Texas A&M Sweeps Arkansas as Babers Notches 1,000th Career Kill

Wednesday, October 5

Fayetteville, Ark.

8:00 PM

Texas A&M

9-6, 3-1SEC

Arkansas

3-13, 1-3SEC

Texas A&M

Arkansas

Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 05, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (A&M 3, Arkansas 0)

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Texas A&M completed its first sweep in the all-time series against Arkansas with a 25-22, 25-11, 25-15 victory tonight at Barnhill Arena. Aggie senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers had the match-winning kill, giving her 10 for the match and 1,003 for her career. Babers also had four blocks to give her 485 for her career, moving her into fourth place in the Texas A&M career records.

Texas A&M improves to 9-6 on the year and 3-1 in the SEC as the Aggies win their third consecutive match. In addition, Texas A&M remains undefeated in four trips to Fayetteville since joining the SEC.

Arkansas suffers its third consecutive loss and falls to 3-13 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

Neither team was able to build a sizeable lead in the opening set as the score was tied 15 times before A&M pulled away. The Aggies had equaled what was then their largest lead when the media timeout was called at 15-13. The Razorbacks came out of the timeout and reeled off five unanswered points to build the largest lead by either team, forcing A&M to take a timeout. The Aggies then went on a 4-1 run, with Babers teaming with setter Stephanie Aiple to tie the score at 19-19. It was Babers' third block in the set, giving her 484 total blocks for her career, moving her into a tie for fourth place in the A&M career records.

The teams began to exchange points following a timeout by the Razorbacks, and an Arkansas service error tied the score at 21-21. Kaitlyn Blake and Aiple gave the Aggies the lead with a block, and Hollann Hans followed with a kill to put A&M up, 23-21, forcing Arkansas to call its final timeout. The Razorbacks got a kill coming out of the timeout, but Blake countered with a kill to put the Aggies at set point, 24-22. Arkansas, which was outhit .344 to .190, then hit into the net to close out the frame.

The Aggies never trailed for the remainder of the match. A&M held an 8-5 lead in the second set before using an 8-0 run to separate from the Razorbacks. A service error ended the run, and Arkansas got a block and a kill to get within 16-8 before a kill by Aiple began a 4-0 rally for the Aggies. A&M, which outhit Arkansas .524 to .000 in the set, went on to build a 23-11 lead when Ashlie Reasor put the Aggies at set point with a kill. Hans then served an ace to end the set.

The third set was tied, 6-6, before a block by Babers and Reasor sparked a 7-0 run, with Babers capping the run with a tip-in kill to give mark her milestone 1000^th career kill. The Aggies continued to build on the margin, outhitting the Razorbacks, .325 to .026 in the set. Babers got a kill to put A&M at match point, 24-13. Arkansas fought off two match points before Aiple set up Babers for the match-winning kill.

Hans tied Babers for team-high honors in kills with 10, with neither committing an error. It was Hans' team-leading seventh consecutive match with double-figure kills. Aiple finished with 35 assists, directing the Aggie offense to a .376 hitting percentage.

Amy Nettles led the Aggies with 12 digs as A&M held the Razorbacks to a .082 hitting percentage for the night.

Texas A&M wraps up a three-match road swing at Ole Miss on Sunday. The match is at 3 p.m. at The Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi, and it will televised on SEC Network.

The Aggies return to Reed Arena on Friday, Oct. 14 to play host to South Carolina.

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.