Texas A&M
6-1
USC
6-1
Aggies Hand 6th-Ranked USC First Loss of Season
Sep 12, 2014 | Volleyball
Box Score
LOS ANGELES – Texas A&M stunned sixth-ranked and previously undefeated Southern California, upsetting the Women of Troy in their home season opener, 25-23, 15-25, 25-27, 25-13, 16-14, on the first day of the USC Classic at Galen Center.
It was A&M's first victory against USC in nine all-time meetings, and it also marked A&M's highest ranked win since a home victory over No. 6 Nebraska in 2009. It is the Aggies' highest win away from College Station since 2001, when A&M swept sixth-ranked Wisconsin in an NCAA regional semifinal at Stanford in 2001, and it is A&M's highest ranked win against a hosting team since the Aggies shocked No. 3 Hawaii in Honolulu in the 1999 NCAA regional semifinals.
A&M outhit USC, .319 to .233, and outblocked the Women of Troy, 13-7, as both teams move to 6-1 on the season.
A&M freshman setter Stephanie Aiple dished out a career-high 56 assists as she orchestrated a balanced attack, with four A&M players posting double figures in kills. Junior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan hit .462 with 15 kills, one shy of her career high. Junior outside hitter Angela Lowak tied Sullivan for the team lead with 15 kills and added 11 digs to notch her first double-double of the season.
Sophomore middle blocker Jazzmin Babers had a career-high 14 kills with no errors for a .583 hitting percentage, and freshman opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor also pitched in a career-high 14 kills while hitting at a .300 clip.
Defensively, sophomore outside hitter Emily Hardesty tied her career with 19 digs, tying sophomore libero Victoria Arenas for match-high honors. Babers had seven blocks to finish with a career-high 18.5 points, and Sullivan contributed six blocks and led the Aggies with 19.0 points.
Neither team led by more than three points in the opening set as there were four lead changes and eight ties. The Trojans had used a 4-0 run to go up 13-12 and continued to lead, 22-21, when Sullivan got a kill on the slide attack to tie the score. She then teamed with Hardesty for a block to give the Aggies a 23-22 advantage, forcing Trojan coach Mick Haley to call a timeout. USC, which was outhit .395 to .220, got a kill coming out of the timeout, but Hardesty got a crucial out-of-system kill off the block to put the Aggies at set point. Lowak then followed with her fifth kill of the frame to clinch the set and hand the Trojans their second first-set loss of the season.
There were 10 ties and two lead changes early in the second set before USC erupted for 10 unanswered points behind the serving of national ace leader Samantha Bricio, who had three aces during the stretch. A&M, which was outhit, .310 to .138, was unable to recover as the Trojans handily won the set, 25-15, to even the match, 1-1, heading into the intermission.
A&M let a six-point lead get away in the third set as Bricio led the Trojans to a 27-25 come-from-behind win and a 2-1 lead in the match. The Aggies held a 19-13 advantage following a USC attack error. The Trojans called a timeout and then got five consecutive kills to get within 19-18. USC later tied the score at 21-21, but Aiple was credited with a kill on the ensuing play as USC was whistled for reaching over the net. Aiple then teamed with Sullivan for a block to put A&M up, 23-21. The teams exchanged kills, with Hardesty putting A&M at set point, 24-22. The Trojans, however, countered with back-to-back kills, and then took the lead as A&M's attack sailed out of bounds. Sullivan staved off one set point with a kill, but the Trojans, who outhit A&M .415 to .386, answered with two kills to close out the frame.
A&M led the entire fourth set, outhitting the Trojans, .353 to .053, and using a late 9-1 outburst to surge to a 24-12 lead. Babers had put the Aggies at set point, putting down a USC overpass for a kill. The Trojans tooled the A&M block for a kill before Babers and Reasor teamed to record the set-clinching block and force a decisive fifth set.
A&M never trailed in the final frame and built a 10-4 lead before the Trojans made a ferocious comeback. With the Aggies clinging to a 13-12 lead, Sullivan posted a kill to put A&M at match point, 14-12. The Trojans then staved off two match points, getting a kill and then making several incredible saves which eventually led to another kill that tied the score for the first time, 14-14. Lowak then got a kill down the line to once again put A&M at match point, and Bricio, who led all players with 20 kills and four aces, hit long on the next play to set off the Aggie celebration.
A&M closes out the USC Classic on Friday as the Aggies take on No. 13 San Diego at 4:30 p.m. (PT). The Toreros (5-2) fell to No. 10 Florida, 25-22, 25-19, 25-14, in the opener of the USC Classic.
Audio of the match will be available at 12thMan.com.
The match against USD is the second of four consecutive ranked opponents for the Aggies, who return home to Reed Arena for a two-match series against No. 7 Florida State on Sept. 19-20.
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 Head Coach Laurie Corbelli – Post-Match Quotes:
On the overall feeling of the match and how much of an emotional roller coaster it was …
“It was quite an experience. I have to say the performance by our setter, [Stephanie] Aiple, was pretty incredible. And the passing. It comes down to serving and passing. The serving and passing game has to be solid. I thought that not missing many serves, yet passing really well and having a setter that distributed the ball exactly like we wanted was just so important. It gave us the kind of strength and allowed us to really use the attackers like we need to be using them. It was a lot of stress just because it was back and forth, but this is exactly what we came here for. Obviously we love the win, but we also wanted the competition and just to gauge ourselves, see where our weaknesses are, where our strengths are against some of the best. I feel like that was maybe the most valuable of all of this. The win was really icing on the cake.”
On what she told the team during the intermission following USC's strong serving performance and A&M's poor passing performance in the second set…
“She's a phenomenal server, Samantha Bricio. We have a lot respect for what she can do. We don't see too many of those, and so we reminded the team that we were neck-and-neck in every category. We were hitting the same or outhitting. We were blocking well. It was just a stretch of points that they won because of this awesome server and our inability to get the pass that kind of dropped us out of that set. But we made a few adjustments. In fact the players said can we go back to what we were doing the first set. It was working better and we did that and they felt more comfortable with it, so we did that. I think she may have had another couple of really great serves, but I think in the end the girls' confidence on receiving the serve was just a lot higher.”
On the biggest difference between this fifth set compared to the fifth set in the loss to UTSA…
“It was a totally different feel. I felt like that was, I call it a nightmare-type match. We weren't together as a unit, as a team. We weren't on the same page emotionally or mentally. It's really hard to describe, but I kind of sensed that tonight with our opponent. I didn't see that they were all on the same page emotionally and mentally. I don't know if we took them out of that. I think that from the beginning they had some players that were struggling, and I kept telling the team, if you stay together and you stay united and keep the pressure on, that our team effort can prevail. I think that they are a phenomenal team. They have great players. They have great coaches. So for us to really be able to find it within our entire group, it took every single person that was out there to really persevere. Even the times that they would come back and run a string of points on us, we just were able to keep our composure, which was huge with three sophomores and two freshmen on the floor. That is really encouraging. They are pretty spent right now emotionally and physically, too, obviously, but it was just really fun to see how they kept themselves together.”
On the importance of the leadership and performance of co-captains Sullivan and Lowak…
“They are just both so dialed in to Aggie volleyball. They really want the best for the entire group, hardly anything about themselves. They are concentrated on the team, focused on the team. They are just phenomenal leaders. They get it. They get that they have to communicate a lot, but they also have to perform and they have to demand from their teammates, and the teammates respond. They have chosen them as their leaders, and I think that has been a huge part of our success as well. And I think last weekend was a big part of it, too. We learned a lot. Not only from the five-set match against VCU, but also just from a volleyball perspective. We knew some things we were doing last weekend were not very sharp, and we sharpened them up this week in practice. And they took them seriously. This group is just a group that through their leaders, all listen. They understand and know that that needs to change, and if the coaches are saying this has to change, they buy in to it and they change it and they stick with it. And it showed tonight.”
