Volleyball Opens Season with Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic

Friday, August 27

Honolulu, Hawai'i

9:45 PM

Texas A&M

Marquette

Photo by: Kate Luffman/Texas A&M Athletics

Aug 26, 2021 | Volleyball

By: Nick Whitley, Athletics Communications

HONOLULU – Texas A&M volleyball opens its 2021 campaign in the Aloha State of Hawai'i this weekend, as the Maroon & White gear up to take part in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center beginning Friday and concluding Sunday. First serve for the Aggies' 47th competitive season is scheduled for 9:45 p.m. (CT) against the Marquette Golden Eagles on Friday, followed by another 9:45 p.m. (CT) matchup on Saturday against the Fairfield Stags. The tournament concludes on Sunday at 10 p.m. (CT) with a matchup against the tournament host Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine.

Fans in the Hawaiian Islands can tune into the tournament's final match against Hawai'i on Spectrum OC16 with Kanoa Leahey and Lisa Strand on the call. Authenticated subscribers around the world will be able to stream A&M's matchup with the Rainbow Wahine via ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

Entering her fourth season at the helm of Aggie volleyball, head coach Laura "Bird" Kuhn welcomes back 13 players from last year's squad, as well as five returning starters. Fifth-year setter Camille Conner currently sits in the No. 2 position on Texas A&M's assist leaderboard in the 25-point rally scoring era, only 603 dishes away from the record. Kuhn returns a pair of high-volume hitters on the pins in Morgan Christon and Lauren Davis, while the Aggies see both London Austin-Roark and Mallory Talbert return as anchors at the middle blocker position. A&M's defensive backline will be supplemented by the return of Sabrina Sustala, Allison Fields, Taylor Voss and Erica Lowery.

A&M was active in the transfer portal during the offseason, as the program initiates fifth-year libero/defensive specialist Macy Carrabine from Denver as well as junior outside hitter and North Carolina transfer Destiny Cox. Both players will look to make an immediate impact in the Aggie lineup in 2021. The Maroon & White also add a group of four first-year players with the arrivals of Brooke Frazier, Lauren Tam, Nisa Buzlutepe and Faye Wilbricht. Frazier, a native of The Woodlands, Texas, was an early enrollee with the team and began practicing during the spring portion of the 2020-21 season.

Texas A&M was picked to finish seventh in the Southeastern Conference according to the preseason poll of the league's coaches. The Aggies finished with nine victories in the shortened 2020-21 campaign and saw series sweeps of Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss and South Carolina. In season-opening matches, Kuhn is an unblemished 3-0, including a sweep of LSU to open the 2020 slate in Reed Arena last year. A&M has won its season opener in 10 of the last 11 years, with the lone loss coming against No. 2 Stanford in 2015.

Under the direction of eight-year head coach Ryan Theis, the Marquette Golden Eagles arrive on the precipice of the 2021 campaign after being picked second in the Big East preseason poll by the league's coaches, garnering three first-place votes in the process. The program is coming off a 10-4 season in 2020-21 that featured an appearance in the Big East Conference Tournament Championship match. Graduate middle blocker Savannah Rennie and graduate right-side hitter Taylor Wolf were each unanimous selections to the preseason All-Big East team. Texas A&M won its only matchup with Marquette in volleyball in the 2003 season at the Duke Invitational.

The Fairfield Stags prepare to begin their 2021 slate led by veteran head coach Todd Kress, whose squad was picked as the preseason favorite to bring home the MAAC Championship following a poll of the league's coaches. The shortened 2020-21 campaign saw the Stags finish 9-1 overall, cementing the team's 19th conference regular-season title. Fairfield's trio consisting of graduate setter Manuela Nicolini, graduate middle blocker Luci Albertson and junior right-side hitter Joelle Battles were all selections to the Preseason All-MAAC team. The Maroon & White toppled the Stags in the only meeting between the two programs in 2019 at the Texas A&M Invitational.

After a 623-day hiatus from action, the Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine and head coach Robyn Ah Mow return to the courts to defend their 2019 Big West Championship. In a preseason poll of league coaches, the Rainbow Wahine were chosen as the conference favorite, garnering seven first-place votes and 117 total points. Hawai'i also received votes in the preseason AVCA Coaches Poll, which ranks the top-25 collegiate volleyball teams in the nation. The Rainbow Wahine also return three All-Big West honorees in sophomore middle blocker Amber Igiede, senior middle blocker Skyler Williams and redshirt senior outside hitter Brooke Van Sickle. Hawai'i leads the all-time series with A&M by a 7-1 margin, with the Aggies' only victory coming in Honolulu in 1999.

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-aTm-