COLLEGE STATION, Texas
-- Texas A&M, 9-0 and the winner of three consecutive tournament titles,
aims to make history this weekend as the Aggies compete in the Michigan/adidias
Invitational, Friday and Saturday at Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. The
Aggies, who are receiving votes and are listed 28th in the most recent AVCA
Coaches Top 25 Poll, need one win to tie and two to break the A&M record
for the best start in the history of the program.
The Aggies will get a chance to tie the record held by the 2007 team on Friday when they face Xavier (6-3) Friday at 11 a.m. (Eastern Time) in the opening match. A&M then faces Toledo (4-5) Friday at 5:30 p.m. and concludes the tournament against the 18th-ranked Wolverines (9-0) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Live scoring of A&M matches will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
The Aggies won their third tournament championship last weekend, defeating host Stephen F. Austin, 3-1, and Northern Illinois, which was receiving votes in the Top 25 poll and was listed 37th, 3-1, to win the Ladyjack Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas. Senior outside hitter and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week Kelsey Black earned her third Most Valuable Player award in as many weeks, and junior middle blocker Lindsey Miller and sophomore setter Allie Sawatzky joined Black on the all-tournament team.
AGGIE QUICK HITS:
- Texas A&M's 2011 team is only the second squad in school history that has opened a season with nine consecutive wins. The 2007 team holds the program's all-time record for most wins to start a season, having won 10 straight matches before the streak was snapped in a five-set Big 12 Conference-opening loss to Oklahoma on Sept. 12, 2007.
- The Aggies and Michigan are two of 12 teams in the nation that are undefeated (as of Sept. 13). A&M is the only team in the Big 12 Conference with a perfect record after No. 15 Northern Iowa swept 12th-ranked and previously unbeaten Iowa State on Tuesday.
- A&M leads the Big 12 and is ranked eighth in the country with a .297 hitting percentage. The Aggies also lead the Big 12 in aces (1.81), assists (13.23) and kills (14.48) per set and rank among the top 25 in the nation in both aces (15th) and assists (25th) per set.
- As a team, A&M is holding opponents to a .157 hitting percentage, 10.84 kills, 10.16 assists, 0.97 aces and 13.26 digs per set. Opponents lead A&M in blocks per set, 1.68 to 1.58.
- Individually, sophomore setter Allie Sawatzky ranks fourth in the Big 12 and 49th in the nation with 10.68 assists per set. Kelsey Black leads the Big 12 and is 53rd in the nation in aces (0.47) per set and fourth in the league and 54th in the nation in kills (4.0) per set.
- Four Aggie starters are hitting above .300 while averaging 2.0 kills or more per set. Junior middle blocker Lindsey Miller leads the team and is ranked eighth in the Big 12 with a .355 hitting efficiency while averaging 2.59 kills. Junior outside hitter Tori Mellinger, who served as the team's libero her first two years, ranks ninth in the league with a .353 norm while averaging 2.00 kills. Black and junior right-side hitter Alisia Kastmo are hitting .330 and .324, respectively, while averaging 4.0 and 2.70 kills per set.
- A&M has led its opponent in kills, hitting percentage and assists in every match and in digs in eight of nine matches this season. In addition, the Aggies have led or tied in aces in all but one match. A&M has led or tied its opponent in blocks five times.
- Miller and Kastmo have each posted a performance in which they had 12 kills while committing no errors. Kastmo had 12 kills and 0 errors in 19 attempts for a .632 hitting efficiency in a three-set win against Creighton, and Miller had 12 kills and no errors in 20 attempts for a .600 hitting percentage in a sweep against Washington State.
- Senior Kelsey Black has posted double figures in kills in eight of nine matches and leads the team with five double-doubles.
- Black, Miller, Sawatzky and senior middle blocker Elise Hendrickson have started every match in 2011.
- The Aggies, who went 7-13 and finished eighth in the Big 12 last year, have been picked to finish fourth in the league this season, according to a preseason poll of the conference coaches. Texas garnered the top spot in the preseason poll, receiving seven of nine first-place votes and 63 total points. Iowa State received two first-place votes and tied Oklahoma for second with 53 points. Texas A&M received 43 points, followed by Missouri (32 points), Baylor (30) and Kansas (22). Kansas State (20) and Texas Tech (8) round out the poll.
- A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli is 385-186 in her 19th year at the helm of the Aggies and 485-292 in the 26th season of her head coaching career.
- A&M is slated to play 13 matches against teams that appeared in the 2010 NCAA Championship tournament, including six matches against schools that advanced to at least the Sweet 16. With two wins over Creighton, which advanced to the second round of the 2010 NCAA tournament, and wins against first-round participants Butler and Northern Illinois, the Aggies are already 4-0 against 2010 NCAA tournament teams.
SCOUTING
THE OPPONENTS:
Xavier
- Xavier is 6-3 after winning its last two matches and placing second at the WKU Tournament last weekend. The Musketeers fell to host Western Kentucky, 3-1, in the opener but rebounded for a thrilling 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 28-26, 23-25, 15-11) victory over LSU, which was receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll and was riding a winning streak of 16 victories in matches played in the month of September dating back to 2009. Xavier closed out the tournament with a 3-1 victory against Wake Forest to improve to 6-0 at neutral sites.
- Sophomore 5-9 outside hitter Sarah Browns leads the Musketeers with 3.34 kills and 3.76 points per set and is hitting .300. She was named the Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after posting double-doubles and match highs in kills and digs in wins against both LSU and Wake Forest. Brown had 22 kills and 22 digs while hitting at a .312 clip against the Tigers and then posted 17 kills and 19 digs against Wake Forest.
- Xavier is picked to finish second in the Atlantic-10 according to a preseason vote of the league's head coaches. The Musketeers, who finished second to Dayton with a 12-3 conference record in 2010, return two all-conference selections: Michelle Matia, a 6-1 senior middle blocker who hit .321 and averaged 1.17 blocks per set, and junior defensive specialist Stephanie Vorherr, named the Atlantic 10's 2010 Libero of the Year and an AVCA All-America honorable mention after averaging a conference-leading 5.38 digs per set.
- Mike Johnson (Washington '03) is in his second season as head coach at Xavier. He directed Musketeers to a 22-9 record and an appearance in the finals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.
Toledo
- Toledo is 4-5 with all five losses coming in the last six matches. The record is deceiving as the Rockets are coming off a tightly contested 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 27-25) loss to No. 25 Ohio State on Saturday. The Rockets, who hit .307 against the Buckeyes, had defeated Penn, 3-2, including 16-14 in the fifth set, earlier in the day.
- Senior libero Amber DeWeerdt was named to the all-tournament team at the Rocket Classic and leads Toledo with 3.56 digs per set for the full season.
- Senior setter Kassie Kadera is ranked fourth in the nation with 12.29 assists per set. As a team, the Rockets are ranked 28th with 13.15 assists per set and 14.15 kills per set.
- Senior outside hitter Sondra Parys leads the Rockets with 3.27 kills per set. Five other players are averaging above 2.0 kills per set.
- Toledo leads its opponents in kills (14.15 to 13.06), assists (13.15 to 12.18) and digs (14.61 to 13.67) per set but is being outhit, .255 to .244 and outblocked, 2.12 to 1.76. Opponents also are averaging 1.39 aces to Toledo's 0.82.
- The Rockets return all six starters from last year's team that went 13-17 overall and placed sixth in the Mid-America Conference West with a 6-10 mark. Toledo advanced to the MAC semifinals after knocking off No. 1 seed Ball State, 3-0, in the quarterfinals.
- Head coach Greg Smith (Westmont (CA) College '90) is in his third season at the helm of the Rockets and enters the tournament 34-34. He is 115-128 in the ninth year of his head coaching career.
Michigan
- Michigan, which is making its 2011 home debut, is 9-0 and moved up two spots to No. 18 in this week's AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Wolverines also have climbed to No. 18 in the Volleyball Magazine Top 20 after receiving votes last week and are No. 1 in the Pablo Rankings.
- Setter Lexi Dannemiller was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday after averaging 12.8 assists and 2.8 digs to lead Michigan to the Dayton Marriott Flyer Classic title last weekend. It is the second consecutive week Dannemiller has earned the conference honor. For the season, Dannemiller is 12th in the nation with 11.81 assists per set, and the Wolverines are eighth in the nation as a team with a 13.74 assists average.
- Senior outside hitter Alex Hunt was named MVP at the Dayton Marriott Flyer Classic as Michigan picked up its second tournament title of the season. She ranks fifth in the nation with 0.71 aces per set and leads the Wolverines with 3.48 kills per set. In August, the 6-0 lefty was one of five unanimous selections to the 2011 Preseason All-Big Ten Team after leading the league in kills (4.41) and points (5.04) per set while ranking third in aces (0.39) in 2010. She is one of five returning starters (four and libero) for the Wolverines in 2011.
- Michigan leads the nation with 2.39 aces per set and is fifth in the country in kills per set (14.90), seventh in hitting percentage (.297) and eighth in assists per set (13.74).
- Opponents are being held to a .188 hitting percentage, 11.0 kills, 10.39 assists, 0.65 aces, 12.06 digs and 2.19 blocks per set.
- Michigan is coming off a 3-0 (27-25, 25-18, 25-20) victory over No. 23 Dayton on Saturday. It was the Wolverines' second ranked win of the season, having also swept No. 24 Florida State on Sept. 9. Senior 6-4 middle blocker Courtney Fletcher led all players with 17 kills and a .667 hitting percentage against the Flyers.
- Michigan went 23-10 in 2010, earning the program's fifth consecutive NCAA bid before falling to No. 11 Washington in the first round. The Wolverines went 12-1 at Cliff Keen Arena.
- Mark Rosen (Cal State Northridge '85) is in his 13th season as head coach of the Wolverines. He enters the tournament with a 248-152 record at Michigan and a 457-189 record in the 19th season of his head coaching career.
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORDS:
- Texas A&M has never faced Xavier or Toledo.
- A&M holds a narrow 2-1 edge in the all-time series against Michigan, but the Wolverines won when the teams last met in 2003. Michigan defeated A&M, 30-25, 30-17, 32-30, on Sept. 6, 2003, at the Michigan/Pepsi Challenge at Cliff Keen Arena en route to the tournament title. A&M took second place.
A&M won Michigan's then-named All Sport Volleyball Challenge in 1998, as tournament MVP Stacy Sykora led the Aggies to a 16-14, 15-17, 15-5, 15-8 victory over Michigan in the title match.
The teams first met Dec. 5, 1997, in the second round of the NCAA Championship at G. Rollie White Coliseum. No. 7 seed Michigan, which was making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament and had reached 20 wins for the first time in school history, was eliminated by the host Aggies, 15-10, 15-6, 15-6.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
The Aggies play their final non-conference match of the regular season Wednesday, Sept. 21 at Reed against Houston Baptist, where A&M first-year assistant Steve Greene previously served as an assistant coach and helped the Huskies secure what they could tab the best recruiting class in school history. First serve is slated for 6:30 p.m. The Aggies open Big 12 Conference play Saturday, Sept. 24 at Missouri (2 p.m.) before playing their first home conference match against Baylor on Wednesday, Sept. 28. The Baylor match will be Fish Camp Night at Reed Arena.