Sunday, Oct. 26, 11 a.m.
No. 24 Texas A&M vs. No. 16 Kentucky
Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
TV: SEC Network
Promotions:
- Aggies CAN Food Drive: Donate two canned food items at the entrance and get in free
- Take a Kid to the Match: Four kids get in free with the purchase of one regular-priced adult ticket
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 24th-ranked Texas A&M volleyball team returns to Reed Arena Sunday morning for a top-25 showdown against No. 16 Kentucky. First serve is set for 11 a.m., and the match will be televised on the SEC Network with Paul Sunderland and Nell Fortner on the call.
The Aggies (13-6, 5-3 SEC) are in a three-way tie with Alabama and Arkansas for fourth place in the SEC standings after defeating Georgia, 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 29-27, 22-25, 15-8) Friday night at Reed Arena. Kentucky, (18-3, 8-1 SEC) is in second place -- one win behind league-leader Florida -- and returned to the win column by defeating Arkansas, 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-19) Friday at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. The Wildcats were coming off their first conference loss, a 3-2 setback to LSU on Sunday in Lexington, which snapped the Wildcats' 11-match win streak.
Recent Results:
Texas A&M:
- Texas A&M middle blocker Jazzmin Babers had a career-high 17 kills while hitting .419 to lead the 24th-ranked Aggies to a 22-25, 25-21, 29-27, 22-25, 15-8 victory over Georgia Friday night at Reed Arena. It was the 50th consecutive start for Babers, who for the first time was playing in front of her father, Bowling Green head football coach Dino Babers, who made a surprise visit to College Station to see his daughter play in person for the first time in her collegiate career.
- It was the second consecutive five-setter for the Aggies, who had also defeated South Carolina, 3-2, in Columbia, S.C., on Sunday.
- Junior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan reached double figures in kills for the third consecutive match, pitching in 15 kills while hitting at a .324 clip. Freshman opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor also reached double figures in kills with 12.
- Freshman Stephanie Aiple tied her career high with 56 assists and also posting her fourth double-double of the season with 13 digs.
- A total of five A&M players posted double-digit digs, and the Aggies tallied a season-high 92 as a team.
- Freshman Amy Nettles, who donned the libero jersey for the final four sets, led all players with a career-high 18 digs, marking the second consecutive match she has set a career high in digs after posting a personal best 11 at South Carolina on Sunday.
- Sophomore Katelyn Labhart also set a career-high in digs in back-to-back matches and reached double-digit digs for the first time with 13.
- Sophomore outside hitter Emily Hardesty scooped up 15 digs, and senior outside hitter Sydney Wilhelm came off the bench in the second set and finished the match with 11 digs.
- A&M outhit Georgia, .187 to .139 but trailed in points, 78-76.
- After posting a combined four kills in the opening-set loss, Babers and Sullivan combined for 15 of A&M's 19 kills and a .667 hitting percentage in the second set.
- A&M overcame a six-point deficit early in the third set and fought off three set points to win the set despite hitting .000 in the frame.
- A&M improved to 5-1 in five-set matches, and 3-5 when dropping the opening set.
- It was A&M's sixth consecutive victory over the Bulldogs, who fall to 0-4 in SEC match-ups against the Aggies.
Kentucky:
- Kentucky posted its fifth sweep in six matches -- which included a 3-0 victory against A&M on Oct. 5 -- with a 25-20, 25-20, 25-19 victory at Arkansas on Friday.
- Kentucky, which improved to 5-0 in SEC road matches, outhit Arkansas, .248 to .162.
- Shelby Workman had a team-high 12 kills and 13.5 points, and Anni Thomasson had a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs.
- Libero Jackie Napper also had 12 digs to tie for team-high honors, and setter Morgan Bergren dished out 33 assists.
TEXAS A&M QUICK HITS:
- Texas A&M dropped four spots to No. 24 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Poll after falling to Arkansas, 3-1, and defeating South Carolina, 3-2, last week.
- A&M is No. 21 in this week's NCAA RPI rankings, down two spots from last week.
- Texas A&M, which tied for sixth place in the SEC standings last season with a 10-8 mark, is picked to finish sixth this year, according a preseason poll of the league's head coaches.
- The Aggies are tied with Alabama, A&M's next opponent, and Arkansas for fourth place in the SEC standings.
- A&M is 6-4 in home matches, including 3-1 in SEC home matches only, 4-2 in away matches and 3-0 at neutral sites.
- The Aggies are 2-4 against ranked opponents, with wins coming against No. 6 Southern California and No. 13 San Diego on back-to-back days at the USC Classic on Sept. 11-12 in Los Angeles.
- Four of A&M's six losses this season were against teams ranked in the top 15. The Aggies lost two at home against No. 6 Florida State and also suffered road losses at No. 9 Florida and No. 13 Kentucky. The other two losses were against UTSA, 3-2, and Arkansas, 3-1 at Reed Arena.
- Texas A&M junior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan and redshirt middle blocker Jazzmin Babers are ranked second and third in the SEC in hitting percentage in conference matches only, hitting .417 and .409, respectively.
- In A&M's SEC season opener against Auburn on Sept. 28, Sullivan hit a career-high .826, setting an A&M SEC record and a Reed Arena record for hitting percentage when making 10 or more attack attempts. She also broke A&M records for kills (20) and points (25.0) in a three-set SEC match in the sweep against the Tigers.
- Texas A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli is in her 22nd season at the helm of the Aggies and the 29th year of her head coaching career. The 1984 Olympic silver medalist is 556-324 overall and 456-218 at A&M, where she has directed the Aggies to 17 NCAA appearances.
- Corbelli returns four starters -- juniors and team captains Angela Lowak (6-0, OH) and Shelby Sullivan (6-2, MB) and sophomores Jazzmin Babers (6-2, MB) and Emily Hardesty (6-3, OH) -- and five other letterwinners from last year's team that went 19-12 and made a third consecutive appearance in the NCAA second round before being eliminated by Texas for the second straight year.
- There are eight newcomers on the A&M roster, including a six-person freshman recruiting class that was recognized by both Volleyball Magazine and PrepVolleyball.com. High school All-Americans Stephanie Aiple (6-1, S/OPP), who joined the team in January, and lefty Ashlie Reasor (6-1, OPP), as well as Kiara McGee (5-11, OH), Amy Nettles (5-4, L/DS), Olivia Thorpe (5-11, OH) and Uche Ukadike (5-11, MB) make up the freshman class.
- The 2014 season marks the 40th season of volleyball as an intercollegiate varsity sport at Texas A&M. The Aggies are 943-521-2 all-time.
A&M SERIES RECORD VS. KENTUCKY:
- Kentucky leads the all-time series, 7-5, and has won the last seven meetings.
- Five of the last six sets in the series have been decided by the minimum two points.
- The Wildcats are 4-0 against A&M in SEC matches only, including a 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 30-28) victory against the Aggies on Oct. 5 in Lexington.
- The series is tied, 3-3, in matches played in College Station.
- In the only SEC meeting played at Reed Arena, Kentucky defeated the Aggies, 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 25-18, 25-20, 15-12) on Sept. 23, 2012. It was A&M's first conference loss in SEC history after opening its inaugural season in the league, 2-0, in conference matches.
- A&M won the first five meeting of the series, which began in 1982.
- The Aggies' most recent victory against the Wildcats was Oct. 4, 1985, at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
- In the most recent meeting, A&M's Jazzmin Babers had a career-high 16 kills while hitting .412, and freshman outside hitter Kiara McGee came off the bench to post a personal-best nine kills, but it was a match of missed opportunities for the Aggies who were at set point a combined six times over the last two sets. Freshman setter Stephanie Aiple dished out 48 assists against the Wildcats, an A&M record for a three-set SEC match.
- Lauren O'Conner led the Wildcats with 17 kills, and Anni Thomasson posted six aces as Kentucky had nine aces for the match, which still ties for the most by an A&M opponent this season.
SCOUTING KENTUCKY:
- Kentucky 18-3 overall and in second place in the SEC with an 8-1 mark.
- The Wildcats dropped four spots to No. 12 in this week's AVCA Top 25 after their 11-match win streak was snapped and they suffered their only SEC loss in a 3-2 setback to LSU in Lexington on Sunday.
- Kentucky is No. 9 in this week's NCAA RPI listing.
- Kentucky is 6-1 in away matches, with the only blemish being a 3-1 loss at No. 17 North Carolina on Sept. 12.
- Kentucky is 1-2 against ranked opponents, with its ranked win being a 3-0 victory over then-No. 21 Texas A&M on Oct. 5 in Lexington. Losses were at No. 17 North Carolina and at home against No. 6 Southern California, a team A&M defeated, 3-2, in Los Angeles.
- Kentucky entered the weekend leading the SEC and ranked 14th in the nation with 14.27 kills per set. The Wildcats also were leading the league and were 29th in the country with 13.04 assists per set.
- Junior setter Morgan Bergren entered the weekend ranked 23rd in the nation with 11.15 assists per set.
- Kentucky is outhitting its opponents, .264 to .184 for the full season.
- Kentucky has a league-leading three players ranked in the top 15 in the SEC for points per set for the full season: Lauren O'Conner (8th, 3.78), Shelby Workman (11th, 3.70) and Anni Thomasson (15th, 3.40).
- Thomasson is tied for third in the league with 10 double-doubles.
- Senior libero Jackie Napper is No. 3 in the SEC with 4.43 digs per set in all matches.
- Freshman defensive specialist Ashley Dusek is from East Bernard, Texas, approximately 90 miles from College Station. She has appeared in 72 of 76 sets.
- Kentucky was picked to finish second in the SEC according to a preseason vote of the conference coaches.
TEXAS A&M: BY THE NUMBERS:
- A&M's No. 19 ranking on Oct. 6 marks the school's highest ranking since a No. 15 showing on Sept. 12, 2005. Unranked and not receiving votes in the Top 25 Poll to start the 2014 season, the Aggies broke in at No. 21 on Sept. 15 following a weekend in which they upset both No. 6 USC and No. 13 San Diego at the USC Classic. The ranking marked A&M's first appearance in the Top 25 since a No. 21 ranking in the 2009 final poll.
- A&M is 10-1 when hitting above .200. The Aggies also are 10-1 when winning the first set and 10-1 when winning the second set.
- A&M is 12-0 when leading in attack percentage, 8-0 when leading in points, 8-0 when leading in kills and 6-0 when leading in aces.
- Shelby Sullivan has posted double-digit kills in a team-leading 12 matches -- including each of the last three -- and is hitting .393 and averaging 4.08 points per set when recording 10 or more kills in a match.
- In A&M's six matches vs. top-15 opponents only, Sullivan hit a combined .388 and averaged 2.91 kills, 1.00 blocks and 3.57 points per set.
- Jazzmin Babers leads A&M and is fifth in the SEC with 1.10 blocks per set for the full season. Earlier this season, the redshirt sophomore set a school record with 13 block assists against UTSA (Aug. 30). Her 14 total blocks against the Roadrunners ties for second in the A&M record books.
- Babers has made 50 consecutive starts dating back to the 2013 season opener. Sullivan has played in 50 consecutive matches, having started 49 of them.
- Going into the Georgia match, sophomore defensive specialist/libero Victoria Arenas was the only A&M player to have seen action in every set this season. The streak came to an end against the Bulldogs on Friday, as she played in only the first set. Arenas is averaging a team-leading 3.22 digs per set for the full season, ranking 12th in the SEC.
- Outside hitter Sydney Wilhelm, who is in her first season with the team after playing the last two seasons on the A&M club team, has been the only senior to appear in the starting lineup this season, having started five matches.
- A&M's most recent starting lineup consisted of one junior (Sullivan, MB), two sophomores (Babers, MB; Hardesty-OH) and three freshmen (Aiple-S; Reasor-OPP; Nettles-DS). Sophomore Victoria Arenas was the libero.
- After starting the first 12 matches of the season at outside hitter, 6-3 sophomore Emily Hardesty spent the next five matches at libero, making her the tallest libero in the SEC. Hardesty returned to the starting outside hitter position against South Carolina and Georgia.
- Freshman setter Stephanie Aiple has started each of the last 16 matches and is fifth in the SEC with 10.55 assists per set for the full season. The Round Rock, Texas native is seventh in the league with 10.39 assists per set in SEC matches only.
- Aiple dished out 48 assists against No. 13 Kentucky on Oct. 5, an A&M record for a three-set SEC match.
- Entering the weekend, Sullivan was 41st in the nation in hitting percentage (.380), and Babers was 65th (.356). Aiple was 76th in the country with 10.50 assists per set, and Babers was 108th in blocks per set with a 1.13 average. As a team, A&M was 50th in the nation with a .251 hitting percentage.
- After appearing in only one set in the season leading up to the South Carolina match last Sunday, sophomore Katelyn Labhart has played in nine of 10 sets over the last two matches. She played in all five sets against Georgia and posted double-figure digs for the first time in her career with 13.
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.