It has been a dominant start for Texas A&M volleyball in Aggieland.
Outside setter Hollann Hans had 11 kills and a 41 percent hit rate for the Aggies in a 3-0 win over Northwestern State Friday morning in the A&M invitational at Reed Arena.
With the sweep, the Aggies (6-1) have taken six sets in the past two matches, only giving up one on their home court. A&M took the sets 25-23, 25-12 and 25-17.
Despite giving up the last two sets by eight points or more, Northwestern State kept it close in the first set after the A&M gave up five errors.
After a service error by Northwestern State (6-3) outside hitter Hannah Brister, the Demons took seven of the next nine points, tying the set at 21. However, the Aggies sealed the match when setter Camille Conner and Hans took back-to-back kills.
“We need to clean things up in the beginning but getting people in and getting them a try at 6-2,” A&M head coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said. “Just players getting in there and getting their opportunity to show what they can do, that’s what we want.”
A&M turned the tide in the second match, taking advantage of four service and attack errors by Northwestern State and four scoring streaks of at least three. The Aggies’ defense took control as well, keeping the ball alive on their side of the net for middle blocker Makena Patterson to get a set-high four kills.
The Aggies took the match on a gassed Northwestern State squad in the final set, with four A&M players having at least two kills. Nine of A&M’s points came from attack errors, with the Aggies leading as much as eight in the middle of the set.
Conner was a key defensive factor with 18 digs on the match, just three short of her career-high of 21. She also assisted on 30 sets against the Demons.
“Camille, she’s just coming into her own,” Kuhn said. “I think she needed to come back to the 12th Man to play in front of them. There was one rally, I think she dug every ball.”
Hans finished the match with 11 kills, her fifth game in double-digits in the kill column. The senior finished with the second-best attack percentage for the Aggies at 42 percent.
Brister finished as the leader in kills for the Demons with 11, and the highest attack percentage at 24. Four other players finished with a negative percentage for Northwestern State.
A&M will face-off with Oklahoma on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at Reed Arena. The match is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on SEC Network +.