry, the tournament MVP at the season-opening Air Force Tournament, leads the Golden Eagles with 2.83 kills per set and is second on the team with a .314 hitting percentage. Freshmen middle blockers Sarah Jane Bowden and Lauren Sears are each averaging a team-best 1.29 blocks per set, and junior libero Maia Ivanova, an all-tournament selection at the Air Force Tournament, leads the team with 3.54 digs per set.
• As a team, Southern Miss is hitting .219 and averaging 11.67 kills, 1.67 aces, 11.75 digs and 2.94 blocks per set. Opponents are hitting .065 and averaging 10.0 kills, 1.08 aces, 10.08 digs and 1.42 blocks per set.
• Ricci Luyties (UCLA `86) is 48-78 in his fifth season as head coach at Southern Miss. He was an assistant coach at Colorado before being named head coach of the Golden Eagles after former coach Santiago Restrepo accepted the head coaching job at Oklahoma. Luyties was a gold medalist on the 1988 U.S. Olympic Men's Volleyball Team.
CAL STATE FULLERTON
• The Titans enter the tournament 2-5 after losing their last five matches. Most recently they fell to No. 5 UCLA, 3-0, Wednesday at Titan Gym.
• Entering the week, senior Brittany Moore was leading the Titans with 3.57 kills per set and was second on the squad with 3.43 digs per set. She has been named to the all-tournament team in both of the tournaments CSF has participated in this season.
• While Southern Miss is experiencing a record-setting start, Cal State Fullerton has not gone 2-5 to open a season since 2000 under Mary Ellen Murchison. The Titans went 2-8 before their third win of the year.
• As a team, CSF entered the week hitting .167 and averaging 12.29 kills, 0.71 aces, 15.33 digs and 1.86 blocks per set. Opponents were hitting .209 and averaging 12.67 kills, 0.67 aces, 16.67 digs and 2.26 blocks per set.
• Carolyn Zimmerman (Pepperdine `92) is 75-109 in her seventh season as head coach of the Titans.
SAN DIEGO
• The 20th-ranked Toreros (5-1) won their first five matches of the season, including a 3-0 victory against Big 12-foe Oklahoma, before No. 7 USC handed them their only loss in their most recent outing.
• USD has won two consecutive West Coast Conference championships and three out the past four titles. The Toreros made their seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships in 2007. In 2007, USD went 21-8 after falling to Iowa State, 3-2, in the NCAA first round.
• USD has three players averaging three or more kills per set. Junior outside hitter Amy DeGroot leads the team with a 4.58 average. Jaimarie Sutherland is averaging 3.26 kills per set, and Ashton Basch is averaging 3.0 kills per set while hitting a team-leading .387.
• Senior setter Jessica Nyrop, who is averaging 11.94 assists per set, was a member of the U.S. Women's National A2 Red Team that captured the Open Division of the USA Adult Volleyball Championships in Atlanta in May.
• As a team, San Diego is hitting .292 and averaging 15.16 kills, 14.05 assists, 1.05 aces, 14.26 digs and 2.0 blocks per set. Opponents are being held to a .166 hitting efficiency and 11.05 kills, 10.16 assists, 1.05 aces, 10.79 digs and 2.0 blocks per set.
• Jennifer Petrie (William and Mary, 1992) is 174-70 in her ninth season as head coach of the Toreros.
SERIES RECORDS AGAINST THE FIELD
• A&M will be facing both Southern Miss and San Diego for the first time.
• A&M is 1-2 against Cal State Fullerton since 1976. All three matches were at neutral sites. CSF won two-game matches in 1978 and 1981. A&M picked up its only win in the most recent meeting, which took place Sept. 3, 1993, in Fresno, Calif. The Aggies defeated the Titans, 15-4, 15-2, 15-6, marking the first victory of coach Laurie Corbelli's A&M career.
• In the 23rd season of her head coaching career, A&M's Laurie Corbelli is 3-0 all-time against Cal State Fullerton and 11-3 against San Diego. She has never coached against Southern Miss.
RECENT RESULTS
Texas A&M (4-3) ran its winning streak to four after cruising to a 25-14, 25-13, 25-23 victory over Texas State in front of 1,421 Tuesday night at G. Rollie White Coliseum. It was A&M's 13th consecutive victory against the Bobcats (4-5).
Aggie outside hitter Mary Batis led all players with 13 kills while hitting at a .321 clip. Teammate Kelsey Bryant added 10 kills and hit .533 as A&M posted a season-high .350 hitting percentage with 11 of 12 suited players seeing action.
AGGIE QUICK HITS:
• A&M's win against No. 16 BYU on Sept. 6 was the Aggies' highest ranked victory since upsetting No. 9 Texas on Oct. 16, 2004, in College Station. Prior to the BYU match, A&M's most recent win against a ranked opponent was against No. 22 Minnesota on Sept. 2, 2006, at the Billiken Invitational in Saint Louis.
• Mary Batis needs 61.5 points to reach 1,000 for her career, and Sarah Ammerman is 91.5 points shy of 1,000 career points. They currently rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the A&M career records. Kendra Felder (2001-05) is fourth with 973.0, while Laura Jones (2002-05) is A&M's all-time leader with 2,346.5 points.
• Aggie head coach Laurie Corbelli is 331-147 in her 16th year as head coach of the Aggies and 431-253 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
• Aggies capture A&M Invitational crown: The Aggies won their own Texas A&M Invitational after going 3-0 last weekend. A&M defeated American, 3-1, Siena, 3-0, and No. 16 BYU, 3-1. Mary Batis was named tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Kelsey Bryant.
• Sykora returning to Aggieland: Stacy Sykora, A&M's first three-time Olympian, will be returning to Aggieland next weekend. She will be honored at both A&M's football game against Miami and at the volleyball match against Oklahoma on Sunday at 2 p.m. Autograph sessions with the silver medalist will be announced later.
• Countdown to 1,000 kills: Mary Batis and Sarah Ammerman both are on pace to surpass 1,000 career kills this season. Batis, who had 377 kills last year, needs 157 to join the 1,000 Kills Club. Ammerman posted 447 kills in 2007 and is currently 203 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.
• A&M faces 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 open Big 12 Conference play Wednesday, Sept. 17 at Iowa State. Match time is 6:30 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.
The two teams split the season series last year with each team winning on its home court. The Cyclones finished fifth in the Big 12 with an 11-9 record and advanced to the NCAA regionals. A&M went 10-10, tying Missouri for sixth place.
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. Simon 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.