Laurie Corbelli: Aggie volleyball senior spotlight

On how much Jazzmin Babers has improved over her 4 years at A&M...

"Wow, she's just such a great worker and a wonderful teammate. She is very easy to coach so you combine all of that with a huge commitment to becoming the best she can be. When she came bun her freshman year she didn't know a lot about volleyball. She had only been playing a few years yet she was just this physical specimen that we were just so excited to get to shape and teach. She has just figured out how to best get her job done. She is very efficient and her blocking, setting records and all she's really got the blocking thing down and she has had it down for several years. Due to shoulder issues at times her attacking has been off and on and I'm sure not much to her dismay she doesn't like not being able to swing full but she's figured out the court. Because of the arm situation and the shoulder, she's had to learn the game to an even more strategic degree and throw balls to different places at the right pace and the right tempo and the right direction at the right time and she's gotten good at that."

On how she has developed as a leader in her time at A&M...

"She is very involved around campus and around the community. She is a leader in some of the organizations that she serves in. She's President or Vice President or serves them in more capacities than just being a member. I think all of those things combine her to be very comfortable with her assessment of what is going on on the court, her assessment of her different teammates moods and how they are doing. You know, volleyball is very much an interactive sport. You've got expressions and body language and words coming from people all around you and managing the court a lot of times can be very challenging and as one of the leaders on the court she does a great job at managing her teammates."

On her three words she would use to describe Jazzmin...

"Oh Abby, that's hard. Well I would say, oh boy, delightful. That's kind of a dorky word but she makes people smile the minute she starts talking to them with her beautiful smile and her great laugh. I think she is very loyal to family, to friends, to our program, to herself and that has shown through her academics and her success in sports. Third I would say, determined. She's been so great at analyzing what is going on with the team and if she doesn't like what the team is doing in a drill, because she has to sit out sometimes and just observe because of her injuries and she will take the team and call them over and run a little time out on her own. She knows that when she gets back out there she wants to have been a part of putting it all together. So she is just super determine to become what she knows she can become and the team to become what it can."

On mentality going into match against Mississippi State...

"Coming off of a pretty shaky practice yesterday to tell you the truth, it was one of the weirdest vibes we have had in a long time. We made it through it and I think it may have been a tough day for a lot of people in this country so we just kind of took it and went with it in our practice but I think now they are incredibly excited to be at home and to be able to go to a football game and midnight yell and we have tons of recruits here. So I know once we get through all the preparation and the rigors of getting through another win that the moment will come where they run out on the floor again and they just want to beat the hell out of whoever we have. I can see that in them, we are just in preparation mode right now and it's grinding."