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PREVIEW: Texas A&M Opens SEC Play at LSU

Complete Match Notes (PDF)

Rel 09 21 17 LSU Preview Opens in a new window

Complete Match Notes (PDF)
 
Texas A&M (3-4, 0-0 SEC) at LSU (9-2, 0-0 SEC)
Friday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m.
Pete Maravich Assembly Center
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
 
Digital video stream: SEC Network + (WatchESPN)
Stats: 12thMan.com/live
Twitter Updates: @AggieVolleyball


COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Texas A&M (3-4) opens its sixth season of competition in the Southeastern Conference on Friday as the Aggies travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to face the LSU Tigers (9-2). First serve is at 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and a digital stream of the match will be available on SEC Network +.
 
The Aggies, who went 15-3 in conference matches last season to tie Kentucky for third place in the SEC, were picked to finish fourth this year according to a preseason poll of the league's head volleyball coaches. LSU, which finished 12th last season with a 4-14 mark, is picked to finish ninth according to this year's preseason poll.
 
Texas A&M has endured a rigorous preconference schedule, with four of its last five matches being against teams ranked in the top six in the nation: No. 1 Stanford and No. 5 Penn State, who the Aggies pushed to five sets, as well as No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 6 Texas to conclude the preconference schedule.
 
LSU, which at 9-2 has already equaled its total number of wins in 2016, is coming off a home season-opening 3-0 (26-24, 25-13, 25-19) victory against Houston on Sept. 16.
 
TEXAS A&M-LSU ALL-TIME SERIES
  • Texas A&M has won the last three meetings and is 27-15 all-time against LSU.
  • The Aggies are 5-2 against the Tigers since joining the SEC in 2012, including 3-0 in matches played in Baton Rouge.
  • A&M is 9-3 overall against the Tigers in matches played in Baton Rouge since the series began in 1978.
  • A&M swept the home-and-home series last year, defeating the Tigers, 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 25-13, 25-6) on Sept. 30, at the Maravich Center, and 3-1 (25-17, 25-27, 25-18, 25-22) on Nov. 23 as the Aggies celebrated Senior Day in their final home appearance of the season.
  • Last year in Baton Rouge, A&M's then-junior outside hitter Kiara McGee led the Aggies with 16 kills while hitting a career-high .519. Senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers and freshman outside hitter Hollann Hans pitched in 10 kills apiece, and junior setter Stephanie Aiple tied her career high with eight kills and dished out 42 assists while directing the Aggies' offense to a .344 hitting efficiency. Babers had 10 blocks to lead the Aggies to a 15-4 advantage in blocks as A&M held LSU to a .074 hitting efficiency. LSU's six points in the fourth set tied the A&M record for fewest points allowed in a single set since going to the 25-point set cap in 2008.
  • Last year in College Station, A&M set a school record for digs in an SEC match with 103, with then -senior defensive specialist Victoria Arenas and junior libero Amy Nettles both posting personal season highs with 25 and 24 digs, respectively. A&M outhit LSU, .192 to .128, for the match, and led in kills (63-46), assists (57-44) and digs (103-78). The Tigers led in aces (5-2) and blocks (10-7).
  • LSU's most recent win over the Aggies was Nov. 6, 2014, in College Station. The Tigers defeated A&M, 3-2 (20-15, 25-16, 25-9, 22-25, 15-13) at Reed Arena.
  • A&M's records/results vs. LSU under Corbelli: 
Overall: 10-5    H:  3-3    A:  4-0    N:  3-2    SEC: 5-2
Sept. 16, 1995        N         W        15-0, 15-7, 15-6
Sept. 11, 1998        N         W        15-5, 15-5, 17-15
Sept. 1, 2002          H         W        30-32, 24-30, 30-16, 30-24, 15-10
Sept. 10, 2005        N         W        28-30, 30-17, 30-28, 29-31, 15-13
Sept. 1, 2006          N         L          32-30, 34-36, 23-30, 16-30
Aug. 29, 2008         N         L          25-23, 21-25, 25-20, 17-25, 18-20
Dec. 5, 2009            A         W        18-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 15-10
Aug. 28, 2010         H         L          9-25, 17-25, 22-25
Oct. 26, 2012          A         W        25-20, 22-25, 25-11, 25-16
Oct. 9, 2013             H         L          25-20, 25-16, 19-25, 18-25, 10-15
Nov. 13 2013          A         W        25-21, 25-22, 25-22
Nov. 6, 2014           H         L          25-20, 16-25, 9-25, 25-22, 13-15
Oct. 21, 2015          H         W        25-19, 25-22, 25-18
Sept. 30, 2016        A         W        22-25, 25-14, 25-13, 25-6
Nov. 23, 2016         H         W        25-17, 25-27, 25-18, 25-22
 
TEXAS A&M IN THE SEC
  • Texas A&M is 3-2 in SEC season openers and 70-22 overall in SEC matches since joining the league in 2012.
  • The Aggies, who went 7-2 in SEC away matches and 8-1 in SEC home matches in 2016, are 34-12 all-time in SEC away matches and 36-10 in SEC home matches.
  • This is the first time the Aggies open SEC play against LSU.
  • After hosting their SEC season opener for the first four years in the league, the Aggies are opening conference play on the road for the second consecutive season.
  • The Aggies have lost their SEC opener each of the last two years. In 2015, 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.
  • Last year, the Aggies opened SEC play on the road for the first time and lost a five-set match at Alabama.
  • Texas A&M will play two matches each against last year's top three SEC teams, co-champions Florida and Missouri, as well as Kentucky, which tied A&M for third place. Other home-and-home series will be played against Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Single matches will be against LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama.
  • This is the second time A&M enters SEC play coming off a loss. Last year, A&M opened league play following a 3-0 loss at Texas and a 3-0 home setback to No. 6 Wisconsin. This year, the Aggies suffered at 3-0 loss at No. 6 Wisconsin and a 3-0 loss to No. 6 Texas at Reed Arena to conclude the preconference schedule.
  • In their inaugural SEC season opener, 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.
  • Texas A&M will play its 100th SEC match on Oct. 20 against Arkansas at Reed Arena.
 
TEXAS A&M NOTES
  • Texas A&M has the No. 1-ranked strength of schedule in the nation according to Volleytalk.net's RPI Futures, a season ending projected RPI based on the win probabilities for all remaining games on the schedule using each team's Pablo rating.
  • All four of A&M's losses have been to teams ranked No. 6 or higher. The Aggies pushed No. 5 Penn State to five sets on Sept. 2 and fell to No. 1 Stanford, 3-0, on Sept. 3 at Reed Arena, at No. 6 Wisconsin, 3-0, on Sept. 9, and closed out the preconference schedule with a 3-0 home loss to No. 6 Texas on Sept. 13.
  • Texas A&M has not played since Sept. 13 when the Aggies played host to former conference rival and sixth-ranked Texas for the first time since leaving the Big 12 Conference in 2011.
  • Two freshmen, 6-1 lefty setter Camille Conner and 6-3 middle blocker Makena Patterson, have started every match for the Aggies. In addition, 6-2 freshman outside hitter Samantha Sanders, for all intents and purposes, has been the Aggies' starter at the opposite hitter position over the last six matches, drawing the starting nod against VCU, Penn State, Stanford and Texas and subbing in against Lipscomb and Wisconsin as soon as the starting defensive specialist rotated to the front row.
  • Conner, the MVP of the season-opening Texas A&M Invitational, is the only player in the SEC that has recorded a triple double this season, having tallied 43 assists, 12 digs and 12 kills while hitting .321 in the five-set loss to No. 5 Penn State. She is the first A&M player to record a triple-double since former lefty setter Allie Sawatzky achieved the feat with 31 assists, 10 kills and 11 digs at Ole Miss on Nov. 10, 2013.
  • Patterson has led or tied for the team lead in blocks in five of seven matches and leads the Aggies with 1.00 blocks per set.
  • Sophomore outside hitter Hollann Hans, who had career highs of 32.5 points and 28 kills while hitting .328 against No. 5 Penn State, leads A&M and is fifth in the SEC in aces (0.50), kills (4.00) and points (4.71) per set.
  • Hans' 32.5 points against Penn State ties for fourth in A&M single match records, and her 28 kills against the Nittany Lions are the most by an A&M player since Kelsey Black had 28 against Oklahoma on Oct. 6, 2010.
  • Junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake has started every match and leads the Aggies and is seventh in the SEC with a .356 hitting efficiency.
  • Senior libero Amy Nettles, who leads the Aggies with 3.42 digs per set, has 1,195 digs for her career. She needs only 38 more digs to move into the top 10 in the Aggie career record books, tying Laura Jones (2002-05) for 10th place.
  • Nettles has appeared in a school-record 304 consecutive sets. The streak began when the then-freshman came off the bench for the final three sets against Arkansas on Oct. 15, 2014. The now-senior co-captain broke the previous record of 284 consecutive sets played held by fellow San Antonian Suzy Wente since 1994 in the second match of the 2017 season. Nettles  has led the Aggies in digs per set each of the last three seasons and in total digs each of the last two years and is averaging 3.55 digs per set for her career.
  • Texas A&M returns 11 letterwinners overall—including four starters plus the libero—from last year's team that went 21-9 overall and reached the NCAA Championship tournament for a sixth consecutive season. The Aggies also welcome a stellar four-member freshman class, ranked the 18th best recruiting class in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com, as well as a redshirt freshman.
 
25th SEASON FOR CORBELLI DUO
  • Texas A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli and her husband, associate head coach John Corbelli, are celebrating their 25th season at the helm of the Aggies. Laurie, the 2015 SEC and AVCA South Region coach of the year and the longest tenured head coach at Texas A&M, is 512-241 in her A&M career and 612-347 in the 32nd year of her head coaching career.
  • Under the Corbellis' direction, the Aggies have reached the 20-win milestone 17 times and have made 20 NCAA tournament appearances, making A&M one of only 14 teams to make at least 20 NCAA appearances since Corbelli was hired in 1993.
 
TEXAS A&M RECENT RESULTS
  • Texas A&M fell to No. 6 Texas, 25-20, 25-18, 25-15, on Sept. 13 in front of 3,124 at Reed Arena.
  • Although each team had 37 kills, Texas committed only six errors and hit .307 while A&M committed 26 errors and hit .089. The Longhorns also had 13 blocks to A&M's two.
  • Hollann Hans took match-high honors in kills with 11, and Camille Conner finished with 28 assists. Libero Amy Nettles and defensive specialist Amy Houser each posted double-figure digs with 13 and 11, respectively.
 
LSU QUICK HITS
  • LSU (9-2) won its first eight matches of the season before dropping back-to-back 3-1 matches at North Carolina and at Baylor.
  • Most recently, the Tigers won their home season opener, sweeping Houston, 26-24, 25-13, 25-19, on Sept. 16 at the Pete Maravich Center.
  • Sophomore 6-3 middle blocker Jacqui Armer had a match-high five blocks in the sweep against the Cougars. For the season, she leads LSU, is fourth in the SEC and 34th in the nation with 1.41 blocks per set.
  • As a team, LSU is 33rd in the nation and fourth in the SEC with 2.61 blocks per set.
  • Freshman Taylor Bannister (6-5, OH/MB) leads the Tigers with 3.00 kills per set while hitting .321.
  • Six of LSU's wins this year have been sweeps, and the other three victories were five-setters.
  • Head coach Fran Flory (Texas '84) is 345-237 in her 20th season at the helm of the Tigers.
 
TEXAS A&M-LSU CONNECTIONS
  • Former Aggie outside hitter Emily Hardesty, who finished her four-year indoor volleyball career last fall and graduated from Texas A&M in May with a degree in university studies with a concentration in architecture, signed to play for the LSU beach volleyball team for her fifth year of athletic eligibility.
  • Scott Woodward, a 1985 graduate of LSU and formerly a director of external affairs at his alma mater, is in his second year as director of athletics at Texas A&M.
  • Baton Rouge native Erin Boyette is in her sixth season as Texas A&M's volleyball athletic trainer. The former Erin Greenwich graduated cum laude from LSU in 2010 and served as the graduate assistant athletic trainer for coach Fran Flory's volleyball program while pursuing her master's degree, which she received from LSU in 2012.
  • LSU head volleyball coach Fran Flory was a former assistant coach at Texas A&M in 1987 under former Aggie head coach Al Givens.
  • LSU football offensive line coach and running game coordinator Jeff Grimes is married to the former Sheri Hermesmeyer, who played volleyball at Texas A&M from 1988-91.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
  • The Aggies open their SEC home slate on Sunday, Sept. 24 as they host defending SEC co-champion Missouri at Reed Arena. First serve is at 12 p.m., and the match will be televised on SEC Network with Tyler Denning and Missy Whittemore calling the action.
  • It will be Take a Kid to the Game, and up to four kids can get in free with the purchase of one adult ticket. The first 100 kids to attend Kids Court will receive free popcorn.
 
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.