No. 19 Aggies Begin Defense of SEC Title; Open Conference Play at Alabama

Friday, September 23

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

Alabama

Sep 22, 2016 | Volleyball

Complete Match Notes (PDF)

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

No. 19 Texas A&M (6-5, 0-0 SEC) vs. Alabama (11-2, 0-0 SEC)
Friday, Sept. 23, 6 p.m.
Foster Auditorium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

TV: SEC Network (Melissa Lee and Jennifer Hoffman)
Digital Video: WatchESPN and the ESPN app at http://es.pn/2c9uLgh
Stats: 12thMan.com/live
Updates: follow @AggieVolleyball on Twitter

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- No. 19-ranked and defending Southeastern Conference champion Texas A&M (6-5) begins defense of its title Friday as the Aggies take on Alabama (11-2) at Foster Auditorium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. First serve is at 6 p.m.

The match will be televised on SEC Network with Melissa Lee and Jennifer Hoffman calling the action. The match also will be streamed live on WatchESPN and the ESPN app at http://es.pn/2c9uLgh

Texas A&M, led by reigning SEC Player of the Year Stephanie Aiple, is the favorite to win the SEC championship this season according to a vote of the league's head volleyball coaches. The Aggies have had a rigorous preconference schedule with all five losses coming against ranked opponents, including back-to-back losses against No. 2 Texas and No. 6 Wisconsin last week to close out preconference play.

Alabama enters conference play riding a seven-match win streak. Most recently, the Crimson Tide and three-time reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week Krystal Rivers won their second consecutive home tournament, defeating East Tennessee State, Presbyterian College and Georgia Southern to capture the Hampton Inn Crimson-White Tournament.

TEXAS A&M IN THE SEC

Texas A&M is picked to win the SEC in 2016 according to the SEC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Aggies received seven of the 13 first-place votes and 137 total points to finish atop the preseason poll.
Texas A&M enters the match against Alabama riding an all-time school-record 14-match conference win streak. Prior to joining the SEC, the Aggies' longest conference win streak was nine as a member of the Big 12 Conference (1996-2011). The longest conference win streak as a member of the Southwest Conference (1982-1995) was eight matches.
The Aggies have not lost an SEC match since falling to then-No. 17 Florida, 3-0, on Oct. 9, 2015, in Gainesville, Florida.
Last year, Texas A&M dropped its SEC opener for the first time, falling to Arkansas, 3-1, at Reed Arena. The Aggies went on to go 16-2 in SEC matches to capture the first conference championship in program history.
Texas A&M is beginning its fifth year as a member of the SEC and is 3-1 in SEC season openers and 55-19 overall in SEC matches only.
The Aggies, who went 8-1 in SEC away matches and 8-1 in SEC home matches in 2015, are 27-10 all-time in SEC away matches and 28-9 in SEC home matches.
This will be the first time Texas A&M has opened SEC play on the road and the first time the Aggies have faced Alabama to start conference play.
In their inaugural season in the SEC, the Aggies defeated Ole Miss on Sept. 14, 2012, at Reed Arena, marking Texas A&M's first SEC victory in any sport. The Aggies went on to finish 16-4, winning the SEC Western Division and placing second overall.
Junior setter Stephanie Aiple, who last year became the Aggies' first player to be named SEC Player of the Year, and senior redshirt middle blocker Jazzmin Babers, an AVCA second-team All-American in 2015, both were named to the Preseason All-SEC Team.

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
Sept. 23, 2009: In the first conference volleyball match to ever be played at Reed Arena, Texas A&M stunned sixth-ranked and Big 12-foe Nebraska, 3-1 (28-26, 17-25, 25-19, 25-19) in a nationally televised contest. The victory against the Huskers helped springboard the Aggies into the NCAA Tournament and a run to the Sweet 16. Prior to moving to Reed Arena, the Aggies had played their home matches at G. Rollie White Coliseum—affectionately known as the "Holler House"—which was eventually razed in 2013 to make way for the expansion of Kyle Field.

A&M-ALABAMA ALL-TIME SERIES

Texas A&M leads the all-time series, 6-2, including 4-2 in SEC matches only, but Alabama is 2-1 all-time against the Aggies in matches played in Tuscaloosa.
Both of Alabama's victories in the all-time series were in A&M's last two visits to Tuscaloosa, including a 3-2 (20-25, 28-26, 17-25, 25-20, 15-11) Crimson Tide victory at Foster Auditorium on Oct. 31, 2014, the last time the Aggies played in Tuscaloosa.
A&M is 4-0 against the Crimson Tide in matches played in College Station, including a 25-22, 25-18, 25-21 victory on Oct. 16, 2015, at Reed Arena in the only meeting between the two teams last year.
In the most recent meeting, Texas A&M used a balanced attack to earn a 25-22, 25-18, 25-21 sweep over Alabama on Oct. 16, 2015, at Reed Arena. A&M outhit the Crimson Tide .429 to .209 with Stephanie Aiple dishing out 45 assists, the second most assists by an A&M player in a three-set match in 2015. Senior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan and opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor led the A&M attack, each hitting .526 while connecting on 12 kills apiece. Jazzmin Babers added nine kills, outside hitters Emily Hardesty and Kiara McGee pitched in eight kills apiece, and Aiple was three-for-three in attack attempts as A&M posted 52 kills to Alabama's 41.
Defensively, Hardesty led all players with 14 digs, and libero Amy Nettles also posted double-figure digs with 10 to lead the Aggies to a 44-32 advantage in digs. Sullivan had a match-high six blocks to lead A&M to a 9-7 lead in blocks.
Krystal Rivers led the Tide with 13 kills, and Brittany Thomas added 10 kills. Natalie Murison led Alabama in digs with 11.
While the teams met only once in 2015, the teams split the home-and-home series in 2014 with the home team winning in five sets in each match.
A&M's all-time records/results vs. Alabama:

H: 3-0    A: 1-2    N: 1-0    SEC: 3-2
Sept. 24, 1993      N      W      15-5, 15-13, 10-15, 15-3
Sept. 14, 1996       H      W      15-6, 15-8, 15-5
Sept. 30, 2012        A      W      25-22, 25-20, 25-20
Nov. 2, 2012          H      W      25-22, 25-20, 25-20
Oct. 18, 2013         A      L       31-33, 22-25, 23-25
Oct. 10, 2014         H      W      20-25, 25-14, 21-25, 25-20, 15-5
Oct. 31, 2014         A      L       25-20, 26-28, 25-17, 20-25, 11-15
Oct. 16, 2015         H      W      25-22, 25-18, 25-21

TEXAS A&M NOTES

Texas A&M has had a grueling preconference schedule, having faced five ranked opponents, more than any other team in the SEC.
All five of Texas A&M's losses have been against ranked opponents, including three losses against teams currently in the Top 5: No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 5 Texas. Texas was the NCAA runner-up last year and Minnesota was an NCAA semifinalist.
The other two losses were against now-No. 15 Florida State and No. 17 Ohio State, who both escaped with 3-2 victories against the Aggies.
Texas A&M swept Pac-12 representative Arizona, 3-0, at the Borderland Invitational on Sept. 9 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Wildcats were receiving votes at the time.
After going 7-0 in five-set matches last year, the Aggies are 0-2 in five setters this season.
Texas A&M returns 14 letterwinners–including five starters plus the libero–from last year's team that went 24-7 overall, won the SEC with a 16-2 record, and was 18th in the final AVCA poll after advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship. The Aggies also welcomed eight freshmen as well as a redshirt freshman, making their 23-member squad the largest since Laurie Corbelli was hired as the Aggies' head coach in 1993.
Returning starters include 2015 SEC Player of the Year Stephanie Aiple (Jr., 6-1, S), AVCA second-team All-American Jazzmin Babers (RS-Sr., 6-2, MB) and AVCA All-South Region Honorable Mention selection Kiara McGee (Jr., 5-11, OH), as well as Emily Hardesty (Sr., 6-3, OH) and Ashlie Reasor (Jr., 6-1, OPP). The Aggies also return junior libero Amy Nettles, who received the team's best defensive player award and was the only Aggie to see action in all 115 sets last year.

AGGIE PLAYER NOTABLES

Sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake has led or tied for the team lead in blocks in all 11 matches and has taken or tied for match-high honors in blocks in seven matches.
Blake tied a school record for block assists in a four-set match with 12 in a 3-1 victory at North Texas on Aug. 27, and she also tied the school record for total blocks in a four-set match with 13 against the Mean Green.
Blake was named both the SEC Player of the Week and the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 12, after averaging an impressive 2.44 blocks per set while leading the Aggies to sweeps against Arizona, New Mexico State and UTEP at the Borderline Invitational. It was the first time in her career Blake has received either accolade.
Redshirt senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers needs 31 kills to become the 17th player in program history to join the 1,000 Kills Club. The last player to join the club was middle blocker Lindsey Miller (2009-12), who finished with 1,025 in her four-year career.
Babers has started every match of her career (103).
Junior libero Amy Nettles, who has received the team's best defensive player award each of the last two seasons, has 835 career digs and needs only 165 more to become the 21^st player in Texas A&M history to join the 1,000 Digs Club. As a sophomore, Nettles played in every set as the team's libero and finished with 444 digs, ranking seventh in the Texas A&M season record books.
Senior Emily Hardesty is the most experienced outside hitter on the team, having been a starter each of the last two seasons. In 2015, she was the only non-setter to play all six rotations. Hardesty was held out for four matches and played sparingly against Texas and Wisconsin after suffering a nagging injury against Minnesota.
Freshman outside hitter Hollann Hans has been starting in place of Hardesty and most recently posted back-to-back double-doubles in kills and digs against No. 2 Texas and No. 6 Wisconsin, marking the first two double-doubles of her career.
Hans, who has started every match since drawing the first start of her young career in the Aggies' 3-0 victory over Virginia Tech at the Puerto Rico Clásico on Sept. 3—also her 19th birthday—led Texas A&M in both kills and points in each of the team's two top-10 matches last week, recording 10 kills and 12 points against the Longhorns and career-highs of 13 kills and 14 points against Wisconsin;
Defensively, the Corpus Christi Calallen High School product took match-high honors with a career-high 14 digs against Texas, marking the first time she reached double-digit digs in her career, and she added 10 digs against Wisconsin;
Hans, who had a team season-high four aces against Arizona at the Borderline Invitational, leads the Aggies with seven aces and a 0.26 set average.
Several players made their first appearance of the season against UTEP at the Borderline Invitational, including senior setter Kaysie Shebeneck, who played the entire second set. Freshman setter Lexi Lopez and freshman middle blocker Maddie Douglas made their Texas A&M career debuts, subbing in late in the third set. Lopez had an ace and an assist in the first two plays of her career, and Douglas had the match-ending kill.

ALL IN THE (COACHING) FAMILY

Laurie Corbelli, the reigning SEC and AVCA South Region coach of the year, is 494-233 in her 24th season as head coach of the Aggies and 594-339 in the 31st year of her head coaching career. She along with her husband, Aggie Associate Head Coach John Corbelli, have led the Aggies to 19 NCAA appearances.
Their son, Russell Corbelli (Texas A&M '16), is serving as the volunteer assistant coach this season while also pursuing his real estate license.
Not related to the Corbelli's but in his first year as a member of the Aggie family is assistant coach Trevor Johnson, who served as an assistant coach at Baylor last year.

TEXAS A&M IN THE AVCA RANKINGS

After a two-week stay at No. 16 in the AVCA Top 25 Poll, Texas A&M dropped three spots to No. 19 in the AVCA poll released on Monday.
Earlier this season, the Aggies received a season-high No. 14 showing on Aug. 29, marking the program's highest ranking in the AVCA poll since a No. 13 showing on Sept. 5, 2005.
The Aggies' No. 16 AVCA preseason ranking matched their highest preseason ranking by the AVCA since they were No. 16 in 2005. Texas A&M was No. 13 in the AVCA's 1997 preseason poll, marking the highest preseason ranking in program history.

TEXAS A&M IN THE NATIONAL/SEC STATS

Kaitlyn Blake, an all-tournament selection at both the North Texas Challenge and the Puerto Rico Clásico, leads the SEC and is fifth in the nation with 1.71 blocks per set as of Sept. 21. She is 25th in the nation with 65 total blocks.
Blake's 13 total blocks in the win at North Texas on Aug. 27 ranks fourth in the country for most blocks in a four-set match, and it is the most by an SEC player in all matches this season.
Blake is sixth in the SEC and 67th in the country with a .373 hitting percentage.
Junior setter Stephanie Aiple is fourth in the SEC and 35th in the nation with 10.70 assists per set.
As a team, A&M is second in the SEC and 27th in the country with 2.71 blocks per set.
The Aggies are third in the SEC and 49th in the nation with 13.79 kills per set.

CLIMBING THE CAREER CHARTS

Senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers is ranked in the top 10 in the Texas A&M all-time career records in block assists, total blocks and points, and she is on pace to finish in the top 10 for career hitting percentage and block solos.
Babers is fourth in career block assists with 408 and needs only one more to tie Lindsey Miller (2009-12) for third place.
Babers, who moved into sole possession of sixth place in career total blocks during the Texas match, has 464 and needs six more total blocks to tie Kim Mitchell (1990-93) for fifth place.
Babers ranks sixth in career total points (1,231) since rally scoring begin in 2001, and she currently ranks second in career hitting percentage (.370).
Junior setter Stephanie Aiple moved into the top 10 in career assists earlier this season and currently ranks ninth with 2,659. She needs 303 more assists to tie Chris Zogata (1983-86) for eighth place with 2,962.

SCOUTING ALABAMA

Alabama is 11-2 and riding a seven-match win streak entering the match against the Aggies.
The Crimson Tide has not lost a match since Sept. 2 when they fell 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 15-12) to a No. 16 Florida State team that also toppled the Aggies, 3-2, at the Puerto Rico Clásico.
Alabama opened the Puerto Rico Clásico with a 3-2 win over Virginia Tech, who A&M defeated, 3-0, to close out the tournament.
Florida State, the only ranked team Alabama has faced this season, and Virginia Tech are the only two opponents both the Tide and Aggies have faced this year.
Alabama has won back-to back home tournaments, defeating Northwestern State, Southern Miss, Lehigh, East Tennessee State, Presbyterian College and Georgia Southern over the last two weekends.
Three-time reigning SEC offensive player of the week Krystal Rivers, who had a nation-leading 38 kills in the five-set win over Southern Miss, leads the SEC and is ranked second in the nation with 5.45 kills per set. The senior also leads the conference and is third in the country with 6.22 points per set, and she is No. 1 in the SEC and fifth in the nation in both total points (305) and total kills (267). Rivers also is averaging an SEC-leading 11.73 attacks per set.
Four other players—Kat Hutson, Brittany Thomas, Leah Lawrence and Hayley McSparin—are averaging at least 2.25 points per set, and McSparin and Lawrence are hitting .351 and .305, respectively.
Alabama, which finished fifth in the SEC standings last year, is picked to place sixth this year according to a preseason vote of the league's coaches. Krystal Rivers was named to the Preseason All-SEC Team.
Ed Allen (Ball State, 1988) is 107-69 in his sixth season as head coach at Alabama and 584-237 in the 25th year of his head coaching career.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Texas A&M opens home SEC play on Sunday, Sept. 25 against Auburn at 2 p.m. at Reed Arena.
The match will be televised on ESPNU with Paul Sunderland and Nell Fortner calling the action.
Promotions include:
- Post-match autograph session
- Pre-match Jungle Zone, exclusive for Junior Aggie Club members in the volleyball practice gym featuring Jungle Bounce house, balloon animals, crafts + more.
- FREE pre-match kids court in the volleyball practice gym open to all kids featuring Aggie Bounce House, hula hoops, and more
- Buy 1 adult ticket, get up to 4 kids in FREE (offer valid at the door)
- Fish Camp members wear your Fish Camp shirt and stop at the marketing kiosk for a chance to win a trip for two on a rock climbing excursion courtesy of the Texas A&M Rec Center
- Every Sunday is Bingo Day at Aggie Volleyball. Pick up a volleyball bingo card at the marketing kiosk on the concourse for chances to win Aggie gear & more

DIG PINK

In conjunction with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Texas A&M volleyball team has announced that it will hold its annual "Dig Pink" fund raiser match Sunday, Oct. 16 when the Aggies play host to the nationally ranked Florida Gators in a highly anticipated match-up at Reed Arena. First serve is set for 4 p.m., and all fans wearing pink to the match can purchase tickets at the entrance for only $3.
The Aggies are currently accepting donations for their "Dig Pink" initiative and encourage fans to visit their online fund raiser page, https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/11634. All funds raised will be donated to The Side-Out Foundation and applied toward a clinical trial specifically for patients with Stage 4 breast cancer, the most advanced form of the disease and the least funded area of research.

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.