Volleyball Defeats Lipscomb, 3-1

Friday, September 8

Madison, Wis.

6 p.m.

Texas A&M

3-2

Lipscomb

4-4

Lipscomb

Texas A&M

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Sep 08, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (A&M 3, Lipscomb 1)

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

MADISON, Wis. – Texas A&M got back on track after dropping the opening set against a scrappy Lipscomb team, defeating the Bisons, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-20, in the Aggies' opening match in the HotelRed Invitational at UW Field House.

The first set was a closely contested battle with neither team gaining more than a three-point advantage. Lipscomb, which outhit A&M, .300 to .270 in the frame, was first to open up a three-point lead, going up 13-10 following back-to-back kills. The Bisons continued to lead, 14-12, before consecutive kills by senior outside hitter Kiara McGee began a 6-1 run by the Aggies to give A&M an 18-15 lead. Lipscomb ended the run with two kills to get within 18-17 before Aggie freshman opposite hitter Samantha Sanders got a kill and then teamed with junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake for a huge stuff block against the Bisons' kill leader, Carlyle Nusbaum as the Aggies equaled their largest lead, 20-17.

Lipscomb, which is receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll and has won the Atlantic Sun Conference to advance to the NCAA tournament each of the last three years, called a timeout and quickly regrouped, as they got two kills coming out of the timeout to get within 20-19. Blake kept the Aggies in the lead with a kill, and A&M appeared to have also won the next point on a kill, but Lipscomb won a challenge to get within 21-20. A&M then hit long to even the score, forcing A&M to call its first timeout. Sanders then went crosscourt for the kill to put A&M up, 22-21, before Lipscomb reeled off four unanswered points to close out the 25-22 victory.

The Bisons jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the second set, forcing A&M coach Laurie Corbelli to call an early timeout. The Aggies caught fire following the timeout and went on an 11-2 run to go up, 15-11. Lipscomb used its first timeout and rallied to get within 15-14, but McGee tooled the block for a kill to keep the Aggies in the lead and then teamed with Blake to stuff block Nusbaum.

Nusbaum, who entered the weekend ranked in the top 10 in the nation in both kills and points per set, hit long to put the Aggies ahead, 18-14, and Lipscomb used its final timeout. The Aggies committed a service error following the timeout, but sophomore outside hitter Hollann Hans returned serve to A&M with a kill. It was the start of a 4-1 run by the Aggies, who took a 22-16 lead on another kill by Hans. Lipscomb, which was held to a .000 hitting efficiency while A&M hit .296, ended the run with a kill but it would be the Bisons' final point. The Bisons' next attack attempt sailed long, and Sanders put A&M at set point with an ace. Sophomore setter Camille Conner then got a kill to close out the 25-17 victory and even the match at a set apiece.

Lipscomb built its largest lead of the third set at 10-6 before A&M mounted a comeback. Hans got a kill that began a 7-2 run that put the Aggies ahead, 13-12. Lipscomb would twice tie the score before Sanders got a kill down the line that began a 3-0 run by A&M.

No lead was safe in the back-and-forth third set that saw 11 ties and six lead changes. Lipscomb, which had called timeout after trailing 17-14, used a 7-2 run to surge to a 21-19 lead. Conner and freshman middle blocker Makena Patterson ended a Bison 4-0 rally with a block, and Nusbaum hit into the net to tie the score, 21-21. Blake regained the lead for the Aggies with a kill, but Nusbaum powered a kill down the block to tie the score for the final time, 22-22. Hans recorded one of her five kills in the frame to put A&M up, 23-22, before the Bisons committed back-to-back attack errors to close out the set.

A&M used a 4-0 run to break away from a 3-3 tie early in the fourth stanza, and the Aggies would hold a lead for the remainder of the set. A block by Hans and Patterson gave A&M its largest lead at 19-12. Lipscomb, which was outhit, .367 to .088, could get no closer than four points before Hans clinched the victory when her off-speed shot fell in for the match-ending kill.

Hans led all players with 19 kills. McGee added 10 kills and also tied for team-high honors in digs with 13 to record her first double-double of the season. Sanders also reached double-figure kills, posting a career-high 10 kills without an error to finish with a .526 hitting efficiency and leading the Aggies to a .308 team hitting percentage.

Patterson finished with a match-high six blocks, propelling the Aggies to a 10-4 lead in team blocks. Senior libero Amy Nettles tied for team-high honors in digs with 13, moving her into a tie for 12^th place in the A&M career records with 1,171 career digs.

Conner dished out 43 assists in the win and also added five kills, eight digs and two aces as the Aggies improve to 3-2.

Lipscomb, which falls to 4-4, was led by Nusbaum's 17 kills, but the junior outside hitter was held to a .034 hitting efficiency.

The Aggies close out the tournament Saturday against sixth-ranked Wisconsin at 7 p.m. The Badgers improved to 6-0 on the season with a sweep against Lipscomb on Friday.

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.

POSTMATCH QUOTES:

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH LAURIE CORBELLI

On the difference between first set and next three…
"I thought we started off a little apprehensive. We knew what kind of a team they are and how they just come at you really hard, and they make you play really disciplined volleyball, especially at the net on the block. I think we just had to take some time to adjust to that and not let it frustrate us. It really can get frustrating, and so when we settled down and got into a little bit more of a rhythm and we started to see where we were having success and what we needed to slow down from them, the team made some great adjustments. I was a little unhappy with our serving near the end, because we started missing at some pretty critical times. Luckily we were enough points ahead that it didn't hurt too much. At least we are really trying to go aggressive. We have really been upgrading our serving during practices, and so hopefully that is going to start showing, but we will probably take some hits in there."

On the three players posting double-figures kills…
"We had a phenomenal performance from [Samantha] Sanders. She just has no fear and gets good position and has a really difficult swing to read. I thought Kiara [McGee] had a really nice match and a balanced match with her passing, defense, back row attacking, front row attacking—she did the whole thing. That's been one of her big goals, to put it all together for a match. Hollann [Hans] started off hitting .000 with five kills and five errors in the first set, and she made a complete turnaround, which she has really been known to do. We always trust that she will be able to come back and get her game going. We typically have a little more balance in our offense than we did tonight, but it was necessary for us to go up and beat a lot of those balls. Our ball handling was okay; it wasn't great tonight. That usually prevents us from using the middles as much as we really would like to."

On facing No. 6 Wisconsin tomorrow…
"It's going to be a blast. It's a sellout. It's a great Wisconsin team, a very disciplined team, at home. We just have to really come at them. We had a team come at us hard tonight. My team knows what that's supposed to look like. So we are really hoping that we can really come at them and give it our best shot and just play Aggie Volleyball right off the bat, and I think good things can happen."