Oct. 16, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M (9-9, 4-4 Big 12) and the Baylor Bears (12-6, 4-4 Big 12) meet in a crucial Big 12 Conference match Friday at G. Rollie White Coliseum. First serve is at 6:30 p.m.
A&M and Baylor are in a three-way tie with Iowa State for fourth place in the Big 12 standings.
It is "Texas A&M Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night" at the Holler House. In addition, many former Aggie volleyball players, including former all-time A&M career kill leaders Sherri Brinkman (1983-85), A&M's first AVCA all-American, Cheri Steensma (1985-88) and Kristie Smedsrud (1994-97), will be in attendance for a volleyball reunion.
Tickets to the match can be purchased by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE or by going online at 12thManFoundation.com. Tickets also will be available at the G. Rollie White ticket window beginning one hour before the match. General admission tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for students/youth. Reserved seats are $9 each.
Live audio, with Matt Simon calling the action, along with statistics and video will be available free at AggieAthletics.com.
The Aggies are coming off a 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-16, 25-18) loss to third-ranked Texas on Wednesday in College Station. The loss snapped A&M's three-match winning streak.
Baylor lost its third consecutive match and the fourth out of its last five, and No. 2 Nebraska remained undefeated at 18-0 with a 25-14, 25-11, 25-20 victory against the Bears in Lincoln.
Junior outside hitter Mary Batis leads the Aggies and ranks ninth in the Big 12 with 3.42 kills per set for the full season. She also leads the team and ranks 10th in the league with a 3.83 point average. In addition, Batis is A&M's dig leader with 2.84 per set.
Junior outside hitter Sarah Ammerman leads the team with 0.20 aces per set and ranks second on the squad with 3.09 kills and 3.48 points per set.
Senior middle blocker Darla Donaldson leads the team and is ranked second in the Big 12 with 1.27 blocks per set in Big 12 matches only.
Junior setter Jola Kelner has started the last four matches in place of Kristen Schevikhoven, who has been out with an ankle injury suffered at Colorado. With Kelner running the offense, the Aggies have outhit their opponents a combined .255 to .196 and outblocked them, 2.59 to 1.41.
As a team, A&M is hitting .222 and averaging 13.16 kills, 0.91 aces, 13.93 digs and 2.26 blocks per set for the full season. In Big 12 matches only, A&M is hitting .217 and is second in the league with 2.41 blocks per set. In addition, the Aggies are averaging 12.64 kills, 0.97 aces and 13.36 digs per set in league matches.
SCOUTING THE BEARS:
• Baylor (12-6, 4-4 Big 12) is mired in a three match losing skid, its longest losing streak of the season. Two of the losses were against the No. 2 and No. 3-ranked teams in the nation, Nebraska and Texas. The other was a 3-1 home loss to Iowa State, a team that also defeated A&M in the conference opener.
• Baylor is receiving votes in the weekly AVCA Top 25 Poll and is listed in a tie for 35th with BYU, a team A&M defeated 3-1 earlier this season in College Station.
• Baylor leads the league with 1.40 aces per set in conference matches only. On the flip side, the Bears rank last in the league for aces allowed with 1.50 per set in conference matches. Baylor also leads the league with 1.67 aces per set for the full season, while A&M ranks last with 0.91 aces per set in all matches.
• Junior middle blocker Anne Breyfogle leads the Big 12 in blocks per set for both the full season (1.56) and in Big 12 matches only (1.57). As a team, Baylor is averaging a league-leading 2.63 blocks per set for the full season and is fourth in the league with 2.32 blocks per set in conference matches only
• Junior setter Taylor Barnes is atop the Big 12 rankings for service aces, averaging 0.41 in all sets, and 0.53 in Big 12 contests only.
• Barnes was a senior at Arlington Martin High School when A&M's Stephanie Minnerly and Chelsea Ringel were sophomores at Martin in 2005. All three were named to the Texas state all-tournament team after leading the Warriors to the 2005 high school state championship and a 38-7 record, with Barnes collecting MVP honors.
• In Baylor's most recent outing, No. 2 Nebraska held the Bears to a .000 hitting percentage en route to a 25-14, 25-11, 25-20 victory Wednesday at the Nebraska Coliseum. Briana Tolbert and Katie Sanders led Baylor with five kills apiece. Taylor Barnes added 21 set assists, and Allison King tallied 12 digs to mark the 13th-straight match that she has reached double-figure digs. The Bears were outblocked, 11-5.
• Jim Barnes (McNeese State `94) is 71-74 in his fifth season as head coach of the Bears.
THE A&M-BAYLOR ALL-TIME SERIES:
• A&M leads the all-time series, 55-9, since 1976, including 23-3 in matches played in College Station, as well as 19-5 in Big 12 matches only.
• A&M is 12-2 against the Bears in Big 12 matches played at G. Rollie. Baylor's only two Big wins in College Station were in 2005 and 2006.
• A&M has won the last two meetings after sweeping both matches last year. It marked the seventh time A&M swept Baylor in a season series.
• Baylor's most recent win against A&M was Nov. 1, 2006 in College Station, as the Bears defeated the Aggies, 30-24, 27-30, 34-32, 30-16.
• In the most recent meeting, A&M swept the Bears, 30-27, 33-31, 30-27, on Nov. 24, 2007, in College Station in both teams' final match of the season. Mary Batis and Kristen Schevikhoven and Batis pitched in 11 and 10, respectively.
A&M hit .306 for the match while holding the Bears to a .154 hitting percentage. A&M finished with 64 kills, 56 assists, 63 digs and eight blocks. The Aggies did not register an ace for the first time this season.
Baylor, which tallied 45 kills, 43 assists, nine aces, 56 digs and seven blocks, was led by Anne Breyfogle, who had 13 kills while hitting .478. Sarah Grace led the Bears with 18 digs, and Mady Bates had four aces.
QUICK HITS:
• Junior outside hitter Mary Batis needs only 24 kills to reach 1,000 for her career. Batis, whose single-match career-high is 23 kills set against Missouri on Oct 4, leads A&M and ranks ninth in the Big 12 with 3.42 kills per set. Batis is on pace to become the 13th player in A&M history to join 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.
• Junior outside hitter Sarah Ammerman also is closing in on the 1,000-kill mark, needing 80 more to reach the milestone. She is second on the team with 3.16 kills per set.
• Senior middle blocker Darla Donaldson, the only A&M player to have played in every set this season, is averaging 1.41 blocks per set over the last five matches and ranks second in the Big 12 with a 1.27 block average in conference matches only. In addition, she is hitting .417 over the last five contests and ranks fifth overall in the league with a .357 hitting efficiency in Big 12 matches only.
• A&M ranks in the top five in the Big 12 for fewest kills allowed (12.06), fewest assists allowed (11.12), fewest blocks allowed (1.80) and fewest digs allowed (13.03) per set, in addition to lowest hitting percentage allowed (.206).
• Since returning to the designated libero position against Missouri on Oct. 4, freshman Chelsea Ringel has led the Aggies in digs in three of the last four matches and now leads A&M with 2.73 digs per set in Big 12 matches only. Ringel, who is averaging 3.12 digs per set over the last four matches, is second on the team with a 2.39 dig average for the full season.
• The Texas match on Wednesday marked the beginning of A&M's toughest stretch of the season. The Longhorns were the first of five ranked opponents the Aggies will face in a span of seven matches. A&M faces No. 2 Nebraska and No. 3 Texas twice during the seven-match stretch, in addition to a match at No. 16 Kansas State, as well as Baylor, which is receiving votes.
• Freshman middle blocker Stephanie Wells, who had appeared in only four sets prior to the Kansas match, drew the first start of her career against the Jayhawks and responded with four blocks, including one solo. Wells, who also started against Texas Tech in place of the injured Kelsey Bryant, played in one set against Texas and had two blocks.
• Many of A&M's former volleyball standouts will be in attendance at the Baylor match, including A&M's first AVCA All-American, Sherri (Brinkman) Reilly, who also was A&M's first volleyball player inducted into the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame. Others scheduled to return are Margaret (Spence) McGraw and Cheri (Steensma) Morgan, who both joined Brinkman on the Southwest Conference All-Decade Team (1981-1991). Lizette (Duvall) Lobpries, a member of the team in 1974, the first year Aggie letters were awarded in the sport, as well as Page (White) Warren, Laurie Corbelli's first signee as head coach of the Aggies, are slated to be in attendance, as are members of A&M's first NCAA Elite Eight Team, Rebecca (Wynalda) Files, Jenna (Moscovic) Fossum, Erin (Gibson) Lechler, Summer (Strickland) Loneragan, Heather (McWhirter) Marshall and Tara Pulaski. All former Aggie volleyball players in attendance will be recognized between sets two and three.
• A&M recorded a season-high 16 blocks against Missouri (Oct. 4), which equals the most blocks by a Big 12 team in a conference match this season. In addition, the Aggies tied an A&M record for solo blocks in a five-set Big 12 match with seven against the Tigers.
• A&M held Texas Tech to a .029 hitting percentage in Lubbock on Saturday, Oct. 11, the lowest by an A&M Big 12 opponent since the Aggies held Iowa State to a -.016 hitting efficiency on Sept. 27, 2002. Meanwhile, the Aggies themselves hit a season-high .387 against the Lady Raiders, the highest by an A&M team since the Aggies hit .402 at Kansas on Oct. 6, 2007, a span of 31 matches.
• In spite of A&M's makeshift lineup against Kansas, the Aggies hit .311, the Aggies' highest hitting percentage in a five-set Big 12 match since hitting .378 at Missouri on Nov. 26, 2005. In addition, A&M posted 15 blocks, one shy of their season high, which they set against Missouri in the previous match.
• Junior outside hitters Mary Batis and Sarah Ammerman each surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season. Batis, who leads the team and ranks 10th in the Big 12 with 3.83 points per set, surpassed 1,000 points for her career after posting 24.5 points against Oklahoma on Sept. 21. She enters the Baylor match with 1103.5 total points, needing 31.5 points to pass Christi Hahn (2003-06) for third place in the career records.
Ammerman recorded 15.5 points against Missouri on Oct. 4 to surpass 1,000 points. Ammerman, who is second on the team with 3.48 points per set and now has 1053 for her career, is the fifth A&M player to surpass the milestone since rally scoring began in 2001. Laura Jones (2002-05) is A&M's all-time career leader with 2,346.5 points.
• Jennifer Banse's career-high 24 digs against Oklahoma on Sept. 21 marked the most digs in a match by an A&M player since former libero Holly Clay had 28 at Texas Tech on Oct. 22, 2005. The junior outside hitter ranks second on the team with 2.55 digs per set in Big 12 matches only and is third on the team with 2.38 digs per set for the full season.
• 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.
• A&M played four matches against ranked teams during the pre-conference schedule and went 1-3 against those teams. No other Big 12 team played more than three matches against a ranked opponent during the pre-conference season. The Aggies are now 1-5 against ranked opponents.
• Aggie head coach Laurie Corbelli is 336-153 in her 16th year as head coach of the Aggies and 436-259 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. Corbelli is 26-5 all-time against Baylor.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
A&M concludes the first half of Big 12 Conference play at No. 2-ranked and league-leading Nebraska on Wednesday, Oct. 22. First serve is at 7 p.m. at Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln.
The match against the defending co-Big 12 champions will be televised live by CBS College Sports Network (CBS CS), available on DirecTV Channel 613 and on Dish Network Channel 152.