Texas A&M
3-0
Creighton
1-2
VB Wins Texas A&M Invitational
Aug 27, 2011 | Volleyball
It was the second time in as many days for the teams to meet, making it more challenging for A&M, which won the first meeting in three sets.
"Coming back playing the same team, a very, very good team, again and trying to beat them again, we were lucky we were at home," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "I think both coaches knew it would be a very difficult match the second time around. They did a beautiful job of scouting us and getting ready for our hitters. Their defense was pretty unbelievable, and they had our plays pretty much figured out."
Creighton (1-2) scored six straight points to build an early 9-4 lead to open the match. The Bluejays maintained a 14-11 lead when A&M went on a 6-1 run to pull ahead 17-15. The Aggies led for the remainder of the set, building their biggest lead at 24-18. Creighton fought off three set points before Chelsea Ringel put down the set-clinching kill.
The Bluejays equaled their biggest lead of the second set at 20-17 before A&M got a kill apiece from Ringel, Alisia Kastmo and Elise Hendrickson to tie the score for the seventh time. Allie Sawatzky then followed with an ace to give the Aggies their first lead of the set, 21-20. The lead for short-lived, as the Bluejays posted two of their eight blocks in the frame during a 4-0 run to go up, 24-21. Hendrickson help A&M fight off set point with a kill to put the Aggies within 24-22 before Karisa Almgren put down a kill to cap the win for the Bluejays.
A&M went on a 10-3 run to jump out to a 19-11 lead in the third set, but the resilient Bluejays came back with a 9-1 rally to tie the score at 20-all. Tori Mellinger, who was the A&M's libero in the first two sets but came off the bench as an outside hitter in the third set, then got a kill off the Creighton block to spark a 4-1 run by the Aggies and give A&M a 24-21 lead. Creighton, however, fought off three set points and tied the score at 24-24. An untimely service error put the Aggies at set point once again, and this time A&M closed out the set as Black and Hendrickson teamed to block an Almgren attack.
"They did come back with a few plays from yesterday, but I thought they made a huge defensive adjustment and I thought they served much tougher," Corbelli said about the Bluejays. "They were really trying to exploit our defensive openings which they found early, but we made good adjustments after that to not let them hit the ball where they were trying to hit the ball."
The Aggies pulled away early in the fourth set en route to the win, scoring 11 consecutive points behind the serving of Black and the net play of Lindsey Miller and Mellinger, who had three kills and two blocks, including the first solo block of her career, during the rally.
A&M, which outhit Creighton .361 to -.028 in the set, later built a 22-10 lead and then closed out the match as Black and Ashley Vrana posted back-to-back kills and Hendrickson recorded her third ace of the match for the winning point.
Miller finished with 13 kills while hitting .429. She was joined on the all-tournament team by setter Allie Sawatzky, who had 47 assists and 27 kills and led the Aggies to a 62-40 kill advantage. Kastmo also was named to the all-tournament team.
Cinthya Roberto, a former two-time All-American at Blinn, made her Aggie debut in the third set as a defensive specialist, and Vrana made her first appearance of the season, coming in at 19-9 in the final set and posting two kills ruing the Aggies' final 7-1 run to close out the victory.
Setter Megan Bober led the Bluejays with 10 kills, and Laurel Sanford joined Bober on the all-tournament team after posting a match-high 11 blocks and leading the Bluejays to a 14-8 advantage in blocks.
The Aggies return to action on Tuesday with an exhibition match against the Israel national team at 6:30 p.m. at Reed Arena. Corbelli will be going up against her former coach from the silver medal-winning 1984 USA Olympic Team, Arie Selinger, who is widely regarded of one of the greatest volleyball coaches of all time.
Texas A&M Invitational All-Tournament Team:
MVP: Kelsey Black, Texas
A&M
Megan Bober,
Creighton
Laurel Sanford,
Creighton
Alisia Kastmo, Texas A&M
Lindsey Miller, Texas A&M
Allie Sawatzky, Texas A&M
Elise Husky, UTSA
Complete tournament results:
Friday, August 26
Creighton def.
UTSA, 3-2 (25-15, 25-19, 25-27, 16-25, 16-14)
Texas
A&M def. Creighton, 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-16)
Texas
A&M def. UTSA, 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-21)
Saturday, August 27
Texas A&M def. Creighton,
3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 25-10
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