Texas A&M improves to 6-0 with five-set victory over New Hampshire

Survive and advance...or at least stay unbeaten.

On Saturday night, Texas A&M (6-0) continued their winning streak at the Texas A&M Invitational with a 3-2 victory over New Hampshire at Reed Arena (25-19, 25-16, 23-25, 22-25, 16-14).

The Aggies started the first set on par with UNH at 7-all but slowly capitalized on mistakes made by the opposition, going on a four-point streak. While the Wildcats eventually evened the score at 13-13, the Aggies came out on top by winning the set, 25-19.

The Aggies maintained a decent hitting percentage of .294 with 16 kills in the first set. Conversely, UNH lagged far behind with a .074 with only six kills.

The beginning of the second set was again close, with the Aggies playing at just a two-point lead for most of the set.

Kaylen Kruse, TexAgs

Ifenna Cos-Okpalla led the Aggies with six blocks on Saturday night.

Then a 4-0 scoring run followed by a monster block and an untimely service return by UNH led to a six-point lead at 15-9. A&M ended the set in dominating fashion with a final score of 25-16.

Entering play, A&M had won 15 of 16 sets played, and the Aggies again appeared poised for another sweep.

But the Wildcats roared back, feasting on what head coach Jamie Morrison called “passive” play from his Aggies.

Facing a 6-2 deficit, Morrison called timeout to no avail. At one point, the score was 13-4, but a late charge from the Aggies nearly produced a thrilling comeback as fans at Reed Arena were on the edge of their seats.

Ultimately, the Aggies lost set three, 25-23.

That momentum shift continued in the fourth as a series of errors from the Aggies ended up costing them the set, 25-22.

In the race to 15, A&M again faced a 6-2 deficit, but a had-to-have-it 5-0 scoring run made it 14-14.

A controversial challenged point by Morrison gave the Aggies match point at 15-14, where they were able to close out the sixth win of the year.

“I wasn’t looking up,” said Morrison of the review. “I was talking to our team about what happens if we get it, what happens if we don’t. When I saw it, it was 50/50, and I needed a break in the game anyway, so I decided to take the 50/50 chance.”

The chance worked and got the Ags another victory.

Logan Lednicky led A&M in kills with 18, while Morgan Perkins trailed behind with 13 to pair with a .526 hitting percentage. Including those two, four Aggies reached double-digit kills.

Setter Maddie Waak dished out a career-high 58 assists and surpassed 1,500 in her career.

“I never have a moment where I don’t think to set someone,” Waak said. “Genuinely everyone, front row, back row, everyone has an option to hit, so it’s been really nice.”

Needing a spark in the fifth, Tatum Thomas had three serves with the game on the line and an ace to bring the score within one.

“We work a lot with just velocity and being aggressive from the service line, and so naturally, just be aggressive and be the aggressor from the service line,” Thomas said.

The Ags finish a busy weekend on Sunday, where they will take on Louisiana to close out the Texas A&M Invitational.

The first serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT.