vs.
HOUSTON BAPTIST HUSKIES (12-4)
Wednesday,
Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m.
Reed Arena,
College Station, Texas
Free live video/stats: AggieAthletics.com
Promotions:
Aggies CAN: bring a canned food item and get in free
Aggie Ring
Day: Receive free admission by showing your Aggie Ring
(any class year)
A&M-HBU All-Time Series: First meeting
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The Texas A&M volleyball team (10-2) returns home to Reed Arena on Wednesday to play host to the Houston Baptist Huskies (12-4). Match time for the first-ever meeting between the two teams is slated for 6:30 p.m. The contest marks the Aggies' final non-conference match of the regular season as A&M begins Big 12 Conference play at Missouri on Saturday.
Several special promotions will be on tap Wednesday when the Aggies return home for the first time since before classes began. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is hosting its 12th annual "Aggies CAN" food drive, and anyone bringing a canned food item to the match will receive free admission. In addition, it will be Aggie Ring Night, and anyone showing an Aggie Ring from any year also will be admitted free.
Free live video and scoring of the match will be available at AggieAthletics.com.
The Aggies, who have played their last nine matches on the road and have not competed at Reed since hosting the Texas A&M Invitational on Aug. 26-27, began the season by winning their first nine matches and capturing three consecutive tournament titles. The Aggies came within one victory of tying and two of breaking the 2007 team's record for the best start in school history, but the streak came to an end as A&M fell to Xavier, 3-2, in the opening match of the Michigan/adidas Invitational last weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich. A&M returned to the win column with a sweep over Toledo, but then fell to undefeated and 18th-ranked Michigan on Saturday to close out the tournament.
HBU had its five-match winning streak snapped on Saturday after falling, 3-2, to Louisiana Tech in the final match of the Husky Classic. HBU still won the tournament by virtue of a tiebreaker.
A&M and HBU are coming off the worst hitting performance of their seasons. A&M was outhit .185 to .092 by Michigan, and the Lady Techsters outhit HBU .138 to .089.
AGGIE QUICK HITS:
- Texas A&M first-year assistant coach Steve Greene was an assistant coach at HBU for the past two seasons. Last year he helped the Huskies sign what is regarded by many as the best recruiting class in Husky volleyball history.
- Texas A&M is receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 Poll for the third consecutive week and enters this week listed 34th.
- Texas A&M is 3-0 in home matches, having defeating Creighton twice and also defeating UTSA in the season-opening Texas A&M Invitational on Aug. 26-27.
- A&M leads the Big 12 and is ranked in the top 35 in the country in both assists and kills per set. In addition, the Aggies are second in the Big 12 and in the top 35 in the nation in both hitting percentage and aces per set.
- As a team, A&M is hitting .271 and averaging 14.14 kills and 13.0 assists per set, ranking 23rd, 24th and 30th in the nation, respectively. A&M is 32nd in the nation with 1.64 aces per set, and the Aggies also are averaging 16.05 digs and 1.74 blocks per set.
- Opponents are hitting .169 and averaging 11.48 kills, 10.76 assists, 1.05 aces, 13.98 digs and 1.65 blocks per set.
- Three A&M players are in the top 10 in the Big 12 for aces per set. Senior middle blocker Elise Hendrickson is second in the league with a 0.43 average, and junior right-side hitter Alisia Kastmo and senior outside hitter Kelsey Black are tied for sixth with 0.34 aces per set.
- Others ranking in the top 10 in the conference stats are Black, who is fourth in the league with 4.28 kills per set and fifth with 3.71 kills per set, junior libero Megan Pendergast, who ranks fourth with 4.12 digs per set, and sophomore setter Allie Sawatzky, who is fifth with 10.43 assists per set. In addition, junior middle blocker Lindsey Miller (.329)and Kastmo (.326) are ninth and 10th, respectively, in hitting percentage.
- A&M is 10-0 when leading its opponent in kills and 10-0 when winning the first set. The Aggies are 0-2 when dropping the first set and when trailing in kills.
- A&M has led its opponent in hitting percentage in all but one match and is 10-1 when leading in hitting percentage.
- Allie Sawatzky represented Texas A&M on the all-tournament team at the Michigan/adidas Invitational last weekend. It was the third time the sophomore setter received all-tournament distinction this season.
- Junior outside hitter Tori Mellinger, who was the team's designated libero her first two seasons, needs 77 digs to become the 19th player in school history to post 1,000 career digs. Mellinger, who was the starting libero for the first three matches this season and has since started seven matches on the left side, is averaging 3.0 digs per set this season.
- Junior libero Megan Pendergast has played in 11 matches and posted double figures in digs in nine matches, including each of the last six matches. She has posted 20 or more digs in two matches and leads the team with 4.12 digs per set.
- Junior middle blocker Lindsey Miller and junior right-side hitter Alisia Kastmo have each posted a performance in which they had 12 kills while committing no errors. Kastmo had 12 kills and no 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 10 of 12 matches and leads the team with seven double-doubles.
- Black, Miller, Sawatzky and Hendrickson have started every match in 2011. Kastmo has started all but one in which senior Sarah Grace started out for her in the back row.
- The Aggies are 6-1 in three-set matches, 4-0 in four-set matches and 0-1 in five-set matches.
- 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 386-188 in her 19th year at the helm of the Aggies and 486-294 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 were 4-0 against 2010 NCAA tournament teams before falling to No. 18 Michigan, which reached the first round in 2010.
SCOUTING HBU:
- The Huskies are 12-4 after falling to Louisiana Tech, 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 17-25, 19-25, 15-9) Saturday in the final match of the Husky Classic on Saturday. The loss snapped a five-match winning streak, but HBU was still awarded the tournament title based on tiebreaker rules.
- Louisiana Tech hit only .138 for the match but held HBU to a season-low .089 hitting percentage.
- HBU is hitting .191 for the season and is averaging 12.17 kills, 11.19 assists, 1.63 aces, 15.58 digs and 2.08 blocks per set. Opponents are hitting .146 and averaging 11.03 kills, 10.20 assists, 0.64 aces, 15.51 digs and 1.93 blocks per set.
- HBU is 6-0 against Southland Conference schools this season, including a 3-2 victory over UTSA on Sept. 1. A&M defeated UTSA, 3-0, in College Station on Aug. 16 at the Texas A&M Invitational.
- The Huskies were picked to finish third in the Great West Conference, behind two-time defending champion North Dakota and two-time runner-up Utah Valley, according to a preseason vote of the league's coaches.
- Last year HBU went 17-13 overall and placed fourth in the Great West Conference with a 7-5 mark.
- Senior libero Courtney Whittleman, the 2010 GWC defensive player of the year, leads the Huskies with 4.88 digs per set and was named MVP of the Husky Classic.
- Junior outside hitter Heather Leaverton leads the Huskies with 2.98 kills and 3.43 points per set. Junior setter Victoria Weatherly is averaging 9.05 assists, and senior Jolie Graf is averaging a team-best 0.91 blocks per set at the middle blocker position.
- Kaddie Mahoney Platt is 489-152 in her 17th season as head coach at HBU, where she also was a standout player.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
The Aggies open Big 12 Conference play Saturday, Sept. 24 against Missouri at 2 p.m. at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo., before playing their first home conference match against Baylor on Wednesday, Sept. 28. First serve against the Bears is at 6:30 p.m. and it will be Fish Camp Night at Reed Arena. Freshmen who wear their 2011 Texas A&M Fish Camp T-shirt will be admitted free.