Aggie Volleyball downs Tennessee in dramatic fashion, 3-2

Texas A&M ended its two-match losing streak in a wild five-set affair Friday night, beating Tennessee 25-17, 15-25, 25-21, 23-25, 16-14 at Reed Arena.

The Aggies (7-10, 4-6 SEC) nearly won the match in the fourth set only for the Volunteers to score the final three points and force a decisive fifth set, a back-and-forth contest that featured six ties.

"It was great to finally get a win on our home court,” freshman setter Camille Conner said after the match. “We've been putting in a lot of work in practice, and tonight it showed.”

Hollann Hans and Kiara McGee recorded 16 and 15 kills, respectively, Conner notched a double-double with a career-high 46 assists and 16 digs, and Amy Nettles amassed a match-high 34 digs.

The A&M defense stood tall for the duration of the match, particularly Nettles and fellow defensive specialists Amy Houser and Gabby Litwin, all of whom racked up double-digit digs without a single reception error.

The Aggies’ 105 digs set a school record for the most team digs in an SEC match and are the most digs an SEC team has recorded in a conference match this season.

“I thought our three (defensive specialists) really kept us in this match,” Corbelli said. “Those three just kept us in the match and did a beautiful job.”

The Aggies scored the final five points of the first set to jump out to a 1-0 lead, but Tennessee ran away late in the second set to knot the score.

Sets three and four each went down to the wire, with the Aggies securing set three by scoring four of the final five points. The Vols, however, responded by winning a close fourth set that ended on an A&M net violation to force a winner-take-all fifth set.

A 5-1 run in the middle of the fifth put the Aggies ahead 8-4, but Tennessee worked its way back into the set and eventually tied it at 12, prompting Corbelli to call a timeout to calm her team down.

From there, the Aggies scored four out of the final six points to win the match.

“There was no option — we were going to win that set,” Conner said. “We all dialed in and told each other that we were not leaving this gym until we got a win.”

A&M returns to Reed Arena on Sunday, October 29, for a home match against No. 6 Kentucky, who swept the Aggies in Lexington earlier this month. First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and can be seen on SEC Network +.