HOUSTON – The Texas A&M volleyball team continued its spring exhibition season Saturday by going 3-0 at the F.A.S.T. Complex Collegiate Invitational, held at the F.A.S.T. Complex.
“The team did a great job of staying disciplined with assignments in each match,” Texas A&M assistant coach Steve Greene said. “I was very proud of how they handled the competition against three distinct styles from Baylor, Oklahoma and SMU. Our blocking and offense was relentless and kept the pressure on the other teams. We have been working on our serve-and-pass game a lot this past week, and it showed as our serving was much tougher and created out-of-system situations for us to set up our block and defense. Our serve receive was solid and when we had a couple bad patches, the passers were able to make changes and get us back in system right away.”
The Aggies opened against Baylor and set the tone early by jumping out to a 4-0 lead. A&M would go on to lead throughout entire frame, defeating the Bears, 25-21. The Maroon and White had to come from behind in the second set. Trailing until tying the score for the first time at 19-19, the Aggies finally took their first lead at 20-19. A&M went on to build a 24-21 cushion, but the Bears fought off two match points until serving out to give A&M the 25-23 victory, completing the two-set sweep.
A&M followed that match with its second sweep of the day, defeating Oklahoma 25-13, 25-20.
In the final match of the day, the Aggies trailed SMU, 23-21, in the first set but came back to tie the score at 24-24. The score also was tied at 25- and 26-all before A&M reeled off two unanswered points to take the set, 28-26.
The second set was another closely contested battle, but this time the Mustangs would pull out a 27-25 victory to force a third set to 15 points. SMU held a narrow 8-7 lead in the final frame before A&M went on an 8-3 run to close out the set, 15-11, and win the match, 2-1, capping the perfect 3-0 day.
The Aggies conclude their spring season Saturday, April 18 at the Lone Star Classic College Showcase at the Dallas Convention Center Arena.
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F.A.S.T. Complex Collegiate Invitational results:
Texas A&M def. Baylor, 2-0 (25-21, 25-23)
Texas A&M def. Oklahoma, 2-0 (25-13, 25-20)
Texas A&M def. SMU, 2-1 (28-26, 25-27, 15-11)