- Texas A&M upset Stanford in the Shriners Children's Showdown at the Net, 3-1.
- The Maroon & White’s offense fired on all cylinders, as the group hit at a season-high percent of .344 as a unit.
- Kyndal Stowers led the group with 15 kills, while three other Aggies eclipsed double digits.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The No. 19 Texas A&M volleyball team upset No. 4 Stanford, downing the Cardinal in four sets at the Shriners Children's Showdown at the Net ACC/SEC Challenge Wednesday evening at the State Farm Field House, 3-1 (25-23, 25-13, 21-25, 25-19).
Kyndal Stowers led a strong offensive attack, tallying 15 kills, while also adding 11 digs. As a team, the Aggies finished the night hitting at an impressive .344 clip and racked up a season-high seven aces. The victory marked the third over a top-five team in the regular season during the Jamie Morrison era.
Texas A&M (4-4) set the tone early, but the Cardinal hung around and eventually tied things at 15-all with three straight points out of the media timeout. The Aggies responded after a kill from Eliza Sharp and a huge block from Sharp and Natalie Ring to take an 18-16 lead and force a Stanford (4-1) timeout. Play remained the close the rest of the way, but a pair of late kills from Stowers sealed the 25-23 opening set win for the Maroon & White.
The Aggies carried the momentum into the second set, dominating from the start. After jumping out to a 6-1 lead and forcing Stanford to regroup early, Texas A&M didn’t take its foot off the gas and cruised to a 15-5 advantage at the media timeout. The Cardinal responded with four straight points, but the Aggies used a 7-2 run to secure the second set, 25-13.
Stanford got on the board in set three, stringing together seven-straight points following the media timeout to go up 18-15 and force the Aggies to call a timeout of their own. The Cardinal scored four of the final six points of the set to take the 25-21 win.
After six ties early in the fourth set, Texas A&M strung together five straight points to pull away around the midway point. The Aggies put things away scoring the final four points of the set to secure the match with a 25-19 victory.
Stat Leaders
Kills – Kyndal Stowers – 15
Hitting Percentage (Min. 10 kills) – Taryn Morris – .550
Assists – Kirra Musgrove – 44
Aces – Gabi Rodriguez – 4
Digs – Kyndal Stowers – 11
Blocks – Eliza Sharp – 4
Player Notes
- Extended her double-digit dig streak to six games with 10 on the night.
- Set a new career high for aces with four.
- Matched career best five assists.
#6 Taryn Morris
- Equaled career high with 12 kills.
- Recorded her third-career game with 10-or-more kills.
- Set a new career best hitting percentage of .550.
#14 Kirra Musgrove
- Logged a career-high 44 assists and 11 digs.
- Recorded first career double-double.
#17 Natalie Ring
- Tallied 10 kills on the night, her sixth time in double digits this year.
#19 Kaia Castle
- Hit at a season-high clip of .700 percent with seven kills.
#25 Eliza Sharp
- Recorded a season-high 13 kills, marking her fourth game over 10 this season.
#37 Kyndal Stowers
- Tallied her third-straight game with double-digit kills (10).
- Logged 11 digs to secure her second-consecutive double-double.
Team Notes
- Set a new season high with seven aces.
- Hit at a season-best .344 percent.
- The victory marked the second over Stanford all-time.
- The top-five win marks the third in the regular season of Head Coach Jamie Morrison’s tenure.
Next Up
The Aggies return home to close out the week with a Friday night showdown against No. 6 Wisconsin at Reed Arena. Tickets for the 7 p.m. match are available here.