Aggie Volleyball drops final non-conference match against Texas, 3-0

In its final match before the start of SEC play, Texas A&M fell in straight sets to Texas, 20-25, 18-25, 15-25, Wednesday night at Reed Arena.

The attendance of 3,124 marked the fourth-highest attendance since A&M moved to Reed in 2009.

Hollann Hans was the only Aggie to reach double-digit kills as A&M hit only .089 in the match. Camille Conner notched 28 assists while seniors Amy Nettles and Amy Houser recorded 13 and 11 digs, respectively.

“We’re all really disappointed,” A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said after the match. “We would get a run here and a run there and not be able to sustain it, and it wasn’t always because of what they were doing — it was more our errors.”

The first set started close as A&M jumped out to an early lead but, after a Hans kill tied the score at 15, the Longhorns scored six of the next seven points to effectively take the match. The Aggies managed to close the gap to 22-19 but could not get any closer.

Offense was hard to come by all match for the Aggies as they racked up 26 attack errors compared to six for Texas.

“I think working on our first touch is a huge thing so we can be in system more,” Hans said. “Texas is a great team but we just didn’t play our best tonight and I think that starting with the first touch and making less errors is a huge thing for us.”

In the second set, the Longhorns grabbed the momentum from the onset but the Aggies made it interesting with a mid-set surge. After a 5-1 run by Texas looked like it had stymied an A&M comeback, the Aggies promptly went on a 5-2 run after a timeout to cut the UT lead to 20-15.

The Longhorns answered back, however, by scoring four out of the final five points to the set and then controlled the third set to complete the sweep.

Next up for the Aggies is the start of SEC play, but they have over a week before they have to travel to LSU on Friday, September 22, for the conference opener.

“We got to play some of the top teams this preseason, and I think it really opened our eyes to how much we have to improve,” Conner said. “We know what we need to work on and we’re going to get back in the gym tomorrow and makes the changes we need to.”