Texas A&M
9-2, 2-1Big 12
Missouri
10-4, 2-1Big 12
Volleyball Suffers 3-2 Setback at Missouri
Sep 26, 2009 | Volleyball
Sept. 26, 2009
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Texas A&M won the first two sets against Missouri, but the Tigers came back to win the next three to top the Aggies, 21-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 15-13, at the Hearnes Center.
The loss snaps A&M's six-match winning streak, which includes a win against No. 6 Nebraska, and drops the Aggies to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12. Missouri improves to 10-4 overall, 2-1 in the Big 12 and 6-0 in home matches and ends a three-match losing skid against the Aggies.
"I say quite often that serving and passing determine the rest of the match," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "When we became a little tentative on our serving -- we didn't miss a lot but we weren't able to get them out of system. It seemed to me 90 percent of the time they had three attackers. Their gym is very tough to pass in and it pulled our setter off the net a lot and we had one attacker to go to the majority of the time. We weren't able to spread out our offense."
In the decisive fifth set, A&M scored the first three points, but Missouri would later use a four-point spurt to take its first lead at 8-7. A&M tied the score at 8-8 after Tigers Paola Ampudia came over the line following her attack, but Catie Wilson got a kill and then teamed for a block with Lei Wang-Francisco to give the Tigers a 10-8 lead. The teams traded points until A&M's Jennifer Banse got a kill and then teamed with Lindsey Miller for a block to knot the score at 12-12.
Julianna Klein tooled the block to put Missouri up, 13-12. She then won a joust at the net to put the Tigers at set point but then hit long on the following play to keep the Aggies alive. Ampudia then clinched the victory for the Tigers with her 19th kill of the match to tie for match-high honors.
Missouri outhit A&M .261 to .118 in the final set, tallying 11 kills and holding A&M to only six.
A&M had taken the early lead in the match, taking the first two sets despite hitting below .200 in each set. After nine ties and six lead changes in the opening set, the Aggies used an 8-0 run to take the lead for good at 17-12. Missouri made a run with four consecutive points to get within 17-16 but kills by Banse and Mary Batis, as well as a Missouri attack error put the Aggies ahead, 20-16. With A&M leading 22-17, the Tigers made another comeback, scoring three consecutive points to get within 22-20, but they could get no closer. Batis, who had seven kills and zero errors in 11 attempts in the set, tooled a kill off the block, and Missouri's next attack went into the net to put the Aggies serving for the set. Batis then closed out the set with a kill.
Sarah Ammerman, more well known for her offensive prowess, had 16 digs in the first set alone en route to a career-high 25 for the match to help A&M hold Missouri to a .051 hitting efficiency in the opening frame.
The second set was tied at 6-6 when a block by Batis and Miller gave the Aggies the lead for good. A&M, which tallied six blocks in the set, took its biggest lead at 17-10 on another Batis-Miller block. The Tigers later used a four-point run to cut the gap to 21-18. An Ammerman kill, a block by Banse and Alisia Kastmo, and a Kastmo ace put the Aggies at set point. Klein, however, countered with three straight kills. An A&M attack error then put the Tigers within 24-22 before Ammerman put down an overpass to clinch the set and give the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
A&M overcame a five-point deficit early in the third set, using a 7-1 scoring run to take a 12-11 lead. The teams went on to change leads three more times and tied the score eight more times, the last coming at 22-22. The Aggies then had three consecutive attack errors to give Missouri the win.
A&M was held to a .038 hitting percentage in the set, but Missouri didn't fair much better, hitting .070.
Missouri never trailed in the fourth set and outhit the Aggies, .242 to .089. The Tigers used a 7-1 run to build their biggest lead at 21-14. A&M got within 23-19 but then served into the net to put Missouri at set point. Ampudia then followed with her fifth kill of the set to secure the win for Missouri and force a fifth set, the first time this season the Aggies have played a five-set match.
"It is tough on the road in the Big 12 to play these great teams," Corbelli said. "We almost had it. Hats off to Missouri. They played a great match."
Batis led A&M with 19 kills and also pitched in 22 digs and a career-high six blocks. Ammerman finished with 16 kills. Kristen Schevikhoven posted 52 assists and tied her career-high with 15 digs. Libero Tori Mellinger and Banse also reached double figures in digs with 19 and 15, respectively, and Miller and Kastmo tied Batis for match-high honors in blocks with six apiece.
Klein and Ampudia had 19 kills apiece to lead Missouri, which outhit A&M, .122 to .111 for the match. Wang-Francisco had six blocks as the Tigers outblocked A&M, 18-13.
The Aggies conclude a two-match road swing on Wednesday as they travel to Austin to take on No. 2- ranked and undefeated Texas (9-0, 4-0 Big 12) in a State Farm Lone Star Showdown tilt. First serve is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Gregory Gym.
