"It was really competitive," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said, "and it was nice to not have to scrimmage against your own team, six-on-six. So to have different faces and different players to have to adjust to; that is where I'm a little disappointed. I didn't feel like we made our adjustments soon enough or if at all against primarily some blocking things and defensive things. We have changed our defense a lot since last fall and are trying a few new things offensively as well as defensively. That kind of showed a little bit, just the newness of some things in our system. But it is necessary that you try new things and see how they work, and this will give us a chance at least to evaluate those changes.
"I thought there were some really great, great points, but we had set some goals for this match, and I can't say that we met them. I think that is the part that I am most perplexed about. We did play like it was our first match. We didn't play with a ton of confidence. I never really felt like we were getting into the flow of the match."
There were eight ties in the opening set, the last coming at 17-17 before the Owls went on an 8-1 run to close out the frame.
A&M freshman Kaitlyn Blake made her Aggie debut to start the second set. Although the Allen (Texas) High School product, who enrolled at A&M in January, has been training as a middle blocker, she played the opposite hitter position against the Owls and got a kill on the first play.
"I loved watching Blake on the right side, block and attack," Corbelli said. "She's been in the middle most of her career, and yet we asked her to play right side today because we needed a right side, and it was really fun to watch."
A&M never trailed in the second set, building its largest lead at 11-6. The Aggies were up, 22-18, when Rice mounted a comeback and managed to get within a point at 22-21 and again at 23-22. The Owls, however, came up short after committing consecutive attack errors, hitting into the A&M block for the final point of the set.
The Aggies trailed by as many as four points in the third stanza but used a 5-1 run to take their first lead, 19-18. Rice tied the score at 19-19 before Blake got a kill and then teamed with senior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan for a block. The Owls were whistled for a ball handling error on the next play, giving A&M a 22-19 lead. Rice head coach Genny Volpe, who was a senior on Corbelli's first Aggie squad in 1993 and served as an assistant coach on Corbelli's staff from 2001-03, called a timeout, and the Owls responded with a 6-1 run to close out the set.
The Aggies were in control of the fourth set, doubling up the Owls at 18-9. Rice got within 20-14 before the Aggies went on a 5-1 run, including an ace by junior setter Kaysie Shebeneck to close out the 25-15 win and force a fifth set.
There were seven ties in the final set. The Aggies, who had held a 4-1 lead early in the frame, got back-to-back kills from junior outside hitter Emily Hardesty and Blake to knot the score at 12-12 before Rice connected on three consecutive kills to end the match.
"I thought we didn't really resemble our execution in practice, so to think of what I've seen all these other players do every day and compare it to today, I would say there were some flashes but no one came in and had a super consistent day," Corbelli said. "That's a lot about jitters, a lot about our lineup. We've switched things around so much, and that is what the spring season is for. We played everybody every set, so it's great information for us as coaches, and that is how I'm approaching it. As much as I would have liked for the team to be able to pull out the fifth set when we started out up, 4-1, making seven unforced errors after that really isn't going to help you win. So we have to evaluate that part of it and make some changes."
Next up for the Aggies is the F.A.S.T. Complex Collegiate Invitational in Houston on Saturday, April 11. A&M concludes its spring season Saturday, April 18 at the Lone Star Classic College Showcase at the Dallas Convention Center Arena.
"I'm glad we got that one under our belts to get us ready for competition and play some really tough teams in the next two weekends that will really test us," Corbelli said. "I think this match will prove to have been very helpful."
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