Texas A&M
11-5 (3-2SEC)
Florida
12-3 (6-0SEC)
No. 9 Florida Downs No. 19 Texas A&M, 3-0
Oct 12, 2014 | Volleyball
The Aggies (11-5, 3-2 SEC) struggled to get in sync offensively and were held to a season-low .119 hitting efficiency. Meanwhile, Florida (12-3, 6-0 SEC), favored to win the conference according to a preseason poll of the league's coaches, hit .395, a season high by an A&M opponent.
Florida, which entered the match 9-0 in the all-time series against the Aggies, never trailed in the opening set and steadily pulled away to take a 1-0 lead in the match. After a 1-1 tie, the Gators used a 10-2 run to go up 11-3. Florida continued to widen the gap, hitting .441 with 17 kills while A&M was held to a .000 hitting percentage with only six kills.
A&M scored the first two points of the second to take its only lead in the match before Florida went on a 5-0 run take the lead. A&M stayed within striking distance throughout the set, hitting .323 but also committing five service errors in the frame. Consecutive kills by Jazzmin Babers, Shelby Sullivan and Kiara McGee put the Aggies within 13-12, but A&M was unable to take the lead. A&M was still within a point at 15-14 before the Gators scored three unanswered points to build their largest lead at 18-14. The teams then sided out until a Stephanie Aiple dump kill sandwiched by two kills by Kiara McGee put the Aggies within 22-21. The teams then exchanged points for the remainder of the set with Alex Holston getting the clinching kill for the Gators.
A&M trailed by three points early in the third set but chipped away to get within 8-7 on a block by Babers and Aiple. The Aggies stayed within a point at 12-11 before the Gators scored three straight points to go up 15-11. The teams began to trade points until Florida got a kill, a solo block and an ace on consecutive plays to go up 20-14. A kill by Babers ended the run, but an A&M service error and a Florida block put the Gators up, 22-15. Babers then put down her team-leading eighth kill of the match, but Florida countered with a kill and an ace to be serving for the match, 24-16. Florida, which outhit the Aggies, .348 to .000 in the frame, served into the net but then got a kill from Holston to close out the match.
In addition to kills, Babers led A&M with four blocks, including three solo blocks to tie her career high. Victoria Arenas and Emily Hardesty led A&M in digs with eight apiece.
Holston led Florida with 13 kills while hitting .545.
The Aggies return home Wednesday for a midweek meeting against Arkansas. First serve is at 6 p.m. at Reed Arena, and the match will be televised by the SEC Network.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter by following @AggieVolleyball.
Texas A&M post-match quotes:
Head coach Laurie Corbelli:
“I was frustrated with the lack of execution on offense. I thought it was really slow to get started. I was relatively pleased with it in the second set. I just didn't ever feel like we ever got rolling, or got our offense rolling. I think they [Florida] really did a nice job of exploiting our weaknesses. The best thing that comes out of this match is going back and looking at video, showing the team all the areas that we got beat badly and getting better from this match. As frustrating as it is, we have to look at it in a positive light and really learn. At one point there were four freshmen on the floor, and I remind myself we don't have a lot of experience but we have a lot of talent. We just have to continue to be patient and let the talent really learn.”
