Match Preview: Penn State Invitational

Friday, August 31

State College, Pa.

4 p.m.

Texas A&M

Indiana

Aug 30, 2018 | Volleyball

Complete match notes (pdf)

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M (2-1) competes in the Penn State Invitational, Friday and Saturday at Rec Hall in State College, Pennsylvania. The Aggies open the tournament against Indiana on Friday at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. ET). A&M faces Temple on Saturday at 11 a.m. (12 p.m. ET) and returns to the court that evening to conclude the tournament against No. 6 Penn State. The match time against the Nittany Lions has been changed to 7 p.m. (8 p.m. ET).

The Aggies went 2-1 during the season opening weekend, defeating Ohio, 3-1, in the first match of Laura "Bird" Kuhn's head coaching career. A&M also dropped its first set against Albany but came back to win 3-1 to improve to 2-0 before suffering a 3-0 loss at Ohio State in a match that determined the Sports Imports D.C. Koehl Classic champion.

Indiana is 3-0 after defeating UNLV, Long Island and Southern Utah to win the UNLV Invitational last weekend. Temple is 1-2 entering it's tournament opener against Penn State, and the Nittany Lions are 3-0 after sweeping the tournament field at the Penn State Classic last weekend.

TEXAS A&M NOTES

Texas A&M returns eight letterwinners from last year's team that went 10-15.
Seven of the returners have starting experience, including junior outside hitter Hollann Hans, a 2018 Preseason All-SEC Team selection, and sophomore setter Camille Conner, who started all 25 matches and played in every set last year.
Hans, named both the SEC Player of the Week and the SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday after earning all-tournament honors at the Sports Imports Classic, leads the SEC and is ranked sixth in the nation with 5.86 points per set. She also leads the SEC and is 10th in the nation with 5.18 kills per set.
Several players made their A&M career debut last weekend, including redshirt junior outside hitter Brookah Palmer, who joined Hans on the all-tournament team after averaging 3.00 kills per set while hitting .304. Palmer, who along with Hans started all three matches, played her freshman year at Houston in 2015, redshirted in 2016 and transferred to A&M in 2017 but had to sit out the year due to NCAA transfer rules.
Freshman middle blocker London Austin-Roark started every match and played in every set last weekend and leads A&M with 0.82 blocks per set.
Others who started all three matches and appeared in every set are sophomore setter Camille Conner, who ranks second in the SEC with 10.91 assists per set, and sophomore middle blocker Makena Patterson.
Team captain Amy Houser, the lone senior on the team, was the libero in every set last weekend. She leads A&M with 3.45 digs per set, and she also is 100 percent in service receptions in 50 attempts.
Freshman defensive specialist Allison Fields drew two starts in the back row and appeared in nine sets overall.
Other newcomers who made their A&M debut include middle blocker/opposite hitter Sydnye Fields, a redshirt-junior transfer from the University of North Carolina, where she was teammates with Penn State graduate transfer Taylor Leath, as well as freshmen Sydney Little and Mallory Talbert.
As a team, A&M is outhitting its opponents, .268 to .155.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
INDIANA

The Hoosiers opened the season by going 3-0 to win the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas. Indiana capped the tournament by sweeping Southern Utah, 3-0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-13).
Redshirt junior outside hitter Kendall Beerman was named MVP of the tournament after averaging 4.18 kills per set over the weekend.
Junior middle blocker Deyshia Lofton, who hit .429 with 2.27 kills per set and also averaged 1.82 blocks per set, and sophomore libero Bayli Lebo, who averaged 3.91 digs per set, also were named to the all-tournament team.
Indiana returns all six starters from last year's team that went 12-20 and finished 13th in the Big Ten with a 1-19 record.
The Hoosiers are picked to finish 12th in the Big Ten according to a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. The Big Ten includes defending national champion and fifth-ranked Nebraska as well as six other teams that are in the Top 25.
Steve Aird (Penn State, 2001), is in his first season as head coach of the Hoosiers. He is 58-74 in the fifth year of his head coaching career.

TEMPLE

The Owls, who face No. 6 Penn State on Friday, went 1-2 on opening weekend, defeating Rhode Island, 3-1, in the season opener, but then falling to LMU, 3-1, and Hofstra, 3-2, at the Hilton Penn's Landing Temple Invitational.
Temple went 20-10 last year, marking the fourth consecutive 20-win season for the Owls. The team qualified for postseason play for the first time in 15 years, advancing to the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
Senior outside hitter Irem Asci and senior middle blocker Iva Deak were unanimous selections on the Preseason All-Conference Team, and sophomore outside hitter Dana Westfield joins them on the preseason team.
Deak and Westfield both were named to the regular season all-conference team last year, while Asci, a two-time first-team all-conference selection, missed most of the season with an injury.
Temple, which finished second in the American Athletic Conference with a 15-5 record, is picked to finish third behind Wichita State and Cincinnati this year.
Bakeer Ganesharatnam is 136-79 in the eighth season of his head coaching career, all at Temple.

PENN STATE

The sixth-ranked Nittany Lions are 3-0 and have not dropped a set entering their match against Temple on Friday.
Graduate student and outside hitter Taylor Leath, in her first season with the Nittany Lions after transferring from UNC, was named Penn State Classic Most Valuable Player after averaging a team-leading 3.44 kills per set while hitting .312.
Leath, the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and an AVCA second-team All-American, and junior libero Kendall White, also a second-team All-American, were named to the 2018 Preseason All-Big Ten volleyball team, and the Nittany Lions were picked to finish fourth according to the coaches' poll.
Penn State returns three starters from last year's team that tied Nebraska for the Big Ten Championship and reached the NCAA semifinals before falling to the Huskers to end the season 33-2.
Russ Rose is 1,249-198 in his 40th season as head coach at Penn State, where he has spent his entire coaching career.

SERIES HISTORY
VS. INDIANA

Texas A&M leads the all-time series against Indiana, 3-1, with all four matches being played at neutral sites.
This will be the first meeting since Nov. 18, 1989, when Indiana defeated A&M, 3-1 (11-15, 15-13, 15-11, 15-5) at the Western Michigan Invitational.
The teams first met in Sept. 1983, meeting twice at the Kentucky Tournament. A&M won both matches in straight sets.
A&M went on to win the first three matches in the series against Indiana, defeating the Hoosiers on Sept. 1, 1984, at the Illinois State Invitational.

VS. TEMPLE

Texas A&M won the only prior meeting against Temple, defeating the Owls, 3-1 (15-7, 15-11, 14-16, 15-5) in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Dec. 4, 1998, in Los Angeles.

VS. PENN STATE

Penn State is 4-0 in the all-time series against Texas A&M, including 3-0 at neutral sites.
This is the first time the two teams will be meeting in State College.
The teams met at Reed Arena in College Station last year, with the fifth-ranked Nittany Lions narrowly holding off the Aggies, 3-2 (24-26, 25-19, 25-23, 24-26, 15-12).
Last year was the first time A&M took a set off of Penn State in the all-time series.
Then-Aggie freshman setter Camille Conner, playing her first match against a ranked opponent, tallied the first triple-double of her career with 43 assists, 12 kills and 12 digs while directing a balanced attack that had four players reach double figures in kills.
Then-sophomore Hollann Hans finished with a team-high and career-high 28 kills while hitting .328 for A&M.
Penn State senior All-American outside hitter Simone Lee had a match-high 30 kills, including the match winner.
Penn State narrowly led in kills, 71-68, while outhitting A&M, .325 to .299, to improve to 5-0.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

The Aggies make their home debut at the Texas A&M Invitational, on Thursday, Sept. 6 against Pepperdine at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
The Aggies will play two matches on Friday, taking on Nicholls at 10 a.m. and closing out the tournament against Missouri State at 7 p.m.

Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the team on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram by following @AggieVolleyball.