Aggies Suffer 3-1 Loss in SEC Opener

Sunday, September 27

College Station

1:30 PM

Texas A&M

7-5, 0-1SEC

Arkansas

12-2, 2-0SEC

Arkansas

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 27, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M suffered a 21-25, 25-13, 27-25, 25-22 loss to Arkansas in its Southeastern Conference opener today at Reed Arena.

A&M, which had won each of its previous three SEC season openers in three-set sweeps and entered today's contest 4-0 in home matches this season, falls to 7-5 overall. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks extended their win streak to four, improving to 12-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Arkansas held a 10-8 advantage in the opening set before sophomore opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor got a kill for A&M, and Arkansas kill leader Pilar Victoria followed with three consecutive attack errors to give the Aggies the lead. The Razorbacks tied the score at 12-12 after A&M was whistled for being in the net, but the Aggies would eventually begin to pull away. Holding a narrow 15-14 lead, A&M went on a 5-1 run, including an out-of-system tip kill by sophomore outside hitter Kiara McGee followed by a solo block by redshirt junior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers that put the Aggies ahead, 20-15, marking what would be the Aggies' largest lead of the match.

Junior outside hitter Emily Hardesty later found the seam in the Arkansas block to record a kill that put A&M at set point, 24-19, but Victoria countered with a kill off the block and A&M committed an attack error on the ensuing play to put the Razorbacks within 24-21. The Aggies, who outhit the Razorbacks, .179 to .104 in the frame, called a timeout before Hardesty posted her fourth kill of the set to close out the 25-21 win.

In four of the five previous meetings between the two programs, the team that lost the first set came back to win the match. This match would follow that trend.

Arkansas used a 9-0 rally in the second set to jump out to an 18-10 lead. A&M senior Shelby Sullivan ended the run with a quick kill out of the middle, and Victoria hit wide on the next play, putting A&M within 18-12. That would be the closest the Aggies would get. After the Razorbacks, who hit .310 while holding A&M to a -.032 hitting percentage during the set, got a kill to go up 19-12, A&M committed three consecutive errors to put the Hogs ahead, 22-12. Hardesty then tooled the Arkansas block for a kill, but the Razorbacks answered with a kill, a solo block and an ace to compete the 25-13 win, tying the match at a set apiece.

There were 14 ties and five lead changes in the third set, with Arkansas fighting off two set points to take the set and a 2-1 lead in the match. The Aggies held their largest lead at 10-6 following a three-point run which included a cross-court kill by Reasor, a kill by Hardesty and an ace by sophomore libero Amy Nettles. Arkansas, which outhit A&M, .389 to .333 in the set, came back to tie the score four times before taking its first lead of the set at 18-17 on an ace by reigning SEC Player of the Week and SEC Freshman of the Week Okiana Valle. It was back-and-forth for the remainder of the set with the teams trading pairs of points. Then with A&M up, 21-20, the teams began exchanging point for point. McGee later powered a kill down the Arkansas block to put A&M at set point, 24-23, but Breana Jones countered with her own kill down the block to keep Arkansas in the set. Aggie freshman opposite hitter Kaitlyn Blake responded with a kill to put the Aggies at set point for the second time.

Leading 25-24, A&M came ever so close to winning the set on the next play, but the Razorbacks narrowly scooped up the ball following what would have been a set-ending block by the Aggies. Danielle Harbin then came through with her fifth kill of the set to close out the play, once again keeping the Razorbacks alive. Victoria tipped in the ball for a kill on the next play to put Arkansas up, 26-25, and Chanell Clark-Bibbs and Victoria teamed for a block to secure the 27-25 win a for the Razorbacks.

The Aggies trailed the fourth set, 17-13, before an Arkansas serve into the net marked the start of a 5-0 run for A&M. Blake had a block and three kills during the run, including the go-ahead kill after Sullivan's attempted block popped up the ball and set up the rookie for the put away.

The Razorbacks quickly regained the lead at 20-18 following an A&M service error, a block and an ace. A&M, which was outhit .375 to .303 in the set, twice got within a point, the last coming at 22-21 following back-to-back kills by Hardesty and McGee. Victoria then put down her sixth kill of the set and her 20^th of the match, and it was followed by a Razorback block to put Arkansas at match point, 24-21. Sullivan kept A&M in the match with her 12^th kill of the contest before Clark-Bibbs clinched the victory for the Razorbacks with a kill.

McGee led A&M with 14 kills while hitting .314. Sullivan hit .476 with her 12 kills, and Hardesty finished with 11 kills and posted her third double-double of the season by adding 11 digs.

Nettles led A&M in digs with 18, and junior defensive specialist Victoria Arenas added a season-high 10 digs. Babers had a team-leading five blocks.

Freshman defensive specialist Paige Panter made the first start of her career, and junior setter Kaysie Shebeneck made her third consecutive start before sophomore Stephanie Aiple, who had missed the last two matches after going down with a foot injury against Colorado State on Sept. 15, returned to the lineup midway through the second set.

The Razorbacks outhit A&M .276 to .207 for the match, leading 59-56 in kills. In addition to Victoria's 20 kills, Clark-Bibbs and Jones combined to hit .380 with 23 kills. Valle led in digs with 13, and Clark-Bibbs led all players with nine blocks.

The Aggies open the road portion of their SEC schedule Wednesday as they travel to Auburn, Ala., to take on the Auburn Tigers. First serve is slated for 8 p.m. at Auburn Arena, and the match will be televised by ESPNU with Cara Capuano and Jenny Hazelwood calling the action.

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 quotes:
Head Coach Laurie Corbelli:

Opening statement…
"Obviously we're disappointed in our performance overall."

On falling behind in the second set…
"We just needed to push the reset button. When you get a round of points in volleyball, it sometimes can really (turn into a) snowball effect. You lost three or four (points) in a row and then it just turned into eight, nine or ten. It hasn't happened in a while to us, so when it was happening I think the frustration grew and we weren't able to shake it off."

On the Arkansas' Pilar Victoria being a challenge to defend…
"She has a really fast arm swing. She's dynamic, and you just have to adjust your blocking, timing. I think the speed of her arm can be challenging."

Emily Hardesty, Junior, Outside Hitter

On what she learned from the game…
"We just need to finish when given opportunities. Personally, I need to put the ball away when I'm given the opportunity. But it was just individual performances, little things here and there that weren't sharp that weakened the team."