Texas A&M
7-3
Florida State
11-0
Aggies Fall to #6 Florida State, 3-0
Sep 20, 2014 | Volleyball
The Aggies (7-3) were impressive during a quick 7-2 run to open the match before FSU progressively chipped away, using a 6-1 push to take its first lead at 16-15. A&M later retook the lead, 18-17, following two consecutive FSU errors, but the Seminoles scored the next three points to go up, 20-18. FSU continued to hold a narrow lead at 21-20, when it reeled off four unanswered points, including a set-clinching kill by Nicole Walch, who had five kills in the frame.
The Seminoles outhit A&M, .200 to .154 in the opening set but hit a blistering .483 over the next two sets while holding A&M to a combined .111 to complete the sweep.
A&M held its only lead of the second set at 5-4 following an FSU attack that sailed long. The teams then exchanged points until FSU posted a kill and a block that gave the Seminoles a 10-9 advantage. FSU continued to widen the gap, reeling off runs of four and five points and eventually building a 23-15 lead. A kill by Aggie freshman opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor temporarily ended the run, but a Seminole kill followed by a block closed out the second set and gave FSU a 2-0 lead.
A&M was within 5-4 to start the third set when FSU went on a commanding 11-0 run. A&M, which had 12 players see court time throughout the match, was held to only three points for the remainder of the set as the Seminoles raced to the 25-8 win.
FSU hit .367 for the match and held the Aggies to a season-low.129.
Junior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan led A&M with nine kills while hitting .444. Sophomore outside hitter Emily Hardesty and sophomore libero/defensive specialist Victoria Arenas led in digs with six apiece, and freshman Amy Nettles, who for the first time in her career was the libero in the third set, finished with five digs. Sophomore middle blocker Jazzmin Babers led the Aggies with four blocks.
Walch led the Seminoles with 15 kills while hitting .367, and also added a match-high 12 digs. Katie Horton also finished with a double-double, pitching in 13 kills while hitting .400 and scooping up 10 digs. Kiara Wright led all players with seven blocks.
A&M continues its home stand on Monday as the Aggies play host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First serve is 6:30 p.m. at Reed. The match is the final tune-up before the Aggies enter SEC play, Sunday, Sept. 28 against Auburn at Reed Arena.
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Post-Match Quotes: Texas A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli
On applying lessons learned from last night's game…
“We didn't have a lot of time to make a lot of changes with a very, very novice group. I think [FSU's] experience and our inexperience showed up today. We haven't had this group long enough together to really figure out great options when things aren't working. We're still figuring a lot of that out. When our first group wasn't functioning, we had to make a lot of changes. It was hard to make them, but we had to so that we as coaches could see what other kids could bring to the court. It's such a mental game. I think it's the part of coaching bystanders don't know the extent of it and how deep it goes.”
On the final set of the match…
“The last set was probably the most miserable set we've played in a long, long time. The serve, once they got a lead, they could just start ripping balls. They were hitting harder than they served in any of the previous six sets we played them. They didn't care if they missed. That's when you have the freedom to just go for blood.”
On the change of pace between matches…
“I think we weren't getting kills from anyone but [Shelby Sullivan], and a little bit from [Ashlie] Reasor this morning and a little bit from [Jazzmin] Babers. We were swinging and not being able to end rallies, so we got frustrated. We're so young that when one area of our game isn't working well, it seems to really penetrate all the other areas very quickly, and it spreads like wildfire. Hesitation, lack of confidence, backing off; those things are things we still need to learn how to maintain and how to sustain. We still have a whole lot to learn. The biggest positive I can draw from this is it exposed every ounce of our weaknesses. We know pretty darn well what we must change and what we must improve in.”
On how to turn this loss around…
“We have to take this and use it to value what we do and make it important, as hard as it was to experience. [FSU] deserved every point they scored. They worked hard for it. They're automatic. We're not automatic yet, that's for sure.”
On things she saw that she liked…
“I liked looking at some more competition in our libero spot. I think it would be healthy for our team. I tried [Amy] Nettles there in the third set. She's very talented, very quick, and just young. I like her game; I like her mental game. I think she's a good future prospect in that spot. We are trying to get [Kiara] McGee on the court more swinging. She is learning and has a lot of power and plays really high but still learning shots, how to get around big blocks and how to attack a top-10 team. This is new to her. I saw some bright spots.”
On moving forward from this match…
“I was really happy with last night. It is so unusual to have to come back and play a top-10 team back to back. They're just really good and experienced. It can rally tear you down if you let it. I think we'll take it hard for today, and we we'll hate this feeling enough that I figure that is going to be big for our recovery. Just the way we lost really stings and no one likes it. The locker room is pretty gloomy. You have to always find the silver lining. Tomorrow's another day. We've got a team coming in in two days, and we need to get ourselves back to Aggie volleyball, and know it's really good, really effective, and we're only going to get better.”
