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Texas A&M Plays Host to Ole Miss, Sunday 1 p.m.Texas A&M Plays Host to Ole Miss, Sunday 1 p.m.
Volleyball

Texas A&M Plays Host to Ole Miss, Sunday 1 p.m.

Texas A&M continues its home stand Sunday as the Aggies play host to an Ole Miss team that is experiencing its most successful season in years. First serve is at 1 p.m. at Reed Arena.

Complete Match Notes

Sunday, November 9
Texas A&M vs. Ole Miss, 1 p.m.
Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
SEC Network +

Promotion: Take a Kid to the Match (up to four kids get in free with purchase of one regular-priced adult ticket)

Texas A&M-Ole Miss All-Time Series Record: A&M leads 8-0 (3-0 in SEC matches)
A&M Home: A&M leads 2-0| Away: A&M leads 2-0| Neutral: A&M leads 4-0
Last Meeting: A&M won, 3-1 (25-10, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21, Nov. 10, 2013, Gillom Sports Center, Oxford, Miss.
Streak: A&M won 8

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M continues its home stand Sunday as the Aggies play host to an Ole Miss team that is experiencing its most successful season in years. First serve is at 1 p.m. at Reed Arena, and the match will be broadcast on SEC Network +, available on WatchESPN, with Casey Richardson and Chelsea Reber calling the action.

The Aggies (15-8, 7-5 SEC), 8-0 in the all-time series against the Rebels, are in fifth place in the SEC standings after suffering a 3-2 (20-25, 25-16, 25-9, 22-25, 15-13) loss against LSU on Thursday at Reed Arena.

The Rebels (20-5, 6-5 SEC), under the guidance of first-year coach Steven Roberts, enter the match having already surpassed their four SEC wins from a year ago and having reached the 20-win milestone for the first time since 2007. They are in sixth place in the SEC standings, only a half-game behind the Aggies. Most recently, Ole Miss defeated arch-rival Mississippi State, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, Wednesday in Starkville, Miss.

TEXAS A&M QUICK HITS:

  • After seven weeks in the AVCA Top 25, Texas A&M dropped out this week and is listed 26th after falling at Alabama, 3-2, last Friday.
  • This marked the first season A&M had appeared in the Top 25 since 2009, and the Aggies' No. 19 showing on Oct. 6 is their highest since a No. 15 ranking on Sept. 12, 2005.
  • Despite the loss at Alabama, A&M moved up one spot to No. 17 in this week's NCAA RPI rankings and climbed to No. 44 in the Pablo rankings, two other tools the NCAA Selection Committee uses when determining the 64-team NCAA Championship field.
  • A&M is 7-5 in home matches, 5-3 in away matches and 3-0 at neutral sites.
  • In SEC matches only, A&M is 4-2 at home and 3-3 in away matches.
  • Texas A&M redshirt sophomore middle blocker Jazzmin Babers leads the SEC with a .434 hitting percentage in conference matches only. She also is 11th in blocks (0.94), 13th in points (3.41) and 15th in kills (2.88) per set in SEC matches.
  • Babers has posted double-digit kills in each of the last seven matches and in 11 matches overall. She is hitting .443 and averaging 3.11 kills and 3.68 points per set when posting 10 or more kills.
  • Junior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan ranks third in the SEC with a .409 hitting percentage in league play.
  • Sullivan, who ranks eighth in blocks (0.98), 10th in points (3.53) and 17th in kills (2.87) per set, has posted double-figure kills in a team-leading 15 matches, including in six of the last seven matches. She is hitting .399 and averaging 3.20 kills and 3.91 points when posting 10 or more kills in a match
  • Freshman setter Stephanie Aiple, who averages 10.57 assists per set in SEC play, directs an A&M offense that ranks third in the league with a .261 team hitting percentage in SEC matches.
  • A&M is fourth in the league with a .212 opponent hitting percentage in conference matches.
  • Since moving to the libero position for the final four sets against Georgia on Oct. 24, freshman Amy Nettles is averaging 4.39 digs per set and has had three 20-plus dig performances over the last five matches. Prior to the Georgia match, Nettles was averaging 1.63 digs per set for the full season and 1.75 digs per set in SEC play, having seen action in only 12 sets in four SEC matches leading up to the Georgia match.
  • Nettles, the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 27, now leads the Aggies and is ninth in the league with 3.49 digs per set in conference matches only.
  • Like Nettles, sophomore defensive specialist Katelyn Labhart recently has become a mainstay in the back row and has posted double-figure digs in four of the last five matches. Labhart, who had appeared in only one set this season prior to the South Carolina match on Oct. 19, drew the first start of her career against Kentucky on Oct. 26 and has remained in the starting lineup for four consecutive matches.
  • Freshman opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor, the only lefty on the team, has posted double-figure kills in four of the last five matches. She is hitting .229 and averaging 2.12 kills and 2.52 points per set for the full season.
  • Sophomore outside hitter Emily Hardesty leads A&M with 12 double-figure dig performances this season. She is 17th in the SEC with 2.67 digs per set in conference matches only.
  • The Aggies are 3-4 against ranked opponents. Wins were 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, as well as No. 16 Kentucky on Oct. 26.
  • Four of A&M's seven 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 losses were against UTSA and Arkansas at Reed Arena and at Alabama.
  • 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 558-326 overall and 458-220 at A&M, where she has directed the Aggies to 17 NCAA tournaments, including each of the last three years.
  • 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 four 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.
  • 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 2014 season marks the 40th season of volleyball as an intercollegiate varsity sport at Texas A&M. The Aggies are 947-523-2 all-time.

A&M SERIES RECORD VS. OLE MISS:

  • A&M is 8-0 all-time against Ole Miss, including 3-0 in SEC meetings and 2-0 in matches played in College Station.
  • Ole Miss was A&M's first-ever SEC opponent, and the Aggies defeated the Rebels, 25-21, 25-23, 25-16, on Sept. 14, 2012 at Reed Arena to mark A&M's first SEC victory in any sport.
  • Last year, the Aggies defeated the Rebels, 3-1 (25-10, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21, on Nov. 10, in Oxford. A&M outside hitter Angela Lowak took team-high honors in kills with 11, and middle blocker Shelby Sullivan also posted double-digit kills with 10 as A&M led the Rebels in kills, 52-44.  Middle blocker Jazzmin Babers led all players with six blocks as A&M outhit Ole Miss, .193 to .097, and outblocked the Rebels, 11-9. Nakeyta Clair led Ole Miss with 13 kills and three block assists. Cara Fisher had a team-high 15 digs.

SCOUTING OLE MISS:

  • Ole Miss defeated rival Mississippi State, 3-1, on Wednesday to sweep the series and improve to 20-5 overall and 6-5 in SEC matches.
  • With the win against the Bulldogs, Ole Miss reached the 20-win milestone for the first time since 2007.
  • Sophomore setter Aubrey Edie set a career high and a school single-match, rally-scoring record with 62 assists in the win against Mississippi State. She now has 984 assists and needs only six more to set the school's single season record in the rally scoring era.
  • Junior middle blocker Nakeyta Clair leads the Rebels and is second in the SEC with a .424 hitting percentage for the full season. She also ranks fifth in the conference in points (4.13) and sixth in kills (3.46) per set for the full season.
  • In SEC matches only, Clair is third in the league with a .418 hitting efficiency and is sixth with 4.35 points per set and seventh with 3.69 kills per set
  • Senior libero Cara Fisher is in her second season at Ole Miss after transferring from Blinn College. She is eighth in the SEC with 3.66 digs per set for the full season.
  • Ole Miss is hitting .260 for the full season, ranking third in the SEC. The Rebels are fourth in the league in opponent hitting percentage (.192) for the full season.
  • Ole Miss began the season 10-0, marking the best start in school history. South Carolina snapped the win streak with a 3-2 victory in both teams' SEC season opener in Columbia, S.C.
  • Ole Miss is 10-1 in home matches and 5-4 in away matches. In SEC contests only, the Rebels are 3-1 at home and 3-4 away.
  • Following the A&M match, the Rebels play five of their final six matches at home, including a rematch against the Aggies on Friday, Nov. 28 at the Gillom Sports Center to close out the regular season.
  • Head coach Steven Roberts is in his first season as head coach of the Rebels. He comes from Tulsa, where he led the Golden Hurricane to a 78-24 record, two Conference USA regular season titles, a Conference USA tournament championship and two appearances in the NCAA tournament.

TEXAS A&M: BY THE NUMBERS:

  • A&M is 12-2 when hitting above .200. The Aggies also are 11-3 when winning the first set and 12-1 when winning the second set.
  • A&M is 14-1 when leading in attack percentage, 10-0 when leading in points, 10-0 when leading in kills and 7-1 when leading in aces.
  • Shelby Sullivan has posted double-digit kills in a team-leading 15 matches -- including in six of the last seven matches -- and is hitting .399 and averaging 3.20 kills and 3.91 points when posting 10 or more kills in a match
  • In A&M's seven matches vs. top-16 opponents only, Sullivan hit a combined .382 and averaged 2.88 kills, 1.04 blocks and 3.56 points per set.
  • 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.
  • Jazzmin Babers leads A&M and ranks fifth in the SEC with 1.13 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 54 consecutive starts dating back to the 2013 season opener. Sullivan has played in 54 consecutive matches, having started 53 of them.
  • 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 two juniors (Lowak, OH; Sullivan, MB), three sophomores (Babers, MB; Hardesty, OH; Labhart, DS) and one freshman (Aiple, S). Freshman Amy Nettles was the starting libero for the fourth consecutive match and the fourth time in her career.
  • 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 has remained at the outside.
  • Freshman setter Stephanie Aiple has started each of the last 20 matches and is fifth in the SEC with 10.63 assists per set for the full season. The Round Rock, Texas native is seventh in the league with 10.57 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.
  • Prior to the LSU match, Babers was 29th in the nation in hitting percentage (.391) and Sullivan was 43rd (.378). Aiple was 52nd in the country with 10.76 assists per set, and Babers was 105th in blocks per set with a 1.15 average. As a team, A&M was 41st in the nation with a .254 hitting percentage.

Texas A&M Recent Results:

  • A late charge by Texas A&M came up short as LSU topped the Aggies and extended its winning streak to 10 matches with a 20-25, 25-16, 25-9, 22-25, 15-13 victory Thursday at Reed Arena.
  • It was the sixth time in 10 meetings the teams battled to five sets.
  • LSU outhit A&M, .305 to .192
  • Jazzmin Babers led A&M with 13 kills while hitting .323, and she led all players with four blocks.
  • Sullivan joined Babers in double-figure kills with 11 while hitting .310.
  • Freshman setter Stephanie Aiple finished with 43 assists, and freshman libero Amy Nettles had a team-leading 21 digs, her third 20-plus dig performance in the last four matches. Babers

UPCOMING:

  • Texas A&M concludes a three-match home stand on Sunday, Nov. 16 as the Aggies play host to Tennessee. First serve is at 1 p.m. at Reed Arena, and the match will be broadcast on SEC Network +.
  • The two teams met earlier this season with A&M sweeping the Lady Vols 25-14, 25-21, 25-15, in Knoxville on Oct. 3.
  • It is “Bring a Kid to the Match,” and up to four kids can get in free with the purchase of a regular-priced adult ticket.

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.