Texas A&M
11-2
Houston Baptist
12-5
A&M Sweeps HBU in Non-Conference Finale
Sep 21, 2011 | Volleyball
It was A&M's final tune-up for Big 12 Conference play as the 11-2 Aggies open league play at Missouri on Saturday.
A&M senior Kelsey Black led all players with nine kills and posted double figures in digs with 11 in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Junior middle blocker Stephanie Minnerly, who had a match-high four blocks and helped hold the Huskies to a .040 hitting percentage, and senior outside hitter Chelsea Ringel both came off the bench and pitched in six kills apiece. Junior right-side hitter Alisia Kastmo led the Aggies in digs with a career-high 12.
The Aggies got off to an error-free start to the match, hitting .340 after connecting on 17 kills with no errors in 50 attempts in the opening set. The game was tied for the final time at 5-5 before two HBU attack errors sandwiched between a Tori Mellinger kill gave the Aggies the lead for good at 8-5. A&M, which held the Huskies to a .075 hitting percentage, held a 20-15 lead when Black posted her sixth kill of the set and sparked a 5-0 run to close out the frame. Junior middle blocker Lindsey Miller had two of her four first-set kills during the surge, including the set winner.
A kill and an ace by Kastmo pulled the Aggies away from a 2-2 tie in the second stanza, and A&M led the remainder of the set, hitting .290 while holding HBU to a .000 hitting efficiency. A&M held a 17-13 advantage when HBU served into the net and followed with an attack error. Miller then served her first ace of the season to build a 20-13 cushion for the Aggies. Her next serve went long, but the Huskies committed back-to-back attack errors. Minnerly and Kastmo then teamed for a block, and Ringel followed with a kill to give the Aggies their largest lead and put A&M serving for the set at 24-14. HBU fought off three set points before Minnerly ended it with a kill.
A&M used a 5-0 run to break away early in the third set, allowing A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli to give many of her reserves some valuable game-time experience. Senior Cinthya Roberto played libero in place of Megan Pendergast, and senior Sarah Grace came in as a defensive specialist. Junior Markie Malone eventually subbed in for starter Allie Sawatzky at setter, and sophomores Heather Reynolds and Ashley Vrana saw action on the left and right sides, respectively, late in the set. In addition, lone freshman Hannah Hood got in and posted the first ace as well as the first two kills of her young career, including a kill that put the Aggies at match point. Senior starting middle blocker Elise Hendrickson and Vrana then blocked an attack attempt by Heather Leaverton to clinch the match.
Leaverton had seven kills to lead the Huskies, who fall to 12-5.
The Aggies and Tigers face off at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo. A&M then returns to Reed for a two-match home stand, hosting Baylor and Kansas State on Wednesday, Sept. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 1, respectively.
Postmatch quotes:
HEAD COACH LAURIE CORBELLI
Opening statement
It was a nice way for us to end our pre-conference matches,
11-2. We're really pleased with that. I think we had an opportunity to No. 1,
get back home in Reed, and No. 2, establish our rhythm as an offense, get our
depth going and realizing that we're probably going to need it in Big 12.
Really pleased that our blocking numbers went up and our unforced errors went
down.
Was this win for
Coach Steve Green (formerly an assistant at HBU)?
I noticed he was a little more on edge than normal. I think
he wanted it really badly, wanted to have a good performance. He's very close
to that group; I guess how you like to beat your brother or sister when you
haven't played them in a while. He really had us quite prepared. It was
advantage A&M because he knew what they were going to do in every
situation. But the team did a good job of carrying it out.
There were some long
rallies, was there some good defense out there?
I think that's really what it was, just us getting the
wheels going and I think my team might have a bad habit of trying to get a feel
for what the team is trying to bring before we get going. I think it might be a
trace of a trait of this group that we've been guilty of a little bit. But I'm
pleased that most of the time we've been able to figure out what they're
bringing. I think we have a very cerebral team. They think a lot about the
other team, what the might do, what they will do. I think it sometimes gets in
their way. Those first few rallies, I was thinking we've got to start bring the
heat pretty soon. I think once the rallies got going, I think once our team got
gelled, our team started to feel a lot better.
On the team's
competitive nature...
We still find a way to be pretty stressful on the court
sometimes. I think we want it really badly. These athletes at A&M are
working hard; there's a high standard. They want what their peers are getting.
They want to win. When they're out there performing for their home crowds, they
don't want to mess up. That can work against you many times. Once the team gets
over that and gets into the flow and gets that energy and gets going, I know
that we can compete with everyone. I think that's a characteristic of our
group.
On hearing the
starters cheering for the younger players off of the bench...
They're like that in practice all the time. We flip people
all over the court all the time. And when it gets into game time, when we
settle on a starting group, it gets hard to not get those players playing time.
But when one of the younger kids gets in there, especially a freshman - we only
have one -- when Hannah Hood got out there tonight, they were extremely
excited. Probably more excited than she was out there. She's just a kid that's working really
hard and wants it really bad. She did a good job.
JUNIOR MIDDLE BLOCKER STEPHANIE MINNERLY
On the presence of
blocking in A&M's offense...
I personally love blocking. It's my strongpoint as a middle.
But I was focusing on it today in the game because we've been working on it
every day in practice. That was our main focus (in practice), and if we messed
up we started (the drill) over. I felt like that really transferred into the
match tonight.
On getting involved
in a full game and being proud of her play...
I felt proud. I need to work on more of my offensive game
and bring it with blocking. I hope to see more playing time, and I hope that if
I do get playing time, that I'm more versatile and hitting on the three and the
outside and being able to see the ball and the court and put it where it needs
to go.
On the team being
ready for Big 12 play...
I think we're more than ready. We talked about as a team the
other day about getting more energy than the other team, going out and focusing
on us, and focusing on blocking. I think we're prepared because we're all
returning, and I think we have a huge, deep bench. Tonight we saw that if
someone is not having a good game, someone else can come in and make a
difference.
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