The rivalry has officially returned.
On Friday night, Texas A&M (9-2, 0-1) hosted arch-rival and defending national champion No. 8 Texas (6-3, 1-0) in the first game of conference play.
To the dismay of the record 9,236 at Reed Arena, the visit Longhorns claimed the opening match of the Lone Star Showdown in four sets (25-16, 14-25, 25-23, 25-20)
Not only was it the largest crowd in the program’s history, it was the largest crowd ever for a regular season volleyball game in the state of Texas.
“I don’t know if I can have enough gratitude to the 12th Man for showing up, showing out,” head coach Jamie Morrison said. “I hope they enjoyed themselves, and I hope they come back.”
Simply put, Reed was an electric factory.
And the crowd support was not the only positive takeaway for the Maroon & White, even in the losing effort.
Fourth-generation Aggie Logan Lednicky paced both teams with 17 kills, while Ava Underwood had a match-high 18 digs. Maddie Waak dished out 40 assists.
Indeed, the evening totals represented a much closer battle than the four-set finish might indicate. Texas registered 50 total kills to A&M’s 45, while the Aggies attacked at a .185 clip to Texas’ .175. A&M posted 14 blocks to Texas’ five.
However, Texas recorded six aces to A&M’s four as the Aggies committed three more service errors than the Longhorns.
Texas physically dominated the opening set with a .323 hitting percentage against A&M’s dismal .057. A&M also had a staggering nine attack errors.
The Aggies even trailed by as many as nine as the Longhorns never trailed and went on to win, 25-16.
However, the second was a completely different story.
A&M rebounded in a big way to collect a 25-14 win. The Ags were more efficient and flipped the script on Texas with much more physical play.
After a set-opening attack error by Maddie Waak, the Aggies caught fire as A&M answered by scoring six straight points to take a 6-1 lead on a Logan Lednicky kill.
Just as Texas did in the opener, A&M never cooled off. The Aggies were unbelievably dominant, especially on the defensive front. Texas hit at a -.079 clip, and the Aggies had six blocks to the Longhorns’ one.
A&M’s gritty play had Texas on their heels all set long, as the Longhorns committed 10 attack errors.
Surprisingly enough, the Aggies had only 12 kills, one more than they had in the first set.
“Losing isn’t ideal, but I think that there’s a lot of good that came out of this match,” Underwood said. “It’s early in the season, so we’ve got a lot more in us.”
Set three was an absolute battle between the two teams initially, with neither team claiming more than a one-point lead until A&M made it 9-7.
There were a total of ten ties by the time it was an 11-11 game. Texas then took control by taking advantage of A&M attack errors for a 6-0 run to make it 17-11.
Following a well-timed Morrison timeout, A&M fought back with ferocity. Staring down a 20-15 deficit, they came back to even it at 22-22.
Yet the comeback wasn’t enough, as the Longhorns claimed the set 25-23.
The ferocity continued in what was an all-out battle in the fourth.
Another back-and-forth tilt once again had its fair share of tie scores, but like the third set, the Longhorns went on a run and assumed an 18-14 lead after a 13-13 deadlock.
Refusing to roll over, the Aggies made it interesting by pulling within 22-20 before Texas claimed the set and the match with a 25-20 win.
Friday was the first home loss of the year for the Ags, and they are also now 0-2 against ranked opponents.
But the fight provides reasons for optimism.
“We’re close,” Morrison said. “There’s this really fine line, and I don’t want to go to the point where we’re passing it. We’re going to stay aggressive. It’s who we are.”
Up next for the Aggies, they’ll look to regroup against Missouri on Sunday. First serve at Reed Arena is slated for 2 p.m. CT.
