Texas A&M
1-1
Pacific
1-1
A&M Drops Close Match to Pacific, 3-2
Aug 27, 2010 | Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M suffered its first loss of the season as the Aggies (1-1) dropped a 28-26, 23-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-12 decision to Pacific (1-1) in the Texas A&M Invitational tonight at Reed Arena.
The first set was a back-and forth affair with 15 ties and eight lead changes, and both teams missed out on opportunities to win the frame. Pacific, which had it largest deficit at 19-16, had two chances to close out the set as the Tigers took a 24-22 lead, but a service error and an ace by A&M's Chelsea Ringel (Arlington, Texas) knotted the score. The Aggies took the lead and were serving for the set following a block by Allie Sawatzky (St. Andrews, Manitoba, Canada) and Lindsey Miller (Katy, Texas), but Svenja Engelhardt countered with back-to-back kills to put Pacific ahead, 26-25. Another block by Sawatzky and Miller evened the score at 26-26, but Engelhardt notched her eighth kill of the set, and A&M, which was outhit, .273 to .130 in the stanza, had an attack error on the ensuing play to end the set.
"In set one, we were ahead and we ended making so many errors. We ended up giving it away," a disappointed A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "I felt we should have been up two sets to none at the break. We had eleven hitting errors in that first set so it was incredibly frustrating. But we encouraged them with things that were working, and we just missed by a little and it hurt a lot.
"It can't matter how young or inexperience we are, we still have to find a way to win that set. We have to learn how to win."
A&M rebounded nicely at the start of the second set and took was seemed like a commanding 20-13 lead. But the Tigers rallied again and fought off two set points to get within 24-23 before Alisa Kastmo (Tyler, Texas) ended the set with a kill to even the match.
The Tigers jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the third set and never looked back as they cruised to a 25-16 win, outhitting A&M, .320 to .172 in the frame. A&M, however, caught fire in the fourth, scoring the first four points and leading the entire set. The Aggies equaled their largest lead for the third time and were serving for the set at 24-17. Back-to-back kills by Pacific kept the Tigers alive before Miller put down a kill to end the set and force a fifth and deciding set.
There were seven ties and five lead changes in the final set. Pacific built the biggest lead at 10-7 but a kill by Kelsey Black (Amarillo, Texas) and consecutive attack errors by the Tigers tied the score at 10-10.
A block by Miller and Ringel gave A&M the lead, but it was short-lived as Pacific reeled off four unanswered points to go up 14-11. Miller staved off match point with her seventh kill of the match, but A&M then committed its 13th service error to end the match.
"When we were down 7-10, we had a timeout and came back and tied it up," Corbelli said. "I thought we had the momentum and were in a good rotation. We called a play and we got stopped on that play and I think then when we got aced, I saw that it stressed out our team a lot. When volleyball starts to get where everyone thinks they have to win it themselves and they lose the team feeling or you are counting on only one or two people, it is really hard to win at this level."
Black led the Aggies with a career-high 22 kills and also had a team-high 15 digs. Kastmo also had a career high in kills with 13, while Miller pitched in a career-high seven blocks.
Engelhardt led all players with 21 kills and Samantha Misa added 20 for the Tigers. Rebekah Torres posted a match-high 18 digs as Pacific out-dug A&M, 61-42.
"To only have 42 digs in a five-set match is very poor," Corbelli added. "That was one of the biggest differences. We had more blocks (12-9), but they out dug us by so many, and I thought that was really the difference. It wasn't Destiny Hooker hitting them. They were balls we should have been digging and we weren't."
A&M concludes the tournament Saturday against No. 23 LSU at noon. The Tigers, who were stunned by the Aggies in the second round of last year's NCAA tournament in Baton Rouge, or 2-0 in the tournament with wins against both Pacific and Siena.
Complete tournament schedule/results:
Friday, August 27
Texas A&M def. Siena, 3-0 (25-11, 25-21, 25-12)
No. 23 LSU def. Pacific, 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 26-24)
Pacific def. Texas A&M, 3-2 (28-26, 23-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-12
No. 23 LSU def. Siena, 3-0 (25-16, 25-13,25-22)
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.
