Babers Leads Texas A&M Past Milwaukee, 3-1

Friday, September 11

Iowa City, Iowa

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

5-2

Milwaukee

2-7

Texas A&M

Milwaukee

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 11, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Junior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers tied her career high with 20 kills while hitting .500 to lead No. 25 Texas A&M to a 27-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-17 victory over Milwaukee in the Comfort Suites Challenge at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Seniors Angela Lowak and Shelby Sullivan added 12 and 11 kills, respectively, and sophomore libero Amy Nettles had an A&M season-high 20 digs as the Aggies improve to 5-2. Milwaukee falls to 2-7.

In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, Milwaukee jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the opening set, but A&M would use a 5-1 run to take its first lead at 11-10. The lead was short lived as the Panthers got a kill and an ace to regain the lead. A&M managed to tie the score six times before finding itself trailing 23-20. Back-to-back kills by Sullivan and Lowak put A&M within 23-22, and the Panthers' next attack sailed long to knot the score at 23-23. Kaisa Mattson put down a kill to put Milwaukee serving for the set, but Lowak got a kill to extend the set. A&M, which outhit the Panthers, .356 to .275 in the stanza, regained the lead and was serving for the set following a Milwaukee attack error. Mattson then posted her eighth kill of the frame, tipping the ball over the Aggie block, but Babers answered with back-to-back kills to give A&M the 27-25 win.

Milwaukee never trailed in the second set and used a 4-0 run to build a 15-5 lead. The Panthers went on to build their largest lead at 19-8, but A&M would use a 9-2 run to get within 21-17. The Aggies, however, were unable to overcome the deficit. Milwaukee, which outhit A&M .410 to .229 in the set, scored three unanswered points to go up, 24-17. Babers staved off the set with a kill, but Milwaukee got a kill on the ensuing play to take the set, 25-18, and tie the match, 1-1.

A&M held as much as a four-point lead twice during the first half of the third set before Milwaukee rallied, using a 4-0 run to take its first lead of the set at 16-15. Following an A&M timeout, Sullivan put down her fifth kill of the set and Lowak followed with a go-ahead kill. An A&M attack into the net tied the score at 17, but it would be the final tie of the stanza.

Milwaukee was whistled for a ball handling error, and Babers put down a Panther overpass to put A&M up, 19-17. Milwaukee ended the run with a kill, but Babers came back with consecutive kills to put A&M ahead, 21-18. Milwaukee would get another kill, but A&M continued to score two points for every Panther point to pull away. Up 23-20, Babers put down her eighth kill of the set to put A&M at set point, and freshman opposite hitter Kaitlyn Blake followed with a kill to close out the set, giving A&M a 2-1 lead in the match.

A&M scored two consecutive points to take a 4-3 lead early in the fourth set. Milwaukee managed to tie the score five times, the last coming at 10-10 before a Babers kill sparked a 4-0 run by the Aggies. Milwaukee, which was outhit .371 to .122, could get no closer than two points before the Aggies began to pull away. Babers put down one of her six kills in the set to give A&M a 21-14 lead. The teams then traded points, with a Babers kill putting A&M at match point. The Panthers then had an attack error to end the match.

Aggie setter Stephanie Aiple dished out 51 assists and directed the A&M offense to a .300 to .238 hitting advantage. Babers posted six blocks as A&M held an 8-7 lead in blocks.

Maggie Dunbar led the Panthers with 18 kills, and Mattson finished with 16. Libero Myanna Ruiz led all players with 30 digs.

A&M concludes the tournament Saturday at 7 p.m. against the host Iowa Hawkeyes.

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 Head Coach Laurie Corbelli Quotes:

On her general thoughts on today's matches…
"I thought the team really under-performed in just about every area. But I could see that they were trying to fight through it, and I was happy with that. They never got down. They tried to stay positive, and only because they did that were we able to recover and start to get into what somewhat looked like our team offense and team defense. It's hard to understand how everyone can be so off, and I think it had a lot to do with just kind of getting a good feel in the arena and feeling like the ball control and ball handling was going to be sharp. I think they really didn't have much confidence in that to start with."

On seniors Shelby Sullivan and Angela Lowak returning to the lineup after being out with injuries...
"It was really nice to have them back. I think we just kind of expected (our play level) to get back to where it was when they went down, and I think that added to the frustration because they just need some time. This is a game of rhythm. It's a game of quick reactions, and they have been out of practice for about a week and a half for Lowak and about four days for Sullivan. Things were rusty, and we go to those two a lot. I think there was a little bit of doubt in the team's mind about how smooth is this going to be if they haven't been practicing and haven't been here. There have been a lot of things that contributed to it, but it was definitely an off day for our team."
On today's positives...
"Jazzmin Babers, who wasn't at her very best, is still so unstoppable and so much fun to watch. Once we started to smooth out and get into our rhythm, I thought the work that she put in on her quick transition move from her blocking to attacking was so nice to have back. I thought our passers really worked hard to get her the ball. I think that's where we struggled early was just our passing was rugged. It made our offense very predictable, and it made it one-on-six.

"I thought [Kaitlyn] Blake had a great day overall. She played middle last week; she played right side the week before; this week she's playing right side. Maybe next we will put her on the left. We realize we've got a really competitive kid in Blake. [Amy] Nettles stayed out there the whole time. Even though there were some rough patches, just like for everybody, she really smoothed her game out and was serve receiving much better and playing some much better defense."

On tomorrow being a better day…
One can only hope things will be better tomorrow. This team is disappointed that they weren't themselves today. I trust this team now that we've been in that facility and played eight sets on that floor. It's been a long 10-hour day at the gym. So I think a good night's sleep, some time to study our opponents and as coaches we need to do a better job of finding a better way to prepare our group when we realize they aren't very confident or aren't feeling it. That is a really tough part of the job, but we have to do it."

On Iowa being a team on the rise…
"Iowa is on the rise. They are talented. They block big. They've got some dynamic attackers, and they are at home. We beat them last year at our place, so they are out for blood. So we have to come out really ready to fight and super focused."