Texas A&M volleyball begins 2024 season with sweep of South Alabama
Press conference courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics.
Texas A&M, say hello to 1-0.
In their first match of the season, head coach Jamie Morrison and the Aggies went toe to toe with the South Alabama Jaguars and claimed a 3-0 victory in Mobile, AL (25-22, 28-26, 25-11).
“It’s nice to be undefeated and 1-0,” Morrison said after the win on Friday.
The first set was extremely competitive, but the Aggies prevailed in a back-and-forth effort, 25-22.
At one point in the set, the score was an even 21-21, but A&M rallied off three straight kills, with two coming from junior outside hitter Emily Hellmuth. After an error from Hellmuth that made it 24-22, the Aggies sealed the set with a Logan Lednicky kill.
Hellmuth and Lednicky combined for a total of 28 kills on 45 total attempts to lead the way.
Like the first, the second set was back and forth, perhaps even more so.
The Aggies won 28-26 on their fourth set point. After A&M fell behind 5-2 early due to a series of errors, it looked as though the Jaguars had the momentum.
However, the Aggies regrouped and took it right back.
After A&M rebounded to take a 10-8 lead, neither team took a lead bigger than one point until another Lednicky kill claimed the set.
Hellmuth and junior outside hitter Taylor Humphrey logged multiple kills in the second, and sophomore setter Maddie Waak put up 12 assists.
“I think the nice thing was that we just stayed poised,” Morrison said. “I didn’t think we were necessarily playing great, but I didn’t think when we were under pressure, we didn’t bend. We stayed true to the team we were playing as throughout that entire thing and pulled out a tight set.”
Waak finished the game with a staggering 36 assists, which was 13 more than South Alabama’s team total.
The final set was a Maroon-out, as the Aggies dominated en route to a 25-11 blowout to complete the sweep and take the match. A&M started hot with a 7-3 lead in the third, and the Ags never looked back, going on a 10-3 run after that point. Junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla tacked on three kills and a pair of block assists to get the Aggies to the finish line.
“I think that the talk I had with the team, I just felt like we were playing like we were being judged in the first couple of sets,” Morrison said. “In the third one, we were playing to win, playing to compete, letting whatever we had inside of us flow from us.”
Under head coach Jesse Ortiz, South Alabama held a 32-3 home record entering play, but Morrison & Co. were able to put a dent in it.
Ironically, the win moves A&M’s all-time record vs. Sun Belt opponents to 32-3.
A&M has a quick turnaround after Friday’s win, as the Aggies will play their second match in a four-day span tomorrow morning against McNeese. First serve is set for 11 a.m. in Mobile.