Preview: Texas A&M Heads to Kentucky to Take on No. 8 Wildcats

Wednesday, October 11

Lexington, Ky.

7 p.m.

Texas A&M

Kentucky

Photo by: Glen Johnson/Texas A&M Athletics

Oct 10, 2017 | Volleyball

Complete Match Notes (PDF)

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

Texas A&M (5-7, 2-3 SEC) vs. No. 8 Kentucky (14-2, 5-0 SEC)
Wednesday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m. (8 p.m. ET)
Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky

TV: SEC Network (Cara Capuano, Lizzy Stemke)
Stats: 12thMan.com/live
Twitter Updates: @AggieVolleyball

COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Texas A&M (5-7, 2-3 SEC) aims to end Kentucky's nine-match winning streak and hand the eighth-ranked Wildcats (14-2, 5-0 SEC) their first Southeastern Conference loss of the season when the two teams clash Wednesday in Lexington, Kentucky. The match begins at 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET) at Memorial Coliseum, and it will be televised on SEC Network with Cara Capuano and Lizzy Stemke calling the action.

Texas A&M, which has the No. 1-ranked strength of schedule in the nation and will be facing its sixth Top-10 opponent over an 11-match stretch, is coming off a 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-13) victory against Mississippi State on Sunday at Reed Arena. The Aggies hit .304 while holding the Bulldogs to a .011 hitting efficiency, the lowest by an A&M opponent this season.

Kentucky improved to 8-0 in home matches with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 30-32, 25-21) victory over Auburn on Sunday at Memorial Coliseum. Sophomore outside hitter Leah Edmond led the way for the Wildcats with 25 kills while hitting .438 as Kentucky outhit Auburn, .361 to .183.

The Aggies and Wildcats each went 15-3 in conference matches last season to tie for third place in the SEC. A&M was picked to finish fourth this year according to a preseason poll of the league's head volleyball coaches, and Kentucky was picked to finish second.

TEXAS A&M-KENTUCKY ALL-TIME SERIES

The all-time series is tied 8-8 since the teams first met in 1982.
The Wildcats are 5-1 against the Aggies in matches played in Lexington, with A&M getting its only win at Kentucky in 2015 when the Aggies went on to win the SEC championship.
Kentucky owns a 5-3 advantage since A&M joined the SEC.
In the last four meetings in Lexington, 10 of the 14 sets have been decided by the minimum two points.
The teams met once last year (Nov. 20, 2016), and the Wildcats celebrated Senior Day with a 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 28-26 victory over A&M in Lexington. The victory ended a three-match losing skid in the series against the Aggies, who had entered the match riding an eight-match winning streak.
Kentucky outhit A&M, .308 to .246 for the match, tallying 69 kills to the Aggies' 57. Texas A&M led in blocks, 13-12, with Kaitlyn Blake posting seven blocks. Senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers led A&M in kills with 12 while hitting .417, and Blake finished with a team-high 16.5 points, posting 11 kills without an error for a .611 hitting efficiency. Outside hitters Hollann Hans and Kiara McGee also posted double-figure kills with 11 and 10, respectively, while setter Stephanie Aiple finished with 48 assists. Libero Amy Nettles led the Aggies with 20 digs, and defensive specialist Amy Houser pitched in a career-high 12 digs.
SEC Freshman of the Year Leah Edmonds, who had eight kills in the final set, finished with a match-high 25 kills to lead the Wildcats. Kaz Brown added 12 kills along with seven blocks. Darian Mack and Brooke Morgan also had double-figure kills with 11 and 10, respectively, while setter Olivia Dailey dished out 60 assists, the most by an A&M opponent in 2016. Libero Ashley Dusek finished with a team-high 17 digs.
In the first-ever meeting as SEC foes, Kentucky defeated the Aggies, 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 25-18, 25-20, 15-12) on Sept. 23, 2012, at Reed Arena. It was A&M's first conference loss in SEC history after opening its inaugural season in the league, 2-0, in conference matches.
A&M won the first five meetings of the series, which began in 1982.
A&M's all-time records/results vs. Kentucky:

Overall: 8-8    H: 5-3    A: 1-5    N: 2-0    SEC: 3-5
Oct. 9, 1982                 N             W            15-9, 16-14
Oct. 29, 1982              H             W            4-15, 13-15, 15-2, 15-11, 15-12
Oct. 30, 1982              H             W            15-9, 10-15, 16-14, 10-15, 15-11
Sept. 14, 1985            N             W            15-9, 15-6, 15-7
Oct. 4, 1985                 H             W            15-10, 8-15, 15-5, 15-10
Oct. 31, 1986              A             L              15-11, 8-15, 12-15, 8-15
Oct. 15, 1988              H             L              4-15, 16-18, 12-15
Dec. 2, 2011                H             L              18-25, 21-25, 19-25
Sept. 23, 2012            H             L              23-25, 26-24, 18-25, 25-20, 12-15
Oct. 14, 2012              A             L              11-25, 22-25, 19-25
Nov. 22, 2013             A             L              24-26, 23-25, 24-26
Oct. 5, 2014                 A             L              20-25, 26-28, 28-30
Oct. 26, 2014              H             W            25-22, 26-24, 17-25, 25-16
Oct. 30, 2015              A             W            30-28, 14-25, 25-23, 26-24
Nov. 18, 2015             H             W            25-23, 25-19, 26-24
Nov. 20, 2016             A             L              18-25, 25-23, 21-25, 26-28

TEXAS A&M PLAYER NOTES

The match against Kentucky will mark senior libero Amy Nettles' 100th match of her career.
Nettles leads the Aggies and is 10th in the SEC with 3.61 digs per set for the full season and is ninth in the league with 3.88 digs per set in SEC matches only.
Nettles, who had a team-high seven digs against Mississippi State to give her 1,281 digs for her career and move her into a tie for eighth place with Kristie Smedsrud (1994-97) in the A&M career records, needs only one dig to move into a tie for seventh place with Suzy Wente, who had 1,262 digs from 1992-95.
Nettles has appeared in a school-record 321 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 obliterated 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 3.56 digs per set for her career.
Sophomore outside hitter Hollann Hans, who was named SEC Player of the Week for the first time in her career last week, leads the Aggies and is third in the SEC with 0.46 aces per set and fourth with 3.93 kills and 4.56 points per set for the full season.
In SEC matches only, Hans is fourth in the league with 3.82 kills per set and fifth with 0.41 aces and 4.35 points per set.
Hans, who has led or tied for the team lead in points in eight matches and in kills in seven matches, had career highs of 32.5 points and 28 kills while hitting .328 against No. 5 Penn State. Her 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.
Freshman lefty Camille Conner, one of the top 14 setters in the nation according to FloVolleyball, was named the SEC Co-Setter of Week for the first time in her career last week after directing the Aggie offens e to a season-high .379 hitting percentage at Georgia.
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.
Three freshmen—Conner, middle blocker Makena Patterson and opposite/outside hitter Samantha Sanders—have been mainstays in the Aggies' lineup. Conner has started every match and played in every set. Patterson appeared in 11 of 12 matches and started 10, and Sanders has played in 11 matches overall, drawing six starts while seeing action at both the opposite and outside hitter positions.
Freshman middle blocker Morgan Davis got her first career start against Mississippi State and responded with a match-high seven blocks to equal the most blocks by an A&M player this season and the most in a three-set match this season.

TEXAS A&M TEAM 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.
Five 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. A&M also fell to No. 1 Florida, 3-1, in Gainesville.
A&M is 4-4 in 3-set matches, 1-2 in 4-set matches and 0-1 in 5-set matches.
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 514-244 in her A&M career and 614-350 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 the couple was hired in 1993.
Laurie has served as head coach of the USA Volleyball Women's Junior National Team each of the last two summers. This past summer, she coached the team that included Kentucky's Gabby Curry and Leah Edmond at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's U20 World Championship in Boca del Rio and Cordoba, Mexico.

KENTUCKY QUICK HITS

Kentucky (14-2, 5-0 SEC) enters the match against the Aggies riding a nine-match winning streak.
The Wildcats are 8-0 at Memorial Coliseum this season.
Kentucky's only two loses were 3-0 setbacks at then-No. 7 Creighton on Sept. 1 and at then-No. 7 Kansas on Sept. 4.
Kentucky leads the SEC with 14.90 kills and a .325 hitting percentage, ranking third and fourth in the nation, respectively.
The Wildcats also lead the SEC and are 13th in the country with 13.53 assists per set, with freshman setter Madison Lilley averaging a league-best 11.90 assists, ranking seventh in the nation.
Sophomore outside hitter Leah Edmond was named both the SEC Player of the Week and the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, and Lilley was named the SEC Setter of the Week on Monday after leading the Wildcats to 3-1 home victories against both Alabama and Auburn.
The match against the Aggies concludes a three-match homestand as the Wildcats hit the road to take on No. 1-ranked and currently undefeated Florida on Sunday.
Craig Skinner is 287-111 in his 13-year head coaching career, all at Kentucky.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

A&M kicks off a five-match homestand beginning Sunday, Oct. 15 against Auburn.
The match against the Tigers begins at 1:30 p.m. at Reed Arena and will be the Aggies' annual Dig Pink match. Admission is only $3 for all fans who wear pink to the match in support of breast cancer awareness.

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.