Skid reaches three as A&M falls to No. 12 Tennessee in straight sets
Texas A&M volleyball finds itself on a three-game losing streak after falling to No. 12 Tennessee in straight sets on Sunday afternoon (25-20, 25-16, 25-22).
The Volunteers, now 9-2 in conference, came off a midweek win against Missouri ready to face the Aggies, who previously lost to Florida and Georgia at home.
The Aggies now drop to 14-7 (6-5 SEC) on the season.
"Disappointing. I thought we showed some fight in the third set and decided to play our game,” A&M head coach Jamie Morrison said. “Tennessee is a really good volleyball team. Now our focus shifts and we will head into next week ready to work."
Early on, A&M was down in the count against Tennessee. Though the Aggies had some sense of efficiency, they were getting caught on defense and working with an out-of-system offense for all of set one.
The speed on the net favored A&M as they showed consistency with an off blocker defense.
The fast tempo also drove Nisa Buzlutepe to establish her middles early, allowing for A&M to have more options on the net.
Tennessee remained ahead all throughout and took the first stanza off a missed serve by the Aggies, 25-20.
Set two began with Tennessee taking two kills off of A&M. Logan Lednicky and Morgan Perkins responded with two kills of their own, followed by a Tennessee error, allowing for the Maroon & White to gain their first lead of the match.
Both sides stayed point-for-point in the second. Ital Lopuyo earned two kills of her own before the Volunteers took off on a 5-0 scoring run. A timeout for the Aggies ended the roll with Perkins taking a kill.
Though points were earned at crucial moments, A&M was unsuccessful at gaining control in the game as there was a service error always lurking behind the next point.
Tennessee went on two, three-point runs which stretched the score out of reach for the Aggies, 25-16.
A&M went into set three down with errors on the net. Ava Underwood gained an ace, but the Volunteers once again went on a run, slowly chipping away at whatever gaps they could find.
The rhythm with which the Maroon & White typically play with was visibly disrupted.
Tennessee’s scrappy defense took advantage in every way they could, finding ways to keep the spirits down on A&M’s court.
The final set looked like it could have taken a turn for the Aggies as Lednicky, Bianna Muoneke, and Ifenna Cos-Okpalla put together an offensive run late in the set. Margot Manning followed with an ace.
Even with that run, though, Tennessee pulled too far ahead. Off a service error, the Aggies dropped the final stanza and the match, 25-22.
Muoneke and Caroline Meuth both recorded 10 kills as the Aggies collectively hit .213. Cos-Okpalla also had three blocks.
"We have to get back to doing the things that make this volleyball team so special,” Morrison added. “We must play cleaner and focus on the fundamentals."
Texas A&M returns home this Friday to face Alabama at 6:30 p.m. CT.