#16 Texas A&M Tops UTEP in Three Straight Sets

  0 Eli Noblitt | September 12th, 2016 | College - Women's Indoor, Division I Mid-Major, News, SEC

MATCH STATS

RECAP

The Texas A&M Aggies won their third consecutive match in the Borderland Invitational to clench the tournament title. While the scoreline in the second set was close, the Aggies led the Miners in every statistic category—points, kills, blocks, assists, and digs—except for aces. Each team collected 3 service aces.

The Aggies had a team hitting percentage of .241 and racked up 46 total kills. The Miners finished the match with a .038 hitting percentage and collected 29 kills. The offensive leader for Texas A&M was Hollann Hans with 12 kills. Aggies Kaitlyn Blake and Jazzmin Babers were close behind with 9 and 8 kills, respectively. Stephanie Aiple led Texas A&M with 23 assists. For UTEP, the standout offensive players were Lindsey Larson with 8 kills and Amanda King with 15 assists.

On defense, Blake totaled 9 blocks for the Aggies and Amy Nettles had 11 digs. UTEP’s top blockers were Larson and Kylie Baumgartner, who each had 4. Sarah Villa led the match in digs with 18.

Texas A&M’s next match is a tall order, as the travel to Austin, Texas, to take on the No. 3-ranked Texas Longhorns. UTEP will face Samford on Friday at the UTA Invitational in Arlington, Texas.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics:

EL PASO, Texas – No. 16 Texas A&M capped a 3-0 weekend at the Borderland Invitational by defeating UTEP, 25-16, 26-24, 25-15, today at Memorial Gym.

Texas A&M, which swept both Arizona and tournament co-host New Mexico State on Friday in Las Cruces, N.M., extended its win streak to four and improved to 6-3 overall. UTEP, playing its home opener, falls to 2-6.

The Aggies held a 9-7 lead in the opening set before UTEP scored five consecutive points to take its first lead since 1-0. After an A&M timeout, junior outside hitter Kiara McGee ended the Miners’ rally with a kill. UTEP got an out-of-system kill on the next play to put the Miners ahead, 13-10, before sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake sparked the Aggies, getting two kills and teaming with junior opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor for two blocks during a six-point A&M rally. The Aggies, who outhit the Miners .289 to .028 in the frame, led the remainder of the set.

With Texas A&M up, 18-15, freshman outside hitter Hollann Hans, junior setter Stephanie Aiple and senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers connected on consecutive kills during a 5-0 run that put the Aggies ahead, 23-15. Although a serve into the net ended the streak, Hans quickly put A&M at set-point with her fifth kill. Babers then ended the set, strategically tipping the ball to the open sideline for a kill.

Senior setter Kaysie Shebeneck made her first appearance of the season, starting the second set and directing the Aggies to a 13-8 lead, forcing UTEP to call a timeout. A&M committed three consecutive errors coming out of the timeout, and the Miners eventually tied the score at 13-13. A combined block by McGee and Blake and a service ace by sophomore defensive specialist Amy Houser put the Aggies up, 15-13, but the Miners tied the score at 15-15. Freshman outside hitter Kiana Peroff kept the score in favor of the Aggies with a kill down the line, but UTEP countered with a kill and A&M followed with four consecutive hitting errors to put the Miners up, 20-16. Hans then had thee kills—two courtesy of UTEP overpasses—during a 4-0 spurt that tied the score at 20-20. The teams exchanged points until back-to-back kills by Babers put A&M ahead, 23-21. UTEP came back to tie the score on an A&M block error and attack error before Babers got a kill through the Miners’ block to put the Aggies at set point. UTEP stayed alive and tied the score for the 13th time in the frame with a kill before Blake and McGee teamed for a block and Hans got a kill to end the set, giving Texas A&M a 2-0 lead in the match.

Texas A&M never trailed in the third set. UTEP managed to tie the score only once, 7-7, before the Aggies went on 8-1 run to go up 15-8. The Miners got within 15-11 following a three-point rally but were able to overcome the deficit.

Setter Lexi Lopez made her official Texas A&M career debut in the third set, subbing in for Aiple at 17-11. The freshman from Austin, Texas, stepped to the service line and served an ace on her first play in the maroon and white and then set up Blake for a kill to put the Aggies ahead, 19-11. The Miners registered a kill before Blake recorded back-to-back kills and teamed with Reasor for a block to give A&M a double-digit lead, 22-12. UTEP got a kill before Blake put down her sixth kill of the set to put the Aggies ahead, 23-13. A UTEP attack error put the Aggies at match point, but A&M hit into the Miners’ block on the ensuing play. UTEP fought off a second match point with a kill before freshman middle blocker Maddie Douglas, who also made her A&M career debut in the final set, got her first kill to complete the sweep.

Texas A&M outhit UTEP .464 to .000 in the final frame and .241 to .038 for the match. Hans led all players with 12 kills and added a personal-best six digs. Blake, who entered the weekend ranked 15th in the nation with 1.57 blocks per set, tallied nine blocks to finish with a 2.44 blocks per set average in the three tournament matches. Texas A&M junior libero Amy Nettles took team-high honors in digs with 11.

Lindsey Larson led the Miners with eight kills but was held to a .000 hitting efficiency.

Texas A&M closes out its pre-conference season next week with back-to-back top-five opponents. The Aggies renew their rivalry with former conference foe Texas on Wednesday, taking on the No. 3 Longhorns on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Gregory Gym. It marks the first regular season match-up between the two teams since Texas A&M left the Big 12 Conference following the 2011 season. The match will be televised on the Longhorn Network.

After playing their first 10 matches away from home, the Aggies finally make their Reed Arena season debut Friday, Sept. 16 as they play host to No. 2 Wisconsin. First serve is slated for 4 p.m.

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.

Texas A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli quotes:

On overall thoughts of the tournament…
“It was a really rewarding weekend for us. I think we made some progress in several areas: our serving, our mental toughness. Today we got in some freshmen for their first career kill for [Maddie] Douglas, and first career ace for [Lexi] Lopez. That was really fun. We are really just trying to focus on some things on our side of the net. We are focused on our first touches, anything that comes on our side of the net goes to our target with the right pace and with the right height so that we can do our stuff on offense. I think we are getting closer, but we are certainly not there yet. These kinds of matches really help you see some weaknesses and some areas that we really have to get better at, such as blocking and just general assignments. But overall, I am really excited we went 3-0 this weekend.”

On the upcoming week in which Texas A&M plays at No. 3 Texas and hosts No. 2 Wisconsin…
“The upcoming week maybe one of the toughest weeks of all my career, to play two top-five teams. They are definitely two of the best teams in the country. How exciting. I love playing those kinds of matches. I think it’s the way you get better. It’s the way you learn to compete harder. It’s figuring out how to win. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m sure the atmosphere for both matches is just going to be one of the best. I think they are marquee matches for the week for the country and women’s collegiate volleyball, so it’s going to be fun to be a part of that.”

Courtesy of UTEP Athletics:

EL PASO, Texas – The UTEP volleyball team dropped its first two home matches of the season Saturday in Memorial Gym.

The Miners fell to No. 16 Texas A&M, 0-3 (16-24, 24-26, 15-25), in the first match of the day and lost to Sacramento State, 0-3 (22-25, 13-25, 16-25) in the evening.

Against the Aggies, Lindsey Larson led the team with eight kills while contributing 10 assists, four blocks, three digs and service ace. Amanda King topped the Miners with 15 assists and added two digs while Sarah Villa totaled a team-best 18 digs.

Macey Austin and Ashley Grzebeniak were also contributors to the offense with six kills each and Kylie Baumgartner aided the defense with four blocks.

The Orange and Blue scored the first point with a powerful block by Baumgartner and Austin, which set the tone for the first half of the opening stanza. The teams went point-for-point until Texas A&M went off on a 15-3 run to claim the frame, 25-16. The second period saw 13 tie scores and six lead changes but the Aggies claimed a 2-0 match lead with a 26-24 victory before the intermission. After regrouping, UTEP was unable to keep up with A&M’s momentum and dropped the third set, 15-25.

Austin, Larson and Baumgartner notched six kills a-piece in the evening match against Sacramento State while Briana Arellano recorded five kills. Larson added another double-double to her list with 10 assists and 11 digs and Amanda King had a total of 10 assists and five digs.

The defense, however, was paced by Villa with 24 digs, which puts her fourth in the UTEP record book for most digs in a three-set match. Arellano was a force on the offense and defense, adding 10 digs and five kills.

The first stanza saw eight tie scores and three lead changes. The score was knotted at 22’s before the Hornets scored three-consecutive points to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Miners were leading, 8-7, early in the second frame but Sacramento State became unstoppable, allowing the Miners to score only five more points in the set. The Hornets carried the rhythm into the third period to take a quick 25-16 win in the stanza and a 3-0 match win over the Miners.

UTEP will be on the road next weekend as it prepares for the UT-Arlington Invitational. The Orange and Blue will open the tournament against Samford on Friday, Sept. 16 at 3 p.m. (MT) and will face another double-header the following day, beginning with New Mexico at 1 p.m. (MT) and will close out the weekend’s action against the tournament host, UT-Arlington at 6 p.m. (MT).

Leave a Reply

avatar

Don't want to miss anything?

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our latest updates!