Texas A&M
9-3, 2-2Big 12
Texas
10-0, 5-0Big 12
Aggies Fall to No. 2 Texas
Sep 30, 2009 | Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas -- Jennifer Banse and Sarah Ammerman combined for 29 kills and a .410 hitting percentage, but it wasn't enough as No. 2 Texas held off Texas A&M, 28-26, 25-20, 25-21, in the first competition of the State Farm Lone Star Showdown.
"We are obviously disappointed at the loss, because we really feel like we could of pushed another game or two," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "At the same time, I'm really, really proud of the progress my team is making, coming into this type of a venue, on their home court with the power and experience they have, and to come out and have played as well as we did."
A Gregory Gym crowd of 4,229 watched as Texas fought off three set points to take the opening stanza. There were 18 ties and seven lead changes in the frame with the biggest lead by either team coming at the start of the match as A&M opened with four unanswered points. Texas would later take a 22-21 lead, but a Longhorn attack error and a kill by A&M freshman middle blocker Kristen Schevikhoven put the Aggies at set point.
A&M's next attack sailed just long to put the score at 24-24, but Texas served into the net to put A&M up 25-24. A kill by Texas' Rachael Adams tied the score for the 17th time before Ammerman put down her fifth kill to put A&M serving for the set for the third time. Sha'Dare McNeal kept the Horns alive with a kill, and then back-to-back A&M attack errors gave Texas the set.
"When we started the match, I've never seen my team feel so prepared and relaxed and confident that they were going to be able to have a great shot at a victory tonight," Corbelli said. "We were point for point for so long in that first set and had set-point several times. We didn't play exactly our best, but at times we played some of the best volleyball we can, but we didn't finish, and those are some things that we talked to them about needing to learn."
Banse and Ammerman had seven and five kills, respectively, and each hit .385 in the set as A&M outhit the Horns, .224 to .217.
A&M built an 11-6 lead in the second set before Texas went on an 11-2 scoring run to take a 17-13 lead. The Aggies got within three points at 23-20 before a Texas kill and an A&M attack error closed out the set.
Texas got six kills apiece from Juliann Faucette and Destinee Hooker and outhit A&M, .364 to .212, in the set.
A&M tied the score three times in the third set but was unable to take a lead as Texas completed the sweep. A kill by Banse tied the score at 7-7, but it would be the final tie of the set as Texas went on a 5-1 scoring run to build what would be its largest lead of the set.
A&M cut the gap to a point at 17-16 following back-to-back kills by Banse, but a service error put Texas back up, 18-16. Ammerman then got a kill from the back row to put A&M within 18-17 before Texas scored three unanswered points to go up 21-17. The teams then traded point for point to close out the match.
Texas (10-0, 5-0 Big 12) outhit A&M, .414 to .237, in the final set.
Banse led the Aggies with 15 kills while hitting at a .429 clip. Ammerman added 14 kills with a .394 hitting percentage, and Schevikhoven finished with 35 assists. Mary Batis led A&M with 11 digs, and Miller had a team-best three blocks as the Aggies led the Horns, 5.5 to 4.0 in blocks.
Hooker led all players with 17 kills and hit .469 to help Texas to a .315 to .225 hitting percentage advantage. Faucette finished with 14 kills, and libero Heather Kisner had a match-high 16 digs.
"Overall I think the performance was one of the best we have had here in awhile," Corbelli said, "and I think Sarah Ammerman was pretty phenomenal with only one attack error and just really found the parts on their court that were so open and she was able to use that. And Jenny Banse, also, after a little bit of a let up, but she got back on track and they couldn't find a way to stop her. I thought that was really promising."
Corbelli also praised Schevikhoven and Mellinger.
"Schevikhoven did a beautiful job tonight. We have been really trying to encourage her to spread out the offense a little bit more and really try to get our middles more, because we really need them and we haven't been using them like we would like too. I think it is starting to come around, so we are excited to play [Texas] again in about four weeks in Reed Arena.
"Tori Mellinger had a phenomenal night. They started off going at her on the serve and thought they could break our freshman, and they could not stay on her. I was so impressed with her. Her passing performance and her defensive performance for the first time in a game like this. She has been in college volleyball for only six weeks and she has done a phenomenal job."
A&M (9-2, 2-2 Big 12) returns home to Reed Arena Saturday to play host to the Kansas Jayhawks. The start time has been changed to 2 p.m. to allow fans the opportunity to also watch the Aggie football game against Arkansas, which kicks at 6:30 p.m. at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will be televised by ESPN2.
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