Saturday, September 1
State College, Pa.
11 a.m.
Texas A&M
4-1
3
vs
0
Temple
1-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temple | 18 | 24 | 17 | 0 |
| Texas A&M | 25 | 26 | 25 | 3 |
Photo by: Kirk Irwin
A&M Sweeps Temple to Improve to 4-1
Sep 01, 2018 | Volleyball
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Texas A&M improved to 4-1 with a 25-18, 26-24, 25-17 sweep over Temple at the Penn State Invitational at Rec Hall.
Aggie junior outside hitter Hollann Hans had a match-high 18 kills while hitting .484, and junior outside hitter Brookah Palmer added 11 kills while hitting at a .474 clip.
Sophomore setter Camille Conner directed the A&M offense to a .314 to .147 advantage in hitting percentage and recorded 37 assists. A&M senior libero Amy Houser led all players with 12 digs, and Aggie freshman middle blocker Mallory Talbert had a match-high four blocks and added eight kills as A&M recorded 50 kills to Temple's 29 and outblocked the Owls, 6-3.
Dana Westfield led Temple (1-4) with 11 kills.
SET-BY-SET SUMMARIES
Set 1 – Texas A&M held a 15-14 lead before using 7-0 run to distance itself from the Owls. Temple countered with a 3-0 run to get within 22-17 before Palmer put down her seventh kill. An A&M attack error returned the serve to Temple, but Palmer teamed with freshman middle blocker London Austin-Roark to put the Aggies at set point, 24-18. Temple, which had only five kills to A&M's 17 and hit .000, hit wide on the ensuing play to end the set.
Set 2 – Temple never trailed during the first half of the set and used a 4-0 run to build its largest lead of the match at 16-12. The teams exchanged points before Hans and Talbert had back-to-back kills to start a 4-0 run that knotted the score, 19-19. The Owls scored twice coming out of a timeout to go up 21-19 before Hans got a kill and sophomore opposite hitter Morgan Davis teamed with Talbert for consecutive blocks to give A&M its first lead of the set, 22-21. Temple, which was outhit .419 to .294, answered with a kill, but Hans countered with two of her seven kills in the stanza to put the Aggies at set point, 24-22. Temple fought off two set points and tied the score at 24-24 before Palmer had back-to-back kills to end the set and give the Maroon and White a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set 3 – Temple scored the first point, but A&M reeled off six unanswered points to take a lead it would not lose. The Owls later got within 10-9, but Conner had one of her six kills of the match to keep the Aggies in the lead. Temple, which was outhit, .375 to .138 in the frame, was within 17-15 before Conner had a dump kill that began a 4-0 spurt for the Aggies. The teams then traded points, with Davis registering a kill to put A&M at match point, 24-17. Aggie freshman defensive specialist Taylor Voss subbed into the back row and served the first ace of her career to complete the sweep.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M takes on the sixth-ranked and undefeated Nittany Lions at 8 p.m. (7 CT), with the winner capturing the tournament championship.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Laura "Bird" Kuhn
On her general thoughts on the match…
"We executed again fairly well. We need to slow down their outsides. When they have pin hitters that we know are their go-to's, we need to be a little better at executing that. Overall though, our offense, we got going a little bit in transition again, which is what we need and we've talked about it a ton. We need to be sharp. We had lulls here and there, but overall again we executed at what we wanted them to do and focus on."
On the pin hitters hitting at a high percentage…
"That was really good for them. That comes with our balance. Camille [Conner] was active on second balls today. We knew we had to disrupt them, just their defensive system, and attack them, so we were trying to be fast in transition and move our pins around. I was proud of our pins for executing that."
On playing for the championship against No. 6 Penn State this evening…
"It is going to come down to the first contact and execution. We'll have a game plan ready and it really is going to [come down to] playing clean and playing our side of the ball. I'm excited. We are here to compete and win those championships and fight for them. It's going to be a good team. All of these teams have been solid, so it is really going to come down to execution."
On facing legendary coach Russ Rose, who is in his 40th season as head coach at Penn State…
"I was actually thinking about that yesterday a little bit. It is kind of cool to be at this tournament and him be celebrating [his 40th season] and all his alumni and boosters are back. It will be special. I'm happy to be a part of it. It's exciting and it is unique and ironic that I'm in my first year and he is in his 40th. It will be fun. You can learn anything from a lot of different coaches, but it is kind of cool to be here for that."
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.
Aggie junior outside hitter Hollann Hans had a match-high 18 kills while hitting .484, and junior outside hitter Brookah Palmer added 11 kills while hitting at a .474 clip.
Sophomore setter Camille Conner directed the A&M offense to a .314 to .147 advantage in hitting percentage and recorded 37 assists. A&M senior libero Amy Houser led all players with 12 digs, and Aggie freshman middle blocker Mallory Talbert had a match-high four blocks and added eight kills as A&M recorded 50 kills to Temple's 29 and outblocked the Owls, 6-3.
Dana Westfield led Temple (1-4) with 11 kills.
SET-BY-SET SUMMARIES
Set 1 – Texas A&M held a 15-14 lead before using 7-0 run to distance itself from the Owls. Temple countered with a 3-0 run to get within 22-17 before Palmer put down her seventh kill. An A&M attack error returned the serve to Temple, but Palmer teamed with freshman middle blocker London Austin-Roark to put the Aggies at set point, 24-18. Temple, which had only five kills to A&M's 17 and hit .000, hit wide on the ensuing play to end the set.
Set 2 – Temple never trailed during the first half of the set and used a 4-0 run to build its largest lead of the match at 16-12. The teams exchanged points before Hans and Talbert had back-to-back kills to start a 4-0 run that knotted the score, 19-19. The Owls scored twice coming out of a timeout to go up 21-19 before Hans got a kill and sophomore opposite hitter Morgan Davis teamed with Talbert for consecutive blocks to give A&M its first lead of the set, 22-21. Temple, which was outhit .419 to .294, answered with a kill, but Hans countered with two of her seven kills in the stanza to put the Aggies at set point, 24-22. Temple fought off two set points and tied the score at 24-24 before Palmer had back-to-back kills to end the set and give the Maroon and White a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set 3 – Temple scored the first point, but A&M reeled off six unanswered points to take a lead it would not lose. The Owls later got within 10-9, but Conner had one of her six kills of the match to keep the Aggies in the lead. Temple, which was outhit, .375 to .138 in the frame, was within 17-15 before Conner had a dump kill that began a 4-0 spurt for the Aggies. The teams then traded points, with Davis registering a kill to put A&M at match point, 24-17. Aggie freshman defensive specialist Taylor Voss subbed into the back row and served the first ace of her career to complete the sweep.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M takes on the sixth-ranked and undefeated Nittany Lions at 8 p.m. (7 CT), with the winner capturing the tournament championship.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Laura "Bird" Kuhn
On her general thoughts on the match…
"We executed again fairly well. We need to slow down their outsides. When they have pin hitters that we know are their go-to's, we need to be a little better at executing that. Overall though, our offense, we got going a little bit in transition again, which is what we need and we've talked about it a ton. We need to be sharp. We had lulls here and there, but overall again we executed at what we wanted them to do and focus on."
On the pin hitters hitting at a high percentage…
"That was really good for them. That comes with our balance. Camille [Conner] was active on second balls today. We knew we had to disrupt them, just their defensive system, and attack them, so we were trying to be fast in transition and move our pins around. I was proud of our pins for executing that."
On playing for the championship against No. 6 Penn State this evening…
"It is going to come down to the first contact and execution. We'll have a game plan ready and it really is going to [come down to] playing clean and playing our side of the ball. I'm excited. We are here to compete and win those championships and fight for them. It's going to be a good team. All of these teams have been solid, so it is really going to come down to execution."
On facing legendary coach Russ Rose, who is in his 40th season as head coach at Penn State…
"I was actually thinking about that yesterday a little bit. It is kind of cool to be at this tournament and him be celebrating [his 40th season] and all his alumni and boosters are back. It will be special. I'm happy to be a part of it. It's exciting and it is unique and ironic that I'm in my first year and he is in his 40th. It will be fun. You can learn anything from a lot of different coaches, but it is kind of cool to be here for that."
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.
Coach @Bird_AggieVB recaps sweep vs. Temple, talks about the pin hitters' hitting high percentage, playing for championship tonight and facing legendary coach Russ Rose.#OwnIt @GigEm pic.twitter.com/7P24nqFvGq
— Texas A&M Volleyball (@AggieVolleyball) September 1, 2018
Team Stats
TEM
TAMU
Kills
29
50
Errors
15
18
Attempts
95
102
Hitting %
.147
.314
Points
34.0
63.0
Assists
25
46
Aces
2
7
Blocks
3.0
6.0
Game Leaders
Kills
18
Aces
3
Blocks
1
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
6
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballS
/ Volleyball
MB/OPP
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ VolleyballMedia Availability: Jamie Morrison
Monday, December 22
Media Availability: Logan Lednicky
Monday, December 22
Media Availability: Ifenna Cos-Okpalla
Monday, December 22
NCAA Championship Postgame: Morrison, Cos-Okpalla, Lednicky, Stowers
Sunday, December 21
