Aug. 25, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M volleyball team kicks off its 2010 campaign Friday at 10 a.m. as the Aggies face Siena in the opening match of the Texas A&M Invitational at Reed Arena.
The Aggies also will take on Pacific Friday at 6 p.m. In other matches on Friday, Pacific meets No. 23 LSU at 12 p.m. and LSU faces Siena at 8 p.m.
The tournament concludes with two matches on Saturday, with a 12 p.m. finale pitting No. 23 LSU against A&M in a rematch of the 2009 NCAA second-round contest that saw the Aggies upset the 15th-seed Tigers, 3-2, in Baton Rouge, La.
Complete tournament schedule:
Friday, August 27
Texas A&M vs. Siena, 10 a.m.
Pacific vs. No. 23 LSU, 12 p.m.
Texas A&M vs. Pacific, 6 p.m.
No. 23 LSU vs. Siena, 8 p.m.
Saturday, August 28
Pacific vs. Siena, 10 a.m.
Texas A&M vs. No. 23 LSU, 12 p.m.
Tickets: $9 for reserved seats; $7 for adult general admission; $4 for youth (ages 2-high school) general admission. Children under 2 are admitted free in general admission sections. Single match as well as season tickets can be purchased at the Reed Arena entrance, online at AggieAthletics.com, or by calling 888-99-AGGIE.
Free parking for volleyball fans is available beginning 1.5 hours before match time in lots 100a, 100b, 100g and 100f. Lot 102 is for handicap parking.
Free audio and video streaming of A&M's matches against Siena and LSU will be available at AggieAthletics.com, and the matches also will be broadcast on HD Radio at 95.1-3. Audio of A&M's match against Pacific can be heard at AggieAthletics.com.
THE 2010 AGGIES:
A&M coach Sarah Ammerman and Mary Batis, both four-year starting outside hitters; All-American honorable mention right-side hitter Jennifer Banse; and three-year starting setter Kristen Schevikhoven. Key reserves Jola Kelner, the back-up setter, and defensive specialist Dylan Faulkner also completed their eligibility.
Highlighting the list of returners is preseason All-Big 12 selection Kelsey Black (Amarillo, Texas), who is contending for a starting outside hitter position after serving in a utility-type role each of her first two seasons, as well as middle blockers Lindsey Miller (Katy, Texas), a member of the 2009 Big 12 All-Freshman Team, and Alisia Kastmo (Tyler, Texas), who both led the starters in hitting percentage as freshmen last year.
Sophomore Tori Mellinger (Dallas, Texas), who became the team's designated libero in the fourth match of her rookie campaign, also returns. Mellinger, who also will train as an outside hitter, led the Aggies with 3.45 digs per set in Big 12 matches in 2009.
Chelsea Ringel (Arlington, Texas), a key reserve as an outside hitter and back row defensive player over the last two seasons, also returns and is projected to start on the outside.
Stephanie Minnerly (Arlington, Texas), a middle blocker who started the first three matches in 2009 before suffering a season-ending knee injury, also is back and will be a sophomore athletically after receiving a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA.
Lauren Conrad (The Woodlands, Texas) and Kelsey Kinley (College Station, Texas) will help shore up the back-row defense.
Furthermore, Corbelli is hoping late-addition Elise Hendrickson, a 6-2 utility-type player from Long Beach, Calif., will be eligible to compete as a junior this season after transferring from the University of Arizona.
A LOOK AT THE OPPOSITION:
Siena
• Siena, located in Loudonville, N.Y., returns five starters plus the libero and 14 letterwinners overall from last year's team that went 15-13 and placed third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) with a 13-5 record.
• The Saints have advanced to the NCAA tournament four of the last five years.
• Top returners include junior outside hitter Aubrey Bobo, a Preseason All-MAAC Team selection after averaging nearly four kills per set and earning first-team All-MAAC honors in 2009, and sophomore libero Lesli Akeo, who averaged 4.03 digs per set.
• The trip to Texas is a homecoming of sorts for three Saints players: sophomore setter Elizabeth Ives hails from Richmond; sophomore middle blocker Jasmine Brown is from Houston and attended Mayde Creek High School; and sophomore right-side hitter Sarah Sivertson attended Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler.
• Garvey Pierre is one win shy of reaching the 100-victory milestone as enters his sixth season as head coach of the Saints with a 99-83 record.
Pacific
• Greg Gibbons (Iowa State '97) is in his first season as head coach at Pacific and takes over a team that went 17-11 and placed sixth in the Big West Conference with a 7-9 record in 2009.
• The Tigers return two starters and five letterwinners overall.
• Top returning players include senior outside hitter Svenja Engelhardt, a first-team All-BWC in 2009 after averaging 3.38 kills per set, and junior outside hitter/opposite Rebekah Torres, who averaged 2.6 kills and 2.12 digs per set.
• Freshman middle blocker Jennifer Sanders is from Katy, Texas, and helped lead Cinco Ranch High School to the state semifinals in 2009.
LSU
• LSU is ranked No. 23 in the preseason AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll and is picked to defend its Southeastern Conference West Division title for the sixth consecutive year.
• The Tigers return two starters plus the libero and eight letterwinners overall from last year's team that went 25-7 and ranked 19th in the final AVCA poll.
• The Tigers were eliminated in the second round of the 2009 NCAA tournament, as Texas A&M stunned 15th-seed LSU in five sets in Baton Rouge, La., to advance to the all-Big 12 Omaha Regional.
• Junior middle blocker Michele Williams, from Magnolia, Texas (Magnolia HS) is a member of the 2010 Preseason All-SEC Team. She averaged 2.26 kills and 1.15 blocks per set in 2009. She had 10 kills and seven blocks in the second-round loss to the Aggies.
• Fran Flory (Texas '84) is 223-139 entering her 13 season as head coach at LSU. The former Fran Teeter was a member of the Texas Longhorns' AIAW national championship team in 1981 and served as a part-time assistant volleyball coach at Texas A&M in 1987 under former Aggie head coach Al Givens.
A&M SERIES RECORD AGAINST THE FIELD
• A&M is 1-0 against Siena, having defeated the Saints, 3-0, in the 2008 Texas A&M Invitational at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
• A&M is 0-5 all-time against Pacific, but none of the matches were contested on the Aggies' home court. The teams last met Dec. 2, 2002, in Stockton, Calif., in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The seventh-ranked Tigers eliminated A&M, 3-0.
• A&M improved to 22-12 against LSU and snapped a two-match losing skid against the Tigers with the NCAA second-round win in 2009. Four of the last five meetings between the teams have been decided in five sets.
AGGIE QUICK HITS:
• A&M is 24-10 in season openers since 1976. (Opening-day results are not available for the 1975 season.)
• The Aggies are 12-5 in season openers since head coach Laurie Corbelli was hired in 1993. Last year, A&M defeated Iona, 3-0, en route to the Texas A&M Invitational championship.
• Corbelli is 363-169 entering her 18th year at the helm of the Aggies and 463-275 entering the 25th season of her head coaching career.
• A&M received votes in the AVCA preseason Top 25 coaches poll and is listed 29th. The Aggies also received votes in the Volleyball Monthly Top 20 Poll and are listed 22nd.
• The Aggies are slated to play seven matches against teams ranked in the AVCA preseason Top 25: two matches each against No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Texas and No. 9 Iowa State, and one match against No. 23 LSU. In addition, A&M will play six matches against teams that received votes, including two matches each against Big 12 opponents Baylor and Oklahoma, as well as single non-conference matches against Ohio and Missouri State.
• The Aggies, who went 11-9 and finished in a three-way tie with Baylor and Oklahoma for fourth place in the Big 12 last year, have been picked to finish seventh in the league this season, according to a preseason poll of the conference coaches. Nebraska and defending Big 12 champion Texas are picked to finish first and second, respectively, with Iowa State, Oklahoma and Missouri rounding out the top five. Baylor is sixth, followed by A&M, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Colorado.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
The Aggies host Sam Houston State on Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Reed Arena. A&M will then be on the road for tournaments at Missouri State and the University of Denver before returning home Thursday, Sept. 16 to open Big 12 play against Texas in the first edition of the 2010 State Farm Lone Star Showdown.
AGGIES ON THE INTERNET:
Free video streaming of 12 of A&M's 14 home matches will be available at AggieAthletics.com. In addition, free audio broadcasts of all home matches and select away matches are slated with Ryne Hillenberg providing the play-by-play. Also home match broadcasts, with the exception of the Pacific match, can be heard on 95.1-3 on the FM dial of an HD Radio.