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Aggies are Sweet 16 Bound
Dec. 5, 2009 BATON ROUGE, La. - Texas A&M earned a berth into the NCAA Sweet 16 with a stunning 18-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 15-10 victory over No. 15 seed LSU tonight the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Aggies, who are making their first appearance in an NCAA Regional since 2003, will take on rival Texas on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. Big 12 foes Iowa State and Nebraska also are in the four-team, all-Big 12 regional. Sarah Ammerman had 26 kills and hit .396, and Jennifer Banse added 20 kills while hitting at a .348 to lead the Aggies to their first five-set victory this season. "Well, we're really excited," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We haven't had a lot of success in our five-set matches previous to tonight. I think that played a large role in our determination and our ability to stay composed and execute when we needed to execute. I'm just incredibly proud of this group and the way they handled themselves throughout the night. We are one step closer to achieving our goal." A&M, which entered the contest 0-3 in five-set matches this season, won the match despite an incredible performance by SEC Player of the Year Brittnee Cooper, who had 28 kills and zero errors in 40 attempts for a blistering .700 hitting percentage. The 6-3 senior middle blocker also had nine blocks as the Tigers outhit A&M, .325 to .290 and outblocked the Aggies, 16-8. "She's ridiculous. No errors - that's unbelievable. She's incredible. I just said to the team, `I don't think we've faced any player that's been that difficult to stop or slow down or so dominant in any team in the Big 12.' There is not a player that dominant. Maybe Destinee Hooker, yes, but she's on the outside, and there's more time for her to get ready. There's no time for Cooper. It's really incredible, and if she chooses to have a great future in volleyball, I think it's there for her if she wants it. She could help our national team." LSU outhit A&M, .517 to .188 in the opening set as the Aggies tried to find an answer for Cooper, who had five kills on five attacks and also had four blocks, including two solo, as LSU posted five blocks to A&M's two. A&M took its second lead of the opening set at 9-8 on a service ace by Kristen Schevikhoven and was leading 10-9 when Cooper had a kill, teamed for a block and then had a solo block to give the Tigers a 12-10 lead. A&M stayed within a point at 15-14 following a block by Lindsey Miller and Mary Batis and an ace by Batis before LSU reeled off four consecutive kills. A service error ended the LSU rally, and the teams began to trade points. Banse gave A&M its final point of the set with a kill to put A&M within 22-18 before LSU closed out the set with three consecutive points. Marina Skender posted a kill and Sam Dabbs set a ball to the Aggies' open back corner and then Lauren DeGirolamo and Michele Williams teamed for a block to clinch the set. Ammerman had nine kills and only one error to lead the Aggies to come-from-behind, second-set victory. There were 17 ties and eight lead changes in the closely contested frame in which the Aggies outhit the Tigers, .282 to .205 and fought off a set point to come back and win the set. LSU used a three-point run to take an 18-17 lead. The teams exchanged kills and with LSU up, 21-20, Kelsey Black came subbed in off the bench and posted a kill. Cooper didn't make any attack errors, but she committed back-to-back costly mistakes as she was call for being in the net while blocking an attack by Ammerman. On the next play, Cooper's dig hung over the net and Ammerman pounded the ball for a kill to put A&M up, 23-21. A service error and an attack error by the Aggies knotted the score at 23 and then LSU took the lead and was at set point following a block by Skender and Williams. Ammerman came back with a kill and LSU's tip attempt fell just wide to put A&M at set point, 25-24. Ammerman and Alisia Kastmo then stopped DeGirolamo with a block to even the match at a set apiece. The next two sets would also be decided by the minimum two points. Set 3 was another back-and-forth affair with 14 ties and seven lead changes. The Tigers used a two-point run following an LSU timeout to take a 20-19 lead and were up 21-20 when Ammerman posted a kill. Batis and Kastmo then blocked Skender to take a 22-21 lead, but a Cooper kill and block put the Tigers up, 23-22. Banse evened the score, tipping the ball for a kill, but Cooper came back with a kill to put the Tigers serving for the set. Luck went LSU's way on the next play. Following an A&M attack, Skender flicked over a misdirected line-drive dig by an LSU defender, and the ball fell in for a kill, putting the Tigers up, two sets to one. A&M overtook the lead late in the fourth set and held the lead to force the deciding fifth set. LSU held a 21-20 lead before consecutive kills by Banse and Batis put A&M ahead, 22-21. Skender tied the score with a kill but Batis and Ammerman countered with back-to-back kills to put A&M at set point. Skender kept the Tigers alive with a kill, but Ammerman and Miller blocked the Tigers' next attack for the set winner. The fifth set started out as a nail biter with neither team gaining more than a one-point lead throughout the first half of the set. LSU got consecutive kills by Skender and Cooper to regain the lead for the Tigers, 9-8. Despite Cooper's presence in the front row, A&M reeled off four unanswered points for only the second time in the match. Ammerman began the run with a kill to tie the score, and Banse gave the Aggies the lead for good with her 19th kill of the match. Batis then blasted a kill off the block and followed that with an off-speed shot that split the block and fell in for the kill. Cooper ended the rally with a kill but Banse countered with a cross-court kill to put A&M up 13-10 and return serve to the Aggies. Defensive specialist Dylan Faulkner then came in and twice aced LSU libero Lauren Waclawczyk to clinch the victory and send the Aggies to Omaha. A&M, which outhit LSU, .579 to .471 in the final set, extends its winning streak to six and improves to 20-10. In addition, the Aggies posted their second consecutive win against a ranked opponent, topping No. 19 Arizona, 3-1, in the NCAA first round, and knocking off SEC regular-season champion and 18th-ranked LSU in the second round. LSU finishes the season 25-7. NOTES: • The Aggies are 22-17 in NCAA matches, including 20-13 under 17th-year head coach Laurie Corbelli. • A&M is 6-9 all-time in NCAA second round matches, including 6-7 under Corbelli. • The last time A&M won a second-round match was 2003, when the Aggies defeated Wisconsin, 3-0, in College Station, Texas, to advance to the regional semifinal. • The two wins in Baton Rouge mark the first time A&M has won two NCAA tournament matches on the road. • None of A&M's current players had participated in an NCAA match prior to last night's match against Arizona. • A&M's best finish in an NCAA tournament was the regional finals in 1999 and 2001. PLAYER NOTES • Sarah Ammerman posted six digs to become the 18th player in A&M history to reach the 1,000-dig career milestone. In addition, Ammerman, who now has 1,003 career digs and 1,502 career kills, becomes the 10th player in A&M history to reach the 1,000-career landmark in both digs and kills. • Mary Batis posted 12 kills to give her 1,419 career kills and move her into eighth place in the A&M career records. She is ranked in the A&M top 10 for career points, kills and digs and has started every match in her four-year career. • Dylan Faulkner posted a career-high and tied the team's individual season high with three aces. Her three aces also is a school record for an NCAA five-set match. • LSU setter Sam Dabbs was teammates with Texas A&M's Jennifer Banse at Churchill High School in San Antonio. In addition, Dabbs, Banse and Aggie Mary Batis were all members of the Alamo club team that won the 2003 Junior Olympic 15 Open Division. Postmatch quotes:
Texas A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli Opening statement... "Well, we're really excited. We haven't had a lot of success in our five-set matches previous to tonight. I think that played a large role in our determination and our ability to stay composed and execute when we needed to execute. I'm just incredibly proud of this group and the way they handled themselves throughout the night. We are one step closer to achieving our goal." On several players getting food poisoning last night... "Yeah, we had an emergency room-looking locker room with five IVs going about two hours before the match. We had some food poisoning in our dinner last night, so it's been an all-nighter for most of the team." On the condition of the players who got sick... "Very weak. Two of them could not play at all. A couple of them that did play were down for the count just a few hours ago and said, `Well, I'm just going to give it my best effort.' Half of them that got sick played, and half of them didn't." On what having Sarah Ammerman on the court enables them to do differently... "I don't know that it's so much what we're able to do [that changes]. Sarah's a team captain, she's got four years of starting experience under her belt, and she's a court leader. So, I think more than anything, it was missing her leadership out on the court last night. To be able to pull that one out was really a huge boost for our team. Sarah was incredibly instrumental in that win as well, just being super supportive of the team in practice and everything else, just being a great teammate. I think that's really where we missed her the most." On SEC Offensive Player of the Year Brittnee Cooper's performance tonight... "She's ridiculous. No errors - that's unbelievable. She's incredible. I just said to the team, `I don't think we've faced any player that's been that difficult to stop or slow down or so dominant in any team in the Big 12.' There is not a player that dominant. Maybe Destinee Hooker, yes, but she's on the outside, and there's more time for her to get ready. There's no time for Cooper. It's really incredible, and if she chooses to have a great future in volleyball, I think it's there for her if she wants it. She could help our national team." On Baton Rouge as an NCAA host site... "It was a great experience. I was thinking about it earlier in the day. It's been really smooth. The hotel has been great. The hardest part has been the traffic from here back to the hotel and sitting on the bus for 30 to 45 minutes. But overall, everyone's been friendly. It's been great. We've really enjoyed it a lot. It's a great venue for volleyball." On facing Texas for the third time this season... "It's hard to win three times in a row against a team, and we don't have to do any scouting. We know them very well, back and forth. They're definitely a really strong team. We did give away a lot of points last time we played them. We kind of beat ourselves in many of the rallies, not to take anything away from Texas. We're happy to always get a shot at the best. When we play great teams, it brings out the best in us. That's what I'm looking forward to." Outside Hitter Jennifer Banse On facing longtime friend and LSU setter Sam Dabbs ... "That's always fun. I've played with her since I was 12, I think. I know her tendencies, I know what makes her work, and it's fun. It's a good rivalry. Win or lose, she's going to be a bridesmaid in my wedding. We'll always be best friends." On not wanting her career to end with a loss tonight... "I love this group of girls absolutely more than anything, and if I can spend one more day with them, you better believe I'm going to do everything in my power to make that happen."
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