Texas A&M
9-10, 3-6Big 12
Iowa State
13-4, 6-3Big 12
Volleyball Falls to No. 13 ISU, 3-1
Oct 16, 2010 | Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2010
AMES, Iowa - Texas A&M came up short in its upset bid against No. 13 Iowa State, as the Cyclones held off the Aggies, 25-22, 21-25, 25-11, 26-24, this afternoon at Ames High School.
The Cyclones, who are 9-1 in home matches this season, improve to 13-4 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12 Conference. A&M drops to 9-10 overall and 3-6 in conference play.
"It feels like sometimes our team is all or nothing, where everybody is either hot and we are passing and blocking and we are playing some great volleyball, or nothing goes right," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We still cant' find that blend of blowing off the previous play if it didn't go our way and getting back to what we need to do. The extremes were really obvious."
ISU used a four-point run to take its first lead of the opening set, 11-8. A&M later used a three-point rally to regain the lead at 13-12, but it would be the Aggies' last lead as the Cyclones immediately countered with a three-point run of their own to go up 15-13. A&M later tied the score at 16 on back-to-back kills by setter Allie Sawatzky and outside hitter Kelsey Black, but ISU used a 4-1 spurt to go up 20-17. The Cyclones later held a 24-20 lead as Big 12 kill leader Victoria Henson put down only her second kill of the set. A&M fought off two set points, getting a block from Lindsey Miller and Elise Hendrickson and scoring on an attack error by ISU before the Cyclones' Carly Jenson closed out the set with her fifth kill of the frame.
A&M jumped out to a 10-1 lead to begin the second set with Chelsea Ringel posting three kills and a block during the run. ISU chipped away at the lead and used a three-point run to cut the gap to 15-11. The Cyclones later got within 19-16, but that would be the closest they would get.
Consecutive kills by Black put A&M ahead, 23-17, but a service error and a back-row kill by ISU put the Cyclones within 23-19. Black then had another kill to put the Aggies at set point. Henson posted two kills before an ISU attack sailed just wide to clinch the set for A&M, which outhit ISU, .406 to .258, in the stanza.
ISU got hot in the third set, scoring the first six points and steadily widening the gap throughout the frame. The Cyclones hit .438 with 15 kills and only one attack error, racing to the 25-11 win while holding A&M to seven kills and a .031 hitting percentage.
The Cyclones had the momentum early in the fourth set and held a 13-8 lead when A&M reeled off six consecutive points to take a 14-13 lead. ISU came back with three kills to retake the lead at 16-14, but A&M got a kill by Black and ISU had back-to-back attack errors as the lead changed back to A&M once again.
The Aggies held a narrow 18-17 advantage when Henson put down two kills, and the lead changed for the fifth and final time. ISU went on to build a 22-20 cushion, but A&M managed to tie the score at 22-22 and again at 23-all. A Jenson kill put the Cyclones at match point, but Hendrickson got a kill to even the set at 24-24. ISU then got a kill from middle blocker Jamie Straube and then the Cyclones, who outhit the Aggies, .143 to .079 in the set, blocked an A&M attack to end the match.
"We just didn't have our middles on attack today," Corbelli said. "We just couldn't get it going. The outsides were swinging away and doing some nice things, and Sawatzky was setting a real nice match, and yet we couldn't get our middles to match what their middles were doing. It's too bad, because our middles are very capable."
Jenson led all players with 20 kills, and Henson, who entered the match leading the Big 12 with 4.25 kills per set, posted 14 kills. Straube also reached double figures for the Cyclones, pitching in 11 kills. ISU All-American libero Ashley Mass led all players with 21 digs en route to breaking the Big 12 Conference record for career digs.
Black, who entered the match second in the league with 4.09 kills per set, led A&M with 15 kills and also recorded a double-double with 12 digs. Hendrickson had 12 kills and hit .455 for the Aggies.
Libero Tori Mellinger had 19 digs for A&M, and Hendrickson, Stephanie Minnerly and Lindsey Miller tied for the team lead with four blocks apiece as A&M outblocked the Cyclones, 9-7.
"We have a lot of work to do as coaches and players," Corbelli said. "I see signs of improvement a lot of the time, and that makes me happy. There isn't a huge difference between our abilities and the abilities of the other teams we have been playing recently. We just have to figure out was is holding us back and keeping us from going the distance."
A&M completes the first half of Big 12 play at Oklahoma on Wed., Oct. 20 in Norman, Okla. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at McCasland Field House. Live audio of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
