Texas A&M
1-0
Iona
0-1
Volleyball Opens Season, Reed Arena With Sweep
Aug 28, 2009 | Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- A&M celebrated a victory on its new home court today with a 30-28, 25-12, 25-10 victory over Iona in the first-ever volleyball match to be played at Reed Arena.
Iona scored the first point in the inaugural match at Reed and the first match of the Texas A&M Invitational as Sarah Wiener, from Kingwood, Texas, notched a kill on the opening play. A&M scored its first point on an Iona attack error on the ensuing play, and the first set continued to be a back-and-fourth affair throughout with 24 ties and neither team gaining more than a two-point lead.
"We had a little bit of a slow start but I think that was to be expected, starting a new trend of volleyball history playing in Reed Arena and establishing it as our new home," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "There were a lot of nerves going into a game especially against a team that had nothing to lose against us.
"It wasn't a beautiful start, but I don't think our players ever had any doubt and knew we would get a feel for their game, adjust it to and do what we needed to do. I was impressed by the way our team kept their composure and starting playing Aggie volleyball."
The Aggies fought off four set points and then took a 29-28 lead on a block by freshman middle blocker Jennifer Banse. Banse then capped the set with a kill.
The 28 points Iona scored in the first set were more than the Gaels could muster in the next two sets combined as A&M allowed a total of 50 points in the match to tie a school record for fewest points allowed in a three-set match since the scoring format changed to 25 points in 2008. Sophomore middle blocker Stephanie Minnerly, making her first career start, served the Aggies to a 6-0 lead to open the second set. Iona got within 8-6 when A&M kicked it into high gear, reeling off series of unanswered points, including a 10-point run to close out the set.
Aggie freshman middle blocker Caitlin Adams got a kill to jumpstart a match-ending five point run for the Aggies.
"There were definitely jitters going into the game and especially playing in Reed Arena with so much excitement," said A&M senior Mary Batis, who had three kills in the final run and led all players with 21 kills and a career-high .667 hitting percentage. "We were overly excited to play in Reed with a crowd, (ribbon boards) and video playing on the (video screen). Not that we were thinking about those things, but it was just a new environment, playing against a team we had never seen before so there were a lot of factors playing into. Like Laurie said though, even when we were down I knew we were going to win. I have that confidence in our team, and we have that confidence in ourselves."
With her 21 kills, Batis moved into 10th place in the A&M career records with 1,147. Sarah Ammerman also reached double figures in kills with 12 for the Aggies.
Defensively, Batis also led all players with 11 digs, and Kelsey Black added 10 digs. Miller took match-high honor with four blocks as the Aggies outhit Iona .413 to .182.
Wiener and Rachel Whitten led the Gaels with seven kills apiece.
In the other match of the morning session, Northern Iowa defeated Virginia, 3-0
Tournament action resumes this afternoon with Iona taking on UNI at 4 p.m. and A&M facing Virginia at 6 p.m.
