Oct. 6, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Texas A&M looks to improve to 6-0 in home matches and keep Kansas State winless in Big 12 Conference matches when the Aggies play host to the Wildcats Wednesday at Reed Arena. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.
Aggie Athletes Involved and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee will be conducting their annual Aggies CAN food drive, and fans bringing a food donation will receive free admission to the match.
Tickets are $9 for reserved seats; $7 for adult general admission; and $4 for youth general admission. Children under 2 are admitted free in general admission sections. Single match as well as season tickets can be purchased at the Reed Arena entrance, online at AggieAthletics.com, or by calling 888-99-AGGIE.
Live video stream of the match will be available free of charge at AggieAthletics.com, with Matt Simon calling the action.
The Aggies (10-3, 3-2 Big 12) improved to 5-0 at Reed Arena with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-23) victory against Kansas on Saturday. With the win, the Aggies moved into at tie with Nebraska for fifth place in the conference standings.
Kansas State is 6-8 overall, 0-4 in the Big 12, and mired in a five-match losing skid after being swept by No. 2 Texas, 25-20, 25-21, 25-21, in Manhattan on Friday.
Texas A&M enters the week ranked No. 3 in the nation with 14.07 assists per set and fourth in the country with 14.84 kills per set. In addition, the Aggies are No. 16 in the nation with a .270 hitting percentage.
Senior setter Kristen Schevikhoven directs the well-balanced offense and is ranked 12th in the nation with 11.55 assists per set. Her primary targets are senior outside hitters Sarah Ammerman, who is third in the Big 12 with 4.03 kills and 4.55 points per set for the full season, and Mary Batis, ranked seventh in the league with 3.28 kills per set and eighth with 3.72 points per set, as well as senior right-side hitter Jennifer Banse, who is third on the team with 3.22 kills and 3.58 points per set.
Freshmen middle blockers Lindsey Miller and Alisia Kastmo lead the Aggies and are ranked fourth and 10th, respectively, in the Big 12 for hitting percentage. Miller is hitting .353, while Kastmo is hitting .326.
Meanwhile, freshman libero Tori Mellinger has posted double figures in digs in seven of the last eight matches and leads the Aggies and is ranked eighth in the Big 12 with 4.06 digs per set in league contests only.
SERIES RECORDS
• K-State has won the last four meetings and leads the overall series, 16-11, since the teams first met in 1981.
• K-State, which has swept the two-match season series against the Aggies each of the last two years, is 16-10 against A&M in Big 12 matches only, but A&M leads, 9-4, in matches played in College Station.
• A&M's most recent victory against the Wildcats, as well as the Aggies' only win in Manhattan, was a three-game sweep on Nov. 4, 2006.
• Four of the last seven meetings between the two teams have gone the maximum five sets, although K-State swept the Aggies last year at G. Rollie White Coliseum in College Station.
• In the most recent meeting, Texas A&M took No. 16 Kansas State to five sets but suffered a heartbreaking 23-25, 25-12, 25-21, 19-25, 15-9 loss to the Wildcats at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan on Oct. 29, 2008. K-State outhit A&M .303 to .219, recording nine blocks to A&M's four.
A&M trailed 7-6 in the final frame when the Wildcats went on a controversy-filled 4-0 run. Sarah Ammerman ended the rally with her 15th kill of the match, but K-State got a kill and an ace to go up, 13-7. Mary Batis put down her 19th kill of the match, but Rita Liliom countered with her 19th kill on the ensuing play to put the Cats serving for the match. Jennifer Banse kept the Aggies alive with her 14th kill before a kill by Megan Farr clinched the win for K-State.
Banse led A&M with 14 digs, and Schevikhoven posted 51 assists. Liliom and Natalya Korobkova tied Batis for match-high honors in kills with 19 apiece. K-State libero Lauren Mathewson led all players with 18 digs, and Farr tallied a match-high eight blocks for the Cats.
AGGIE QUICK HITS
• A&M has led or tied its opponent for most aces in every match this year and is averaging a league-leading 1.45 aces per set for the full season. In addition, the Aggies lead the league for fewest aces allowed with 0.52 per set for the full season.
• A&M has three players averaging more than three kills per set for the full season: Sarah Ammerman, 4.03 kps; Mary Batis, 3.28 kps; and Jennifer Banse, 3.22 kps. In addition, three players are averaging more than three digs per set: Batis, 3.38 dps; Tori Mellinger, 3.34 dps; and Ammerman, 3.08 dps.
• A&M is on the brink of breaking into the AVCA Top 25 Poll, as the Aggies are receiving votes and are listed a season-high 26th this week. The last time A&M was ranked in the top 25 was Sept. 10, 2007, when the Aggies made a one-week appearance at No. 25.
• Batis needs 19 digs to give her 1,172 for her career and move her into 10th place in the A&M career records. She will surpass Elizabeth Edmiston, who had 1,171 digs from 1989 to 1992.
• A&M's breast cancer awareness match will be against Colorado on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Reed Arena. More details will be available soon.
• Batis, who ranks third in the A&M career record books with 1418.5 points, is only 2.5 points ahead of Ammerman, who ranks fourth with 1416 points. In addition, Batis is ninth in the A&M career records with 1,254 kills, only 10 ahead of Ammerman, who ranks 10th with 1,244 career kills.
• Senior setter Kristen Schevikhoven needs 66 assists to move into seventh place in the A&M career records for assists. She will pass Lexy Beers, who had 2,579 in her three-year career (2001-03).
• Freshmen middle blockers Lindsey Miller and Alisia Kastmo and freshman libero Tori Mellinger have played in every match this season. Miller has started all 13 matches and leads the starters with a .353 hitting percentage. Kastmo moved into the starting lineup in the fourth match of the season after sophomore middle blocker Stephanie Minnerly went down with a torn ACL against Northern Iowa and is second among the starters with a .326 hitting efficiency. Mellinger has played in all but three sets and has been the designated libero in each of the last nine matches. She has posted double figures in digs in a team-leading eight matches, including seven of the last eight matches, and she ranks second on the team with 3.34 digs per set for the full season.
• Mary Batis and recorded five kills and five digs. Ringel was a back-row sub in the last two sets and posted five digs, and Kelner subbed in for Schevikhoven in the third set and closed out the match with seven assists.
• Senior outside hitter Sarah Ammerman played for K-State head coach Suzie Fritz last summer as a member of bronze medal-winning USA A2 Team at the USA Volleyball Open Championship.
• Ammerman's career-high 25 digs against Missouri on Sept. 26 marks 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, when the 30-point scoring system was in effect. Ammerman ranks third on the team with 3.08 digs per set for the full season and is second on the team with a 3.72 average in Big 12 matches only.
• A&M's .465 hitting percentage in the Big 12 opener at Texas Tech on Sept. 19 ranks ninth in the school record books and third all-time in A&M's Big 12 matches only.
• The Aggies, 1-1 against Top 25 teams, are slated to play a total of eight matches against teams ranked in this week's Top 25: two matches each against No. 2 Texas, No. 9 Nebraska, No. 14 Iowa State and No. 17 Baylor. Saint Mary's, which defeated A&M, 3-1, in Moraga, Calif., also is receiving points and is listed 29th, and Northern Iowa, who A&M defeated earlier in the season, is receiving points and is 37th.
• The Aggies, who went 11-9 to tie eventual NCAA-regional finalist Iowa State for fourth 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 Iowa State following at third place. A&M is followed by Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and Texas Tech.
• Aggie head coach Laurie Corbelli is 353-161 in her 17th year as head coach of the Aggies and 453-267 in the 24th season of her head coaching career. She is A&M's winningest coach in terms of total victories and ranks second for winning percentage (.687). In addition, her 453 career wins leads all coaches in the Big 12 for Division I victories.
A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS
• Kansas State, 6-8 overall and 0-4 in the Big 12, suffered its fifth consecutive loss on Friday as the Wildcats fell to No. 2 Texas, 25-20, 25-21, 25-21, in Manhattan.
• K-State's last three opponents have been ranked in the top 25: then-No. 25 Baylor, No. 11 Iowa State and No. 2 Texas.
• K-State hit .300 against the Horns, the highest hitting efficiency by a Texas opponent this season. Vanessa Murray led the Wildcats with 12 kills and hit .364, and Kathleen Ludwig and JuliAnne Chisholm pitched in 10 kills apiece.
• Senior middle blocker Kelsey Chipman, a preseason All-Big 12 selection, leads the Wildcats with a .352 hitting percentage and 1.09 blocks per set for the full season. In Big 12 matches only, Chipman is averaging 1.21 blocks per set but is being held to a .240 hitting percentage.
• Junior outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm leads K-State with 3.16 kills per set for the full season, while junior outside hitter Vanessa Murray leads the team with 3.27 kills per set while hitting at a team-best .272 clip in conference matches only.
• K-State, which finished third in the Big 12 standings with a 14-6 record and then lost in the NCAA first round in 2008, are picked to finish sixth in the conference this year, according to a preseason poll of the league coaches.
• Suzie Fritz (Florida Atlantic `94) is 177-86 in her ninth season as head coach at K-State.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Aggies face a challenging two-match road swing as A&M faces back-to-back ranked opponents starting Saturday at No. 17 Baylor. Match time against the Bears, who are 16-1 overall and in second place in the Big 12 with a 5-1 mark, is 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center in Waco. Baylor's No. 17 ranking is the highest in program history, and the Bears are making their first appearance in the top 25 since the 200 season when they reached a then-record-high No. 19.
A&M faces No. 14 Iowa State on Wednesday, Oct. 14 in Ames, Iowa, before returning to Reed Arena for a three-match homestand. The Cyclones, who tied A&M for fourth place in the Big 12 last year, reached the 2008 NCAA regional finals before being eliminated by Final-Four bound Texas.