Sept. 15, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M opens Big 12 Conference play Thursday by hosting No. 8 Texas at Reed Arena in the first edition of the 2010 State Farm Lone Star Showdown. First serve is slated for 6:30 p.m.
It will be Fish Camp Night at Reed, and anyone wearing a Fish Camp T-shirt will be admitted free.
Tickets are $9 for reserved seating; $7 for adult general admission; and $4 for youth general admission. Children under 2 are admitted free in general admission sections. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Reed Arena entrance, online at AggieAthletics.com, or by calling 888-99-AGGIE. Also group rates are available by contacting the ticket office in advance. Tickets also can be purchased at the door beginning one hour prior to the match.
Free live audio, with Ryne and Lara Hillenberg calling the action, as well as free live video and stats will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
The Aggies are 6-4 overall and enter Thursday's showdown riding a three-match winning streak after going undefeated at the University of Denver's Pioneer Classic last weekend. A&M did not drop a set while notching sweeps against Jacksonville State, an NCAA second round team in 2009, Denver and Gonzaga. Junior outside hitter Chelsea Ringel and Alisia Kastmo were named to the all-tournament team. In addition, freshman setter Allie Sawatzky was later recognized for her performance by being named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week.
Texas is 5-3 after dropping a pair of matches to top-5 opponents last weekend in Gainesville, Fla. The Longhorns fell to then- No. 2 Stanford, 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-21) and then suffered a narrow 3-2 (25-11, 27-25, 16-25, 20-25, 16-14) decision to the fourth-ranked Gators.
Texas, which has shared or captured the Big 12 title in each of the last three seasons, is picked to finish second this year, according to a preseason vote of the league coaches. A&M, which tied Baylor and Oklahoma for fourth place with an 11-9 record last year, is picked to finish seventh.
A&M QUICK HITS:
• A&M is 7-7 all-time in Big 12 season openers, including 3-2 when the first Big 12 match of the year is played in College Station. A&M's record is 11-3 in first Big 12 home matches of the season.
• Last year A&M opened Big 12 play on the road, sweeping Texas Tech. The Aggies posted a stunning 3-1 victory over No. 6 Nebraska in their Big 12 home opener, ending a 19-match losing skid against the Huskers.
• A&M set a record for home attendance last year against the Longhorns as 3,856 were on hand for the ESPNU nationally televised match at Reed Arena. The mark broke the previous record of 3,778 set Oct. 24, 2003, against Texas at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
• Junior Kelsey Black, who saw action at every position except setter in her first two seasons, has settled in as a starting left-side hitter and leads A&M and the Big 12 and is ranked 15th in the nation with 5.14 points per set. She has led A&M in kills in every match this season and ranks second in the league and 33rd in the nation with 4.14 kills per set. The jump server also leads A&M and the Big 12 and is seventh in the nation with 0.66 aces per set.
• Black has already twice tied the A&M all-time record for aces in a match this season for both a three-set match and a five-set match, posting six apiece against both Sam Houston State and Pacific.
• Freshman setter Allie Sawatzky, who has started every match for the Aggies this season, ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 9.82 assists per set, and sophomore libero Tori Mellinger is listed eighth in the league in both aces (0.32) and digs (3.94) per set.
• The match against the Longhorns will be A&M's second match against a ranked opponent this season. The Aggies fell to then-No. 23 LSU, 3-0, on Aug. 28 at the Texas A&M Invitational at Reed Arena as the Tigers avenged an NCAA second-round 3-2 home loss to the Aggies in 2009. The Tigers are now ranked No. 19.
• Laurie Corbelli, the winningest coach in A&M volleyball history, is 369-173 in her 18th season at the helm of the Aggies and 469-279 in the 25th season of her head coaching career.
SERIES RECORD:
• Texas has won the last 12 matches against A&M and is 62-22 in the all-time series since 1976.
• Texas has swept the Aggies in the last four meetings and has won 14 consecutive sets against the Aggies. The last time A&M took a set off the Longhorns was Oct. 15, 2008, as the Aggies took the second set in a 3-1 loss at G. Rollie White Coliseum in College Station.
• The Aggies' most recent victory against the Longhorns was Oct. 16, 2004. No. 20 A&M upset No. 9 Texas, 32-34, 30-24, 30-27, 30-21, in front of 3,150 at G. Rollie.
• In Big 12 matches only, Texas leads, 18-10
• The teams last met Dec. 11, 2009, in the semifinal match at the NCAA Omaha Regional. The Longhorns swept A&M, 25-18, 25-18, 25-21, en route to a national runner-up finish.
TEXAS TIDBITS:
• Texas is 5-3 and ranked No. 8 in the AVCA Top 25 Poll after losing to then-No. 2 Stanford and No. 4 Florida at the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic last weekend in Gainesville, Fla.
• Senior two-time All-American outside hitter and Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year Juliann Faucette leads the Longhorns and is ranked 10th in the Big 12 with 3.0 kills and 3.73 points per set.
• Texas has suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since opening the 2007 season with consecutive losses to eventual national champion Penn State. The Longhorns have not lost three matches in a row in a single season since 2003.
• All three of Texas' losses this season have been to top-five opponents, with the other loss coming against No. 5 Illinois on Sept. 3.
• Texas is third in the Big 12 and 33rd in the nation with 2.52 blocks per set. Junior middle blocker Rachael Adams is the team's individual leader with a 1.07 average. Adams, a member of the preseason all-Big 12 team, also leads the team with a .394 hitting efficiency, good for fifth place in the Big 12.
• As a team, Texas is hitting .274 and averaging 12.04 kills, 11.07 assists, 1.68 aces, 11.82 digs and 2.52 points per set. Opponents are hitting .173 and averaging 10.64 kills, 9.54 assists, 1.29 aces, 11.18 digs and 1.48 blocks per set.
• Sophomore 6-3 outside hitter/opposite Bailey Webster will miss the 2010 season after suffering a knee injury during preseason practice. Webster was the 2009 Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year and also was a member of the 2009 Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2009.
• Texas has won or tied for the Big 12 title four times in the 14-year history of the league, including each of the last three years. Only Nebraska has captured more Big 12 titles.
• Jerritt Elliott (Cal State Northridge `91) is 219-67 in his 10th season as head coach of the Horns.
A&M RECENT RESULTS:
A&M went 3-0 at the University of Denver's Pioneer Classic over the weekend, posting sweeps against Jacksonville State and Denver on Friday and closing out the tournament with a sweep against Gonzaga on Saturday in the Aggies' final non-conference matches of the season. In the last match, the Aggies had to rally under pressure in each of the three sets against the Bulldogs, using three-point runs at the end of each set to pull out the narrow 25-22, 25-23, 27-25 victory. Junior outside hitter Kelsey Black led the Aggies with 13 kills, and sophomore middle blocker Lindsey Miller added 11 while hitting at a .381 clip. Freshman setter Allie Sawatzky and sophomore libero Tori Mellinger tied for team-high honors in digs with 12 each, and Chelsea Ringel pitched in 11 digs. As a team, A&M outhit the Bulldogs, .193 to .116, posting 47 kills to Gonzaga's 32.
NOTABLES:
• A&M-OU match on ESPNU: Texas A&M's volleyball match against Oklahoma on Nov. 3 at Reed Arena will be televised by ESPNU. The start time of the A&M-OU match has been changed to 8 p.m. to accommodate ESPNU's broadcast schedule. The Aggies and Sooners split the season series last year as each team won on the road. The series record between the two programs is even at 5-5 over the last five years, and three of the last six meetings have been decided in the final fifth set. A&M and OU tied for fourth place in the Big 12 with 11-9 records last year and received at-large invitations to the NCAA Championship. The Aggies advanced to the Sweet 16 and finished 20-11 overall and ranked No. 21 in the final coaches poll. Oklahoma finished 18-12 after being eliminated in the NCAA first round.
• Black rakes in the honors: Preseason all-Big 12 team member Kelsey Black was named to the all-tournament team in each of the first two tournaments A&M participated in this season. Black hit .274 and averaged 4.36 kills, 0.91 aces, 2.82 digs and 5.27 points per set to earn all-tournament honors at the season-opening Texas A&M Invitational and then averaged 4.25 kills, 2.58 digs and 5.12 points per set to earn all-tournament honors at the Missouri State JQH Invitational in the second weekend of the season.
• Sawatzky named Big 12 Rookie of the Week: Texas A&M freshman setter Allie Sawatzky has been named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week for matches played Sept. 6-12. The 6-2 lefty from St. Andrews, Manitoba, Canada (Lord Selkirk) averaged 11.0 assists to pace all Big 12 newcomers in that category and rank third overall. She guided the Aggies to three consecutive sweeps against Jacksonville State, Denver and Gonzaga as A&M went a perfect 3-0 at the Pioneer Classic in Denver. Sawatzky registered a career-high five kills and no errors in 10 attempts against Gonzaga, and she also produced 12 digs, tying a team high against the Bulldogs. In addition, Sawatzky dished out 36 assists against Gonzaga, the most by an A&M player in a three-set match this season. Overall, Sawatzky contributed 2.33 digs and 0.56 blocks per set to aid in the A&M defensive effort throughout the tournament. Sawatzky receives the conference honor for the first time in her career, and she is the first Aggie volleyball player to garner a league weekly honor this season.
• Ringel, Kastmo named all-tournament: Texas A&M junior outside hitter Chelsea Ringel and sophomore right-side hitter Alisia Kastmo were named to the University of Denver's Pioneer Classic all-tournament team after leading the Aggies to a 3-0 record. It is the first all-tournament honor in the careers of both players. Ringel hit .242 and averaged 2.67 kills, 2.22 digs, 0.44 aces and 3.28 points per set to help lead A&M to consecutive sweeps against Jacksonville State, Denver and Gonzaga. She tallied a career-high 10 kills while hitting at a .429 clip and also had a personal best three aces in the victory against the host Pioneers. Kastmo hit .308 and averaged 2.62 kills, 0.75 blocks and 3.25 points per set as the Aggies improved to 6-4 on the season.
• Aggies to host free youth clinic: The Texas A&M volleyball team will host a free clinic Thursday, Sept. 23 at Reed Arena. The clinic is open to girls, grades 4-12, and will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. on the main floor at Reed. Aggie volleyball coaches and players will conduct the clinic and teach the different skills of the sport. Space is limited. Interested participants are requested to reserve a spot by Sept. 17 by emailing (preferred) or calling Janie Elias at jelias@athletics.tamu.edu or 979-458-4153.
UPCOMING:
Texas A&M plays its first Big 12 road match of the season on Saturday as the Aggies take on the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence, Kan. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. A&M has won the last seven meetings with the Jayhawks. The Aggies then have a mid-week bye before returning home to host Texas Tech on Saturday, Sept. 25. First serve against the Red Raiders is 6:30 p.m. at Reed Arena.