Jamie Morrison's Aggies bounce back to beat Troy in four sets
A much needed rebound, indeed.
Texas A&M volleyball wrapped up its three-game road trip with a 3-1 win on Sunday afternoon over Troy in Madison (22-25, 25-14, 25-15, 25-18). Overall, the Aggies finished the trip with a 2-1 record.
Much like their previous game against Wisconsin, which resulted in their first loss of the year, the Aggies started off hot but failed to keep momentum intact. A string of attack errors by Troy gave A&M a 5-1 lead out of the gate, but the Trojans came back with some kills of their own, and some sloppy play by the Aggies had them staring at a 14-9 deficit.
The Trojans never gave up the lead in the set after that point, and they’d go on to win it 25-22. Junior outside hitter Emily Hellmuth and junior opposite Logan Lednicky both had four kills in the set each, but it was not enough to propel the team to a win.
Head coach Jamie Morrison, however, did what he does best and pulled his team together.
The second set was won by the Aggies in dominant 25-14 fashion. While it was initially a competitive affair that saw an 8-7 score, A&M expanded their advantage to 17-10 with a 9-2 run. Lednicky led the way, as she had another three kills in this span.
The Aggies were up by as many as 10 with a 22-12 lead, and the team finished it off 25-14 after yet another kill from Lednicky.
The third and fourth sets were like the second, as the Trojans never crossed the 20-point threshold. What was similar to the second set in this case was how it was very evenly matched to start, as both the third and fourth sets were tied at 7-7 and 8-8, respectively.
In both sets, however, the Aggies broke away in big time fashion. After it was 7-7 in set three, the Aggies pushed their lead to a staggering 21-11, where they would eventually win 25-15.
A&M gave Troy a taste of their own medicine, winning the fourth and final set in similar fashion as the Trojans did the first. Even at 7-7, A&M slowly chipped away with kills from junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and junior outside hitter Lexi Guinn. After the Aggies took a 9-8 lead, they never gave it back. They’d win the set 25-18 for a 3-1 victory.
"I thought we started slow today,” Morrison said. “But I was really fired up with the way we turned things near the end of the first and even more as the match went on."
With the win, the Aggies have completed non-conference play for the 2024 season, and they begin Southeastern Conference play Friday when they host archrival No. 8 Texas at Reed Arena.
First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.
"Can't complain about 9-1. We played some good volleyball and played some great teams,” Morrison said. “We got better as the matches went on which was the most important thing to be prepared for SEC play, and I think we are."