Oct. 3, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texa - Texas A&M remained undefeated in home matches and kept Kansas winless in 15 all-time trips to College Station as the Aggies swept the Jayhawks, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23, in front of 1,360 at Reed Arena.
A&M improves to 10-3 overall, including 5-0 in home matches and 3-2 in Big 12 Conference matches only.
Kansas, which entered the match tied with the Aggies for sixth place in the league standings, drops to 9-5, 2-3 in Big 12 matches.
"I know that this group works so hard every day, and I mixed up the lineup a lot today," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "I wanted this group to still find the success and find what works, and they did. It feels great. We are a quarter of the way through the Big 12. It is a race to the top, and we got to notch another win on our side of the board, so we are excited about that."
Kansas held a narrow 4-3 lead in the opening set before Aggie setter Kristen Schevikhoven's attack fell for a kill to start a three-point scoring spurt that would give A&M the lead for good. A&M freshman middle blocker Lindsey Miller followed with a punishing kill off of a Kansas overpass, and Schevikhoven and Miller then teamed for a block to put A&M up 6-4. Kansas was within striking distance at 12-10 when A&M went on a 7-1 scoring run.
A&M, which outhit Kansas .214 to .030 in the frame, built its biggest lead at 24-15, but Kansas fought off two set points before sending an attack long to give the Aggies the set.
"I felt like this match was going to be really critical that we come out and start off getting our offensive rhythm strong," Corbelli said. "I know KU does a great job blocking, and they are incredible diggers. They have a super libero [Melissa Manda], so we really wanted and needed to be sharp on our start. I thought it was an ok start. As the match went on, we adjusted well to some of the defensive positions they were in."
A&M used a 6-1 run to break away from a 10-10 tie in the second set. All six of A&M's points in the run came on kills, with Miller and Jennifer Banse getting two each, and Alisia Kastmo and Kelsey Black also posting a kill apiece. Kansas, which was outhit .425 to .268 in the stanza, fought back within a point at 20-19 and 21-20 before A&M reeled off three unanswered points to be serving for the set. A Kansas kill and an A&M attack error put the Jayhawks within 24-22, before the Jayhawks' next attack sailed long to end the set and give the Aggies a 2-0 lead in the match.
"I thought Mary [Batis] did a great job in game one, and I thought it was a good opportunity to get Kelsey Black, who has been having phenomenal practices, on the court and let her bang some balls. I was really pleased that Kelsey got to compete," Corbelli said. "It's time for her to be competing for this group even more."
A&M opened the third set with four consecutive points. The Aggies went on to build their biggest lead at 13-8, but Kansas later used a 5-1 run to tie the score at 19. The Jayhawks then committed a service error and an attack error to put the Aggies up, 21-19. Kansas managed to tie the score at 22 and 23 but was unable to take a lead.
Sarah Ammerman put down her team-leading 11th kill to put the Aggies at match point. Kansas had an attack error on the ensuing play to give A&M the win.
"Overall, our serve reception patterns were pretty well timed," Corbelli said. "Our block, especially in game one, was doing its job very nicely. And I thought Lindsey and Alisia [Kostmo] in the middle were doing a really nice job transitioning. We have been working hard on coming off the block and getting up quick in the middle and finding the shots that we are trying to exploit our opponent on, and I thought they did a really nice job at that as well.
"We also had Chelsea Ringel. We used her a lot in the back row, and it was great to get her on the court and have Jola [Kelner] doing some setting as well."
Ammerman also led the Aggies in digs with 11, and freshman libero Tori Mellinger also reached double figures in digs with 10.
The Jayhawks, who were outhit, .286 to .202, were led by Allison Mayfield's 18 kills. Manda led all players with 18 digs.
A&M returns to Reed Arena on Wednesday to play host to the Kansas State Wildcats (6-8, 0-4 Big 12). First serve is at 6:30 p.m.