COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M ran its win streak to eight matches with a dominating 25-11, 25-11, 25-19 victory over Georgia today at Reed Arena.
The Aggies, who never trailed in the match, improve to 17-6 overall and 10-2 in Southeastern Conference matches. A&M also bettered its home record to 10-1 after winning its sixth consecutive SEC home match–all in three-set sweeps–to set a school record for consecutive SEC home victories.
Fifteen A&M players saw action, including freshman outside hitterMargaret Connett, who made her second appearance of her young career and her first appearance at Reed. Despite the constantly changing lineup, A&M hit .402 as a team with 43 kills while holding Georgia to 21 kills and a -.012 hitting efficiency, both season lows by an A&M opponent.
Senior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan paced the Aggies’ attack with 10 kills while hitting at a .692 clip. Defensively, redshirt junior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers moved into eighth place in the A&M all-time career records with 392 total blocks after tallying a match-high six blocks to lead the Aggies to 11-2 advantage. Sophomore libero Amy Nettles took match-high honors in digs with 12 as A&M outdug Georgia, 38-25.
Behind the strong serving of junior defensive specialist Katelyn Labhart, who made her second start of the season, the Aggies went on an 8-0 run to open up a 14-5 first-set lead. A&M continued to pull away with Sullivan and sophomore outside hitter Kiara McGee hitting a combined .769 and finishing the frame with five kills apiece with no errors to lead A&M to a scorching .609 team hitting efficiency.
A&M jumpstarted the second stanza with six unanswered points with junior setter Kaysie Shebeneck starting in place of sophomore Stephanie Aiple, the reigning SEC Player of the Week and three-time SEC Setter of the Week. Georgia was never able to threaten as A&M was a perfect 100 percent in sideout percentage and outhit the Bulldogs .458 to -.200.
A&M took a 10-4 lead to begin the third set and went on to build its largest lead at 19-10 following a 4-0 run that including two kills by Connett. Georgia fought back and got within 21-19 before freshman outside hitter Paige Panter got a kill down the line and teamed with Babers for back-to-back blocks to put the Aggies at match point. Babers paired with Shebeneck on the next play, stuffing the Bulldogs to clinch the victory.
Jasmine Eatmon had five kills to lead Georgia, which falls to 5-19 overall and 0-12 in SEC play.
A&M hits the road next weekend to take on Ole Miss and Mississippi State, Friday and Sunday, respectively. The match against the Rebels is at 6:30 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center in Oxford, Miss., and first serve of the match against the Bulldogs is at 1 p.m. at the Newell-Grissom Building in Starkville, Miss. Both matches will be broadcast on SEC Network +.
A&M has only two home matches remaining: a rematch against league-leader and 21st-ranked Kentucky on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 9 p.m., and against defending champion Florida, Sunday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m. The Florida match also will be the Aggies’ “Senior Day”, and Sullivan and Angela Lowak will be honored following the match.
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 post-match quotes:
Texas A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli:
On getting so many players into the match…
“We told them early we wanted everyone to play today. Not all at once, but we’d try to get everybody in, just deserving to get on the court and get that feeling back for those who haven’t been out there very much. Primarily the younger players, but also the position of (defensive specialist) that has a lot of players competing for spots, and it always feels good for the team to see their teammates get to compete as a reward for their hard work all week. So that was the benefit for a match like this.”
On how the team played together…
“I think our opponent today has had a really rough go on some injuries. Their starting outside hitter and leading scorer blew her knee out a few weeks ago. They’ve had to shuffle lineups, they’ve had to use a lot of young players, and then on the road it is even more difficult. We knew it was going to be a match where we were going to be able to put what we wanted on the floor. We’ve been making great progress, we’ve been playing really well. We’ve been putting up good numbers that we are really proud of and that we should be putting up because that’s how talented we are. We didn’t want to go away from that today no matter who is on the other side. We are trying to just establish what we do and make it consistent, so that was really our goal the whole time. Even if we had young players on the floor or players that aren’t always on the floor, we didn’t care. Everyone came to play hard and came to play smart.”
On libero Amy Nettles…
“Amy was the only player that didn’t come off the floor. With (Shelby) Sullivan and Jazzmin (Babers), they automatically come off because of the libero position, and they are front row only. Every other position we changed up, we subbed. We changed up outside hitters, we changed up right side hitters we changed up defensive specialists, we changed up our setter. So with Jazzmin and Sully coming and going, Amy stayed the entire time and really stabilized the entire team. She passed nails, probably a 3.0 — our team average is probably a 2.1 the way that we score it — and her passing was just about perfect and her digging was right on. She never took the opponent lightly, and I think that says a lot. She was a great stabilizer for us today.”
On other players being successful…
“Margaret (Connett) suffered a really severe knee injury her senior year of high school and is just now getting back on the volleyball court. It took its toll on her physically and now she’s just continuing to fight back and try and become the player she was before the injury. She’s jumping a little higher. I see it every day in practice, I can see its starting to come, and it’s really important that we share that with her, that she knows that we see progress. She’s such a spirit leader on the team. She’s hilarious and keeps everyone laughing. She’s never begging for time, she’s just waiting for her time. She’s just waiting and trusting that it will happen, and I really respect that.”
On the younger players getting the experience…
“I think it’s important for them to be on the floor. I’ve always said to them practice is so different from a game, and when you get out there and you realize you’re in the match when you haven’t been in a long time, it affects everyone differently and I really do think that they just did a nice job of staying focused and executing what they do in practice. It wasn’t a big deal for them. I loved Margaret (Connett) going out there and just swinging for balls that aren’t typically perfect sets. She’s having a ball out there, and I don’t have to worry about her.”
Senior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan:
On continuing the momentum…
“The word we have right now in our minds in November and going into December is ‘work.’ Work in practice, work in the game, just constantly reminding each other and holding each other to the standard of working hard and giving it your all.”
On Amy Nettles…
“Something else about Amy’s game is her work ethic and the leadership she brings back there. She’s after every ball and so it’s really helped our team. (You) wouldn’t be able to tell she is (only) a sophomore.”
On the team’s performance…
“It was awesome. Like I said, work is our word and everyone is working no matter if you are playing more or not playing as much. Getting everyone in today and to showcase that work people have been working towards all season was so much fun.”
Sophomore libero Amy Nettles:
On not losing the momentum…
“That is our team focus right now is to work, so that is what every single person on our team is doing.”
On having fun out on the court…
“I always have fun. That’s why I play volleyball because I love it.”
On her game right now and if she compares herself to the opposing libero…
“I don’t really think about the libero on the other team. I’m really just focused on my game and what I can bring to our team. I don’t really think about out-digging the other libero. I just know if I play my game, I will out-dig her.”
On playing with all the younger players who got into the match…
“We practice with everyone, so it wasn’t like I feel weird next to you. There was still a flow. Playing next to the people who came in, I felt like everyone did an amazing job. So I didn’t have to be like, do I have to help her? Because everyone just performed.”