Texas A&M
4-4
Jacksonville State
4-4
Volleyball Defeats Jacksonville State, 3-0
Sep 10, 2010 | Volleyball
Sept. 10, 2010
DENVER - Texas A&M opened the Pioneer Classic with a 25-18, 25-21, 25-16 victory over Jacksonville State today at Hamilton Gymnasium on the University of Denver campus.
Kelsey Black (Amarillo, Texas) led the Aggies with nine kills, and Alisia Kastmo (Tyler, Texas) and Chelsea Ringel (Arlington, Texas) pitched in eight kills apiece as the Aggies posted 38 kills while hitting at a .233 clip.
Tori Mellinger (Dallas, Texas) took match-high honors in digs with 15, and Lindsey Miller (Katy, Texas) tied her career high with seven blocks to help A&M hold the Gamecocks to 26 kills and a .022 hitting percentage.
"After a little bit of a slow start, offensively we started to really get some players that have been working really hard on their rhythm and their shot selection. We got a chance to get them going pretty strong," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "Kastmo has improved a lot over the last couple of weeks, and Chelsea Ringel was finding a lot of openings and putting a lot of power on the ball, so that was nice to have.
"Overall, we are excited about the win and we are preparing hopefully another victory in a few hours."
A&M improves to 4-4 on the season with the win and will play its second of three tournament matches this evening at 6 p.m. (MT), taking on the Denver Pioneers, who will be making their home season debut. Live stats and a fee-based video stream of the match will be available at http://www.denverpioneers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18600&ATCLID=204990177
JSU jumped out to an early lead in the opening set against the Aggies, scoring four unanswered points to take a 6-4 lead, but A&M would later use a five-point run to take a 12-10 advantage. JSU managed to tie the score at 13- and 16-all, but A&M held the Gamecocks to only two points for the remainder of the set. A&M, which held JSU to a -.097 hitting percentage in the set, closed out the frame with three consecutive points as Kastmo posted her fourth kill, Mellinger served an ace and Ringel and Miller teamed for a block.
After trading points to open the second set, A&M took its first lead at 5-4 on a kill by Miller. A&M followed with a service error, but it would be the final tie of the set as Ringel came back with a kill off the block and a kill down the line to put A&M up, 8-5. A&M never got more than four points ahead, and the Gamecocks got within a point three times, the last at 18-17. A block by A&M setter Allie Sawatzky (St. Andrews, Manitoba, Canada) and Miller started a three-point run for the Aggies. Kelsey Kinley (College Station, Texas) followed with an ace, and Stephanie Minnerly (Arlington, Texas) killed an overpass by JSU as A&M widened the margin to 21-17.
Leading 22-20, Kastmo got a kill and then teamed with Minnerly for a block to put A&M serving for the set. A service error kept the Gamecocks alive, but only for one play as Ringel posted her fifth kill of the frame to give the Aggies a 2-0 match lead going into the intermission.
A&M scored the first three points of the third set, but JSU came back to take leads at 6-5 and 8-7 before the Aggies began to pull away. Back-to-back errors by JSU and an off-speed kill by Kastmo gave the Aggies a 10-8 lead.
Liza Senenkova put JSU within 10-9 after posting one of her team-leading six kills, but that would be the closest the Gamecocks would get as A&M went on an 8-2 run to expand the margin to 18-11.
With A&M leading, 22-16, Miller rejected Senenkova's attack with a solo block. Senenkov hit long on the next play to put A&M at match point and then whiffed on a difficult off-balanced attack to end the match.
JSU, which returns five starters plus the libero from last year's team that went 27-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, drops to 4-4 on the season.
A&M concludes the tournament Saturday against Gonzaga. First serve is slated for 4 p.m.
The tournament is A&M's final tune-up for Big 12 Conference play, which the Aggies open by hosting No. 5 Texas on Thursday, Sept. 16 at Reed Arena. Match time is 6:30 p.m.
