Texas A&M
13-6, 6-5Big 12
Texas
17-0, 12-0Big 12
Aggies Fall to No. 2 Longhorns
Oct 28, 2009 | Volleyball
Oct. 28, 2009
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No. 2 Texas remained undefeated and maintained its stronghold on the Big 12 Conference lead with a 25-18, 25-14, 25-20 victory over No. 25 Texas A&M in a State Farm Lone Star Showdown match tonight at Reed Arena.
"The scores speak for themselves," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "I thought in games one and two we struggled with our serve receive and were wimpy with our serving, which put them in system 99 percent of the time and us going 1-on-6 99 percent of the time. That doesn't work. It's not what we practice. It's not what we train."
An A&M all-time record home crowd of 3,856 was on hand as Texas (17-0, 12-0 Big 12) scored the first three points of the match. A&M managed to tie the score twice, at 4-all and 5-all, but Texas then got a kill from Destinee Hooker to retake the lead. The Longhorns never looked back, outhitting A&M, .500 to .216 in the frame.
"I was very pleased with our team's performance tonight in front of a great Aggie crowd," Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said. "We did a great job keeping our composure and staying in our system. We won the serve receive game tonight which was key. And with our size, we were able to wear them down a little bit."
The Longhorns built their biggest lead of the first set at 22-14 following another three-point run. Sarah Ammerman posted one of her five kills in the set to end the rally, and a ball handling error put the Aggies within 22-16. The teams then exchanged point for point to close out the set, with Juliann Faucette posting her sixth kill in seven swings to clinch the set for Texas.
A&M took its only lead of the match early in the second set as Mary Batis connected on back-to-back kills to put the Aggies up, 5-4. Trailing 6-5, Texas began to reel off strings of points, including a stretch of six unanswered points, as the Longhorns outscored the Aggies 14-3 to take a commanding 19-9 lead. At 23-14, Rachael Adams posted back-to-back kills to end the set and give the Longhorns a 2-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Texas, which outhit A&M, .324 to .026 in the second set, hit only .158 in the third set, but it was enough as the Longhorns held A&M to a .044 hitting efficiency.
A&M spotted the Longhorns a 7-0 lead to start the third set. Although the Aggies cut the deficit to three points four times, the last coming at 23-20, they could not get any closer before Hooker closed out the match with two of her match-high 13 kills.
"The 12th Man was amazing tonight," Corbelli said. "(This) was one of the most incredible volleyball events we've had, and that's the disappointment for me was that we couldn't cut it closer. We were really rallying and trying for a game three turnaround. I was really proud to be an Aggie tonight with the 12th Man; it's just so fun."
Faucette and Adams added 10 kills each for the Longhorns, who hit .310 and held the Aggies to a .092 hitting percentage and 35 kills, both season lows. Jennifer Doris pitched in a match-high five blocks to lead the Longhorns to a 10-5 blocking advantage.
"We passed extremely well tonight and we did a good job containing (Jennifer) Banse," Elliott said. "She is a very nice player and has had a successful senior season. That was the big key for us."
Batis led A&M with 11 kills and was the only A&M player to post double figures. Banse, who was presented the State Farm Scholar Athlete Award prior to the match, had 14 kills and hit .429 in the match in Austin but was held to seven kills tonight.
"We did make some errors we typically don't make," Corbelli said. "Sarah and (setter Kristen Schevikhoven) weren't connecting like they usually do. Jenny wasn't on either. At Texas we had her and Ammerman just beating on balls. When we are on all cylinders, we really battle.
"We just really struggled with our timing. Our blocking was off tonight, but this is a really tough team to play. They are constantly on the attack, and it can wear you down. If you cant find a way o put it on the floor, they will keep swinging at you."
The Aggies (13-6, 6-5 Big 12) look to break their two-match losing skid when they begin a two-match road swing to Kansas on Saturday, taking on the Kansas Jayhawks at 6:30 p.m. at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. A&M returns to the Sunflower State on Wednesday to face the Kansas State Wildcats in a match that will be televised by FSN-Kansas City. The match begins at 7 p.m. at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan.
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