Texas A&M
18-10, 11-9Big 12
Missouri
18-14, 9-11Big 12
Volleyball Celebrates Senior Day With Sweep Against Missouri
Nov 28, 2009 | Volleyball
Nov. 28, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -
Texas A&M ended the regular season riding a four-match winning streak by sweeping Missouri, 25-18, 29-27, 25-20, in front of 1,282 today at Reed Arena.
The Aggies decided to wait until after the match to honor their six seniors - Sarah Ammerman, Jennifer Banse, Mary Batis, Dylan Faulkner, Jola Kelner and Kristen Schevikhoven - and instead focused on the important match at hand, a contest with possible NCAA tournament implications on the line for both teams.
"This was something we wanted really bad," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We know Missouri really well; they know us really well, and the team that came to play and wanted it more was going to be the winner. It was so evident how much our team wanted this match. I'm so proud of the way they prepared themselves and executed the game plan."
A&M took its first lead of the opening set at 5-4 on a block by Schevikhoven and Lindsey Miller. Missouri managed to tie the score at 5-all and 9-all, but that was the closest the Tigers could get for the remainder of the set.
Paola Ampudia had nine kills for the Tigers in the first set, but Schevikhoven directed a well-balanced offense, which had kills from six different players and outhit the Tigers, .319 to .220. A&M used a three-point spurt, which included a kill apiece by Schevikhoven and Banse, to build a 20-14 lead. Banse later gave A&M its biggest lead at 23-16 with her fourth kill of the set. The teams sided out the remainder of the frame, with Batis posting the set-winner with her fifth kill of the match.
A&M overcame a five-point deficit midway through the second set and also fought off four set points to take a two-set lead. The Aggies, who outhit Missouri, .409 to .386 in the set, found themselves trailing 16-11 when they began their comeback and managed to tie the score at 22 on an ace by Faulkner. The teams then began exchanging kill for kill, with Batis getting a kill to fend off set point at 24-23. After a Missouri kill, Ammerman found the floor with her attack to tie the score at 25-25, but A&M had a service error to put the Tigers at set point for the third time. Ammerman came back with a kill to tie the score at 26, but Ampudia countered with her seventh kill of the set. With the Tigers serving for set-point again, Ammerman and Alisia Kastmo knotted the score at 27 by blocking an Ampudia attack. Kastmo then followed with a kill to give A&M its first lead since 1-0. Missouri then had an attack error to close out the set.
A&M jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set and never looked back as they cruised to the victory. The Tigers later scored four unanswered points to get within 14-12, but were unable to cut the gap any further. A&M was holding on to its two-point advantage at 19-17, when a bad set by Missouri, an Ammerman kill and an attack error by the Tigers put A&M up 22-17. Batis followed with an ace but then uncharacteristically served into the net to end the four-point run. A&M quickly got the serve back and was at set point following a kill by Miller. Ampudia kept the Tigers alive with a kill and a block to get within 24-20 before Missouri's next serve sailed long to clinch the victory for the Aggies.
Ampudia led all players with 26 kills while hitting at a .295 clip, but she was the only Missouri player to reach double figures.
Batis led A&M with 14 kills and a .394 hitting percentage. Ammerman and Banse finished with 11 kills apiece. Schevikhoven dished out 44 assists and directed A&M to a .307 to .266 hitting percentage advantage for the match.
"It's something you might not notice as an observer, but the sharpness and speed of the ball coming out of our setters hands, it really gets our team going," Corbelli said. "It affects our hitters; the sharper the sets are, the sharper our hits and kills are. We hit .300 for the night and only had 12 errors. And with only 12 errors, it's hard for opponents to match that when we don't hurt ourselves."
Faulkner set a career-high with two aces as A&M posted four total and held Missouri, the Big 12 team leader for aces per set, to zero aces.
"That might have been one of the best serving matches we had, being able to locate the ball right where we wanted it," Corbelli said. "It's really the placement of the serve and what it is doing to the opposing team and how it is limiting the opposing team's offense. The team came through with great serving in the exact right spot, and it helped our blocking and we were able to slow down so many more balls."
Tori Mellinger led the Aggies with 15 digs, and Ammerman completed a double-double with 11 digs. Kastmo and Miller tied for team-high honors in blocks with two apiece.
Missouri, which has won only once in 14 trips to College Station, finishes the season 18-14 and in seventh place in the Big 12 with a 9-11 league mark.
A&M improves to 18-10 and ties Oklahoma and Baylor for fourth place in the conference with an 11-9 league record.
It was an emotional win for the Aggies, who were playing their final match at Reed and also hoping the win would be enough to allow the seniors to don the maroon and white once again. That will happen only if A&M gets an NCAA at-large berth, something that has eluded the team since 2005. The seniors tried their best to hold in the emotion until after the match.
"Emotion starting coming for me at point 21 for us," Batis said, and (at 23-17 in the third set) I made a service error and then something else bad after that, so I said to myself, `Mary you can't cry yet.' We really played our hearts out and really poured our emotion into the game and it was good to have that fight and heart back for a last emotional Big 12 win."
"I'm just glad we saved senior awards for after the match," Ammerman added. "It hit me this morning, the whole time I was getting ready, and when I was putting my uniform on. I knew it was going to be hard, but the match comes first. We wanted it badly, and I was able to push my emotions aside and feel it after we won, but I have definitely been feeling it all day. Once the whistle blows, though, I am able to concentrate on the goal we set, to get to NCAA, so that overrules any emotion."
The Aggies will learn their postseason fate Sunday when the NCAA Selection Show airs on ESPNews between 2-2:30 p.m. (CST). Thirty-three at-large teams will be selected and to join 31 automatic qualifiers in the 64-team tournament field.
