Volleyball Fights Back; Knocks Off League-Leader Kentucky, 3-1

Friday, October 30

Lexington, Ky.

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

14-6, 7-2SEC

Kentucky

15-7, 8-2SEC

Texas A&M

Kentucky

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 30, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Texas A&M fought off two set points in the opening frame and also overcame multi-point deficits late in the third and fourth sets to post a thrilling 30-28, 14-25, 25-23, 26-24 victory over 20^th-ranked and Southeastern Conference leader Kentucky tonight at Memorial Coliseum.

With the win, the Aggies extend their win streak to a season-best five matches and improve to 14-6 overall, including 7-2 in SEC play while notching their first victory in Lexington in program history.

Kentucky, which suffers the loss despite leading in hitting percentage (.230 to .194), kills (65-56), aces (4-1), blocks (13-10) and points (82-67), falls to 15-7 overall and 8-2 in SEC matches.

Typical of recent A&M-Kentucky contests in Lexington, the teams had to work overtime in the opening set with both teams fighting off a combined six match points before A&M pulled off the 30-28 victory. It was the sixth time in the last seven sets between the two teams in matches at Memorial that a set was determined by the minimum two points, and it was the first time the Aggies won a set in Lexington since joining the SEC in 2012.

Kentucky had equaled its largest lead of the opening set at 13-11 before A&M went on a 6-1 run to build an 18-14 cushion. The Aggies went on to build their largest lead at 21-16 following a kill by sophomore outside hitter and reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week Kiara McGee. The Wildcats charged back, however, getting two blocks during a 4-0 rally to put Kentucky within 21-20.

The teams began to trade point for point before Aggie sophomore opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor put down a kill to put the Aggies at set point, 24-22. Kentucky rallied with three consecutive kills to regain the lead, 25-24, and was serving for the set, but Reasor kept the Maroon and White alive with her seventh kill. Emily Franklin countered with her sixth kill of the frame to put the Wildcats at set point for the second time. Aggie sophomore and two-time reigning SEC Setter of the Week Stephanie Aiple then had a well-timed dump kill, and junior outside hitter Emily Hardesty followed with a kill from the back row to return the lead to A&M.

A&M then served wide, and the score was tied for the 10^th time. Senior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan teamed with Aiple for a block on the ensuing play, but then the Aggies' next attack sailed long, tying the score at 28-all. Kentucky then hit long to put A&M at set point for the fourth time, and A&M capitalized as Reasor put down her eighth kill to clinch the 30-28 victory.

The Wildcats took early command of the second set, jumping out to a 13-4 lead. A&M, which was outhit .294 to -.031 in the set, used a 6-1 surge to get back within 16-11 but was held to three points for the remainder of the stanza with Kentucky using a 5-1 run to close out the set and tie the match at a set apiece.

Kentucky appeared primed to run away with the third set, equaling its largest lead and doubling up the Aggies at 18-9, forcing Aggie coach Laurie Corbelli to call a timeout. Redshirt junior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers got a kill coming out of the timeout, marking the start of a 4-0 A&M run. Kentucky setter Morgan Bergren ended the rally with a dump kill, and the teams began to exchange points.

Kentucky, which was outhit, .243 to .220, maintained a 21-15 advantage before four different players combined for five consecutive A&M kills to put the Aggies within 21-20. The Wildcats then committed back-to-back attack errors to give A&M its first lead since 2-0. Kentucky blocked an A&M attack on the next play to tie the score, but McGee blasted back-to-back kills to put the Aggies serving for the set, 24-22. Kentucky got a kill to get within 24-23 before Reasor once again capped the set with a cross-court kill.

Kentucky equaled its largest lead of the fourth set at 23-19 and once again appeared in the driver's set to close out the set and force a fifth and deciding set, but A&M had other intentions. Babers tooled a kill of the block, and Reasor followed with back-to-back kills to put A&M within a point for the first time since 15-14.

Kentucky then committed consecutive attack errors, tipping into the net and then sailing an attack wide to put the Aggies at match point, 24-23. Darian Mack, who led all players with 15 kills, got a kill through the block to tie the score for the 10^th time in the frame, but McGee put A&M at match point for the second time, countering with a kill from the back row. Kentucky's next attack landed just wide to end the match, giving A&M the victory.

Overall, 13 of A&M's 16 eligible players saw action in the match. McGee and Reasor led the Aggies with 13 kills apiece. Babers added 11 kills and tied Sullivan and Aiple for the team lead in blocks with five. Sophomore libero Amy Nettles tied for match-high honors with 19 digs, and Aiple finished 11 digs and 41 assists to record her team-leading fourth double-double of the season.

The Wildcats had five player post double-digit kills.

The Aggies close out their two-match road trip at Tennessee on Sunday. First serve against the Volunteers is at 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 CT) at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., and the match will be broadcast on SEC Network +.

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 and Instagram by following @AggieVolleyball.

Texas A&M post-match quotes:

Texas A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli
On getting the big win…
"For our own morale and getting the monkey off our back of coming to Kentucky and being able to get a win, it was huge. The first set we were really rolling and we thought this was going to be a battle all the way through. And it was a battle, but it was a different kind of battle than we have ever been in. Coming back from 18-9 down and winning is something I don't think I've ever seen my teams do. It was a total team effort, and that makes me feel really proud, especially of our bench. They were non-stop supportive of the girls on the court. The girls on the court, at one point every one of them was struggling more than I have ever seen all season in terms of just timing and their movements and lots of things, and yet they kept fighting through it and kept believing that they could win. We have been talking about winning here all week. It's been a tough place for us. I'm just really excited for the team."

On the conference standings...
"We just want to win as much as we can. It will be a tight, close race. We know what we have in front of us. We know how challenging our schedule is. We face the top teams in the conference in five of our next nine matches, so it's going to be a brutal finish. We are going to have to be at our best in November, but knowing what the team is really seeing now and believing that they are as good as they are, that's half the battle when you are a coach, to get them to really see how well they can play, and how well to prepare themselves to compete. We started off really strong because we had really great preparation. Everyone was excited. Everyone was focused. There was good concentration on their jobs. But when Kentucky came out in set two and started blocking us, we kind of lost our concentration. We started to make mistakes we don't typically make. I think that caught them off guard a little bit. And so to regroup after set two was important for us and to come back, and even though we were really down in set three, they just fought hard.

On winning despite Kentucky leading in every positive statistical category for the match...
"We had two kills out of 13 swings between two of our biggest offensive producers in the fourth set when it was 19-17. We had gotten two kills from some of the hitters we go to all the time. It's hard to win like that. We saw how ugly it was for us, yet we didn't see quit in our team."