TEXAS A&M AGGIES (12-3, 1-1 BIG 12)
vs.
KANSAS
STATE WILDCATS (13-3, 2-0 BIG 12)
Saturday,
October 1, 6:30 p.m.
Reed Arena,
College Station, Texas
Promotion: "Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night" (Any Texas A&M faculty/staff member presenting the invitation sent out by Aggie Coach Laurie Corbelli will be admitted free)
Tickets: Tickets can be purchase in advance, 24 hours a day at AggieAthletics.com or at the ticket window at Reed Arena beginning one hour before a match. Prices are $9 reserved; $7/$4 general admission adult/youth; and $4 TAMU student (without Sports Pass)
Free live video/stats: AggieAthletics.com
Texas
A&M-Kansas State All-Time Series:
Overall: K-State leads, 18-13
In College Station: A&M leads, 10-5
In Big 12 matches only: K-State leads, 18-12
Last Year: The teams split the season
series with each team winning on the road
Upcoming: The Aggies head to Austin on Wednesday, Oct. 5 to take on the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns in the first edition of the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. at Gregory Gym in Austin, and the match will be televised live by FSN.
Aggies Host Wildcats on Saturday
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M (12-3, 1-1 Big 12) aims to remain undefeated at home when the Aggies play host to the hottest team in the Big 12 Conference, the Kansas State Wildcats (13-3, 2-0) Saturday at Reed Arena. First serve is slated for 6:30 p.m., and it will be "Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night." Any Texas A&M faculty/staff member presenting the invitation sent out by Aggie Coach Laurie Corbelli will be admitted free.
The Aggies, 5-0 in home matches this season, are coming off a come-from-behind 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 19-25, 25-15, 15-5) victory over Baylor in A&M's Big 12 Conference home opener on Wednesday. The win ended A&M's three-match losing streak against the Bears. Kansas State won its ninth consecutive match and improved to 13-3 overall, 2-0 in Big 12 matches, after holding off Missouri, 3-2 (31-33, 25-20, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12) Wednesday in Columbia, Mo. The Wildcats had lost to Missouri, a team that upended A&M last week in Columbia, in the previous three meetings.
As a team, A&M leads the Big 12 in hitting percentage (.271), assists (13.06), kills (14.20) and aces (1.56) per set for the full season. Meanwhile, K-State sophomore middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger is the league's individual leader in kills (4.77) and points (5.85) per set and junior setter Caitlyn Donahue leads the conference with 11.52 assists per set for the full season.
AGGIE QUICK HITS:
- Sophomore setter Allie Sawatzky recorded the first career triple-double of her career with 11 kills, 46 assists and 11 digs in A&M's 3-2 victory against Baylor on Wednesday. She is the first A&M player to post a triple-double since the 25-point scoring format went into effect in 2008, and she is the first player with a triple double since 2004 when All-American middle blocker Melissa Munsch accomplished the feat three times. Sawatzky is the first Aggie setter with a triple-double since 2001 when All-American Jenna Moscovic tallied a nation-leading five triple-doubles while directing A&M to its second-ever NCAA regional final.
- In the win against the Bears, A&M had five players reach double figures in kills for first time in the 25-point scoring era and the first since August 26, 2006, when five players tallied double-digit kills in a season-opening 3-1 victory at Colorado State using the 30-point scoring system. The Baylor match also marked the first time A&M had five double-figure kill performances and five double-digit dig performances in the same match since the 2006 victory at Colorado State.
- The Aggies are receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 Poll for the fourth consecutive week and entered this week listed 37th.
- A&M entered the week ranked in the top 40 in the nation in hitting percentage (.271, 18th) and kills (14.18, 19th), assists (13.06, 29th), aces (1.63, 32nd) and digs (16.59, 40th) per set.
- Opponents are hitting .165 and averaging 11.44 kills, 10.74 assists, 0.96 aces, 14.59 digs and 1.64 blocks per set.
- Individually, three A&M players are in the top 10 in the Big 12 for aces per set. Senior middle blocker Elise Hendrickson entered the week ranked 53rd in the nation and currently leads the league with 0.42 aces per set. Senior outside hitter Kelsey Black is fifth in the Big 12 with 0.32 aces per set, and junior right-side hitter Alisia Kastmo is listed eighth in the league with 0.28 aces per set.
- Others ranking in the top 10 in the conference stats are junior libero Megan Pendergast, who is fourth with 4.07 digs per set and sophomore setter Allie Sawatzky, who is fifth with 10.28 assists per set. In addition, Black is sixth in both kills (3.60) and points (4.15) per set, and junior middle blocker Lindsey Miller and junior right-side hitter Alisia Kastmo rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in hitting percentage (.323 and .319).
- Junior outside hitter Tori Mellinger, who was the team's designated libero the first two seasons of her career, needs 52 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 10 matches on the left side, is averaging 2.89 digs per set this season.
- Junior libero Megan Pendergast has played in 14 matches and posted double figures in digs in a team-leading 11 matches. She has posted 20 or more digs in two matches and leads the team with 4.07 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, who had a career-high and match-high 26 digs while also posting a match-high 17 kills in the win against Baylor, leads A&M with nine double-doubles. The Amarillo native has posted double figures in kills in 12 of 15 matches this season.
- Black, Miller, Sawatzky and Hendrickson have started every match in 2011, and only Sawatzky has played in all 54 sets. Kastmo has started all but two matches in which senior Sarah Grace started for her in the back row rotation.
- Senior outside hitter Chelsea Ringel's mother, Janet (Gnadt) Ringel, lettered in volleyball at Kansas State in 1981.
- The Aggies are 7-1 in three-set matches, 4-1 in four-set matches and 1-1 in five-set matches.
- The win against Baylor broke a string of six consecutive five-set losses for the Aggies. Prior to the Baylor match on Wednesday, A&M, which went 2-7 in five-set matches last year and lost to Xavier in five sets earlier this season, had not won a five-setter since defeating Colorado on Sept. 29, 2010, in Boulder, Colo.
- A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli is 388-189 in her 19th year at the helm of the Aggies and 488-295 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. The Aggies are currently 4-2 against 2010 NCAA participants.
A&M-KANSAS STATE SERIES RECORD:
- K-State leads the overall series, 18-13, since the teams first met in 1981. The Wildcats are 18-12 against A&M in Big 12 matches only.
- A&M is 10-5 against the Wildcats in matches played in College Station, 2-13 all-time in Manhattan and 1-0 at neutral sites.
- Last year, the teams split the season series with each team winning on the road. It was the 10th time the teams split the series and only the second time the Aggies won in Manhattan.
- In the first meeting last year, A&M got off to a slow start against K-State and never fully recovered as the Aggies suffered a disappointing 25-19, 25-19, 29-27 loss to the Wildcats on Oct. 2 at Reed Arena. K-State outhit the Aggies, .220 to .126, and also led in every other positive statistical category, including kills (42-35), assists (42-31), aces (7-3), digs (57-54) and blocks (6.0 to 5.5). Kelsey Black led A&M with 10 kills but also committed 10 attack errors. Chelsea Ringel added seven kills and a team-high 18 digs. Tori Mellinger pitched in 12 digs, and Sarah Grace also reached double figures with 10. Kaitlynn Pelger and Kathleen Ludwig led the Wildcats in kills with 12 and 10, respectively, and libero Lauren Mathewson led all players with 19 digs.
In the second meeting of the season, A&M pulled off a 25-16, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22 victory over the Wildcats to post only its second win ever in Manhattan. Black led all players with 19 kills and also recorded a double-double with 11 digs. Lindsey Miller added 11 kills while hitting .450 and also tallied five blocks. Mellinger led all players in digs with 20, and Ringel pitched in nine kills and 15 digs as the Aggies led the Wildcats 60-50 in kills and 75-57 in digs. Then-Aggie freshman setter Allie Sawatzky had 44 assists and led A&M to a .271 hitting percentage while holding K-State to a .174 hitting percentage.
A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS:
- Kansas State (13-3, 2-0 Big 12) extended its winning streak to nine with a 31-33, 25-20, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12 victory at Missouri on Wednesday. The nine-match winning streak is the team's longest since 2003 when the Wildcats won 16 straight en route to capturing their only Big 12 Conference title.
- The Wildcats, who went 12-19 overall and placed ninth in the Big 12 with a 6-14 mark in 2010, have already surpassed their win total from last season.
- This is the fifth time K-State has opened conference play 2-0 under 11th-year head coach Suzie Fritz. A win against the Aggies would give the Wildcats their first ever 3-0 conference start with Fritz at the helm.
- The Wildcats entered the week ranked in the top 50 nationally in blocks (25th, 2.62), aces (42nd, 1.56) and kills (48th, 13.69) per set.
- Including the Missouri match, K-State is hitting .244 on the year and averaging 13.85 kills, 12.87 assists, 1.52 aces, 14.17 digs and 2.62 blocks per set.
- Kaitlynn Pelger entered the week ranked second in the country with 5.89 points per set and fifth in the nation with 4.78 kills per set. The sophomore middle blocker has already posted seven matches with 20 or more kills, including 32 against Drake. She hit .286 with 23 kills and 16 digs in the win against Missouri.
- Junior libero Kuulei Kabalis is ninth in the Big 12 with 3.53 digs per set. She had a match-high 23 against the Tigers.
- Suzie Fritz (Florida Atlantic '94) is 208-119 in her 11th year as head coach of the Wildcats.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
The Aggies head to Austin on Wednesday, Oct. 5 to take on the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns in the first edition of the State Farm Lone Star Showdown. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. at Gregory Gym in Austin, and the match will be televised live by FSN.