PREVIEW: Texas A&M Heads to Georgia to Take on Bulldogs

Friday, September 29

Athens, Ga.

6 p.m.

Texas A&M

Georgia

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 28, 2017 | Volleyball

Complete Match Notes (PDF)

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

Texas A&M (3-6, 0-2 SEC) vs. Georgia (11-4, 1-1 SEC)
Friday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT)
Ramsey Center, Athens, Georgia

Digital video: SEC Network + (WatchESPN)
Stats: 12thMan.com/live
Twitter Updates: @AggieVolleyball

COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Texas A&M (3-6, 0-2 SEC) is on the road for the next two matches, starting with a meeting with the Georgia Bulldogs (11-4, 1-1 SEC) on Friday in Athens. First serve is at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. CT) at the Ramsey Center, and the match will be digitally streamed on SEC Network +, available via the WatchESPN app.

The Aggies, 7-0 against the Bulldogs since joining the SEC and the winners in the last nine meetings overall, are looking to end a four-match losing skid and are aiming for their first SEC victory of the season after opening conference play with losses to both LSU and defending co-champion Missouri. Most recently, A&M, which has the No. 1 strength of schedule in the nation, won the opening set against Missouri but fell to the Tigers, 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-12, 25-22), Sunday at Reed Arena.

Led by SEC Freshman of the Week T'ara Ceasar and under the direction of first-year head coach Tom Black, much-improved Georgia opened SEC play with a sweep against Alabama to equal the Bulldogs' total number of conference wins last season. Georgia, whose meeting against the Aggies concludes a five-match homestand, most recently dropped a 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-16) decision to Auburn on Sunday.

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. Georgia, which has finished last in the league each of the last two years under previous head coach Lizzy Stemke, is picked to place 11th.

A&M-GEORGIA ALL-TIME SERIES

A&M leads Georgia, 14-3, in the all-time series which began in 1982.
A&M is 5-1 against the Bulldogs in matches played in Athens.
The Aggies have won the last nine meetings, including all seven meetings as SEC foes.
Although A&M owns a lopsided lead in the SEC series, four of the seven conference meetings have been decided in five sets, including all three SEC match-ups at the Ramsey Center.
In last year's meeting in Athens, A&M escaped with a 20-25, 25-17, 21-25, 26-24, 15-7 victory on Oct. 21.
In A&M's most recent visit to the Ramsey Center, the Aggies hit .392, an all-time school record for hitting percentage in a five-set match, as Laurie Corbelli picked up her 500th victory as head coach of the Aggies and the 600th victory of her 24-year head coaching career.
A&M completed last year's season series sweep when the Bulldogs came to Reed Arena on Nov. 13. Then-Aggie freshman outside hitter Hollann Hans recorded a team-high 12 kills without an error to lead the Aggies to the 25-20, 25-20, 25-16 victory. Opposite Ashlie Reasor joined Hans in double-figure kills with 10 while hitting at a .350 clip. The Aggie defense held Georgia to a .178 hitting percentage, with libero Amy Nettles tallying a match-high 11 digs. Middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake led A&M to an 11-5 lead in team blocks, posting a match-high six stops. Amanda Dachs led Georgia with a match-high 13 kills.
Georgia's most recent victory over the Aggies was in 1994, when the 19th-ranked Bulldogs defeated A&M, 3-1 (15-11, 7-15, 15-7, 15-6) in a nonconference match at G. Rollie White Coliseum in College Station, Texas.

TEXAS A&M IN THE SEC

Texas A&M is 70-24 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 34-13 all-time in SEC away matches and 36-11 all-time in SEC home matches.
Texas A&M will play its 100th SEC match on Oct. 20 against Arkansas at Reed Arena.
This is the third consecutive year the Aggies have lost their SEC opener, but this is the first time A&M has dropped its first two SEC matches of the season.
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-match opponents are LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama.
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.
The Aggies won the SEC championship in 2015 to claim the first conference volleyball title in school history.

TEXAS A&M NOTES

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, although she did start on the left side against LSU while Kiara McGee was out for medical reasons.
Conner, the MVP of the season-opening Texas A&M Invitational, entered the week as 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.
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 fourth in the SEC in kills (4.19) and points (4.81) per set. She also leads the team and is fifth in the SEC with 0.45 aces 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.
Hans had 20 kills against Missouri, marking the second time this season and the third time in her career she has reached the 20-kill milestone.
Junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake leads the Aggies with a .311 hitting efficiency.
Sophomore middle blocker Maddie Douglas drew the first start of her career against Missouri and posted career highs in kills (6), attempts (14), aces (2) and points (11), as well as a personal-best and team-high five blocks.
Senior libero Amy Nettles, who leads the Aggies and is eighth in the SEC with 3.71 digs per set, has 1,228 digs for her career. She needs only five 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 311 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 3.57 digs per set for her career.
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.
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.
A&M is 2-4 in 3-set matches, 1-1 in 4-set matches and 0-1 in 5-set matches.
A&M's four-match losing streak is its longest since 2010 when the Aggies suffered six consecutive losses.
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 512-243 in her A&M career and 612-349 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 dropped its SEC home opener on Sunday, falling to Missouri, 21-25, 25-22, 25-12, 25-22, at Reed Arena.
The Aggies, who had won the previous five meetings against the Tigers, were led by outside hitter Hollann Hans, who took match-high honors in kills with 20. Sophomore middle blocker Maddie Douglas, making the first start of her career, had a career-high six kills and also led A&M with a career-high five blocks. Senior libero Amy Nettles led all players with 15 digs, and freshman setter Camille Conner also reached double-figure digs with 13 and completed the second double-double of her career as she also dished out 25 assists.
A&M was outblocked, 13.5-6, and outhit, .259 to .096, as the Aggies hit below .150 for the fourth straight match.

GEORGIA QUICK HITS

Georgia, 11-4 overall, went 1-1 in the opening weekend of SEC play, sweeping Alabama, 25-23, 25-23, 25-20, on Friday and falling to Auburn, 26-24, 25-22, 25-16.
The match against the Aggies concludes a five-match homestand for the Bulldogs, who are 7-1 in home matches.
Freshman T'ara Ceasar collected SEC Freshman of the Week honors for a school-record third time on Monday. The 6-1 outside hitter averaged 3.83 kills per set for the week, posting 16 kills while hitting .400 in the win against Alabama. She ranks fifth in the SEC with 4.17 kills per set for the full season while hitting .288.
Another freshman outside hitter, Rachel Ritchie, leads the Bulldogs and is third in the SEC with 4.27 kills per set for the full season.
Georgia leads the SEC and is 12th in the nation with 1.76 aces per set for the full season, with Ceasar leading the team with 0.50 aces per set.
Tom Black is in his first season as head coach of the Bulldogs. He came to Georgia after spending seven seasons as the head coach at Loyola Marymount.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

A&M concludes a two-match road swing at No. 1-ranked and defending SEC co-champion Florida on Wed., Oct. 4.
First serve is at 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida, and the match will be televised on ESPNU.
The match will mark A&M's fifth match against a top-six opponent.

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.