Texas A&M
Ole Miss
Lowak's Double-Double Leads A&M to Win over Ole Miss
Nov 09, 2014 | Volleyball
A&M improves to 16-8 overall, including 8-5 in SEC matches. Ole Miss, which drops to 0-9 in the all-time series against the Aggies, had its two-match win streak snapped and falls to 20-6 overall and 6-6 in SEC play.
Junior outside hitter Angela Lowak paced the Aggie offense with a season-high 16 kills. She also led A&M with a team-high 15 digs to tally her fourth double-double of the season. Middle blockers Jazzmin Babers and Shelby Sullivan finished with 13 kills each, and sophomore outside hitter Emily Hardesty had 10 kills without an error and also scooped up 13 digs to register her third double-double of the year.
A&M freshman setter Stephanie Aiple set up the balanced offense, dishing out 51 assists as the Aggies outhit the Rebels, .324 to .232 for the match. Aiple also pitched in on defense, accounting for 12 digs to notch her team-leading sixth double-double of the season.
Nakeyta Clair led the Rebels with 17 kills while hitting .405, and Ty Laporte and Lexi Thompson added 13 kills apiece in the loss.
The Rebels had led by as many as three points in the opening set and held a 15-13 edge at the media timeout. A&M then rallied, outscoring Ole Miss, 4-1, to take a 17-16 advantage. The lead was short-lived and changed hands for the third time in the set as the Rebels immediately went on a 5-0 surge to go up 21-17. A service error ended the run, but Ole Miss, which outhit A&M, .333 to .200 and sided out 78 percent of the time, tacked on three more points -- two courtesy of A&M errors -- to be serving for the set. Lowak kept A&M alive with a kill before Ole Miss setter Aubrey Edie dumped the ball in for the set-clinching kill.
Lowak had two kills during a 4-0 run that broke the Aggies away from a 7-7 tie in the second set. A&M, which outhit the Rebels, .440 to .086 in the frame, led the remainder of the set. Ole Miss later scored three unanswered point to get within 14-13 before Babers caromed a kill off the Rebel block to begin a 6-0 charge by the Aggies. A&M would hold a 22-16 lead when Babers had a kill, a solo block and teamed with Lowak for a block to close out the 25-16 win and even the match at a set apiece.
There were 11 ties in the third set, the last coming at 15-15 before Babers had back-to-back kills. The Rebels stayed with a point at 17-16 when the Aggies recorded three consecutive kills to build their largest lead. Ole Miss, however, countered with three kills to once again get within a point, 21-20. A&M was up 22-21 when Hardesty got a kill and Lowak followed with a clutch kill after a long rally to put the Aggies at set point. Ole Miss, which was outhit, .440 to .086, fought off two points, getting a kill and a block before Lowak put down her sixth kill of the set to seal the 25-23 win to give A&M a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was tied at 4-4 when Sullivan posted consecutive kills to put A&M ahead, 6-4. Ole Miss would get within a point three times, the last at 10-9, but was unable to catch the Aggies for the remainder of the match. A&M slowly pulled away, outhitting the Rebels .302 to .100. Leading 20-16, Lowak got a kill and Babers blasted an Ole Miss overpass to put A&M up, 22-16. Hardesty followed with a solo block to give A&M a 23-16 lead. The teams then traded points for the remainder of the set, with Hardesty getting the match-winning kill.
The Aggies have a bye this week and return to Reed Arena on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. to play host to Tennessee. It will be “Take a Kid to the Match” and up to four kids can get in free with the purchase of one 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.
Texas A&M Post-match Quotes:
Texas A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli:
On today's match against Ole Miss…
“I think both teams were passing really well, were able to be in offense and getting that first-ball sideout kill. That just makes for neck-and-neck volleyball until someone can start trying to break away with a great defensive play or great blocking. I think everyone was passing really, really well.”
On the defensive performance…
“I thought it got better as the match went along. They attacked out of the middle early a lot and had some success. That needed to change. We needed to come up with a way to slow that down if possible. All along, our team kept a consistent mindset of patience and aggressiveness that we've been really working on and trying to enforce. I think that's what I'm most proud of for the team today.”
On setting the tone for the match…
“Blocking and defense can really set your tone, intensity, and fight. The transition moves -- when hitters get off the net faster, ready to go -- those moves prior to attacking are so important. It kind of sets the tone for your offense. I thought the team got better and better with that. It showed in our numbers, too. I think our hitters are learning to minimize their unforced errors and not making mental mistakes. It's a really great sign that we are improving. The team is on the up. They're confident, aggressive, and they know what they want to achieve.”
On the team's performance as a whole today…
“The team has made some decisions on what they want to change, and they changed it. I know the players want it so badly. They are loyal. They are determined. They love Texas A&M volleyball. I trust that. Patience is such a big thing in volleyball. Patience is so important that when you get impatient, that is when the errors start happening. That's when you start to panic a little. I thought they showed great patience today. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Even though we weren't being slow but we were patient, and patience provided some smoothness, and the smoothness allowed us to be fast.”
Texas A&M sophomore outside hitter Emily Hardesty
On her performance today…
“I just wanted to go out there today and execute today to the best of my ability. However that manifested on the court, I just wanted to put 100 percent out there. Stephanie [Aiple] was giving us some great looks, allowing us put the ball down.”
On gaining confidence from hitting or defense…
“I trust my defense a lot. I know when I'm back there, I tend to do better. Don't overthink, just react. Go with your instincts to where you think the ball is going to go, and trust what you can do. I have the same mindset with hitting. Especially today, I came in and wanted to trust myself with what I could do as a hitter, and I think I accomplished that. “
Texas A&M junior outside hitter Angela Lowak
On consistency…
“Stephanie [Aiple] did a nice job distributing the ball. She really gave us the opportunities we did have. That was nice.”
On defensive performance…
“It was a little tough in the beginning, because they were coming at us from the middle position and doing a great job. They did the entire match. I feel like we can get better at it. It was good all the way around consistently.”
On adjustments after dropping the first set…
“After the first set, we realized there were some adjustments we needed to make. I mentioned it before, especially on defense. There was a tremendous change on our blocking in the first set compared to the second set. When we played Missouri a few weeks ago, we did lose the first set in that one, but we were still calm and confident, not frazzled. We tried to keep that same mentality after the first-set loss.”
