Nobody thought that 3-seed Texas A&M volleyball had a chance at making a run to the Final Four in Kansas City, Missouri.
Nobody outside of College Station believed the Aggies would take down the undefeated overall 1-seed Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Nobody thought A&M would make program history, sending the Maroon and White to their first-ever NCAA Tournament Semifinals — but the Aggies believed.
“Why not us?” senior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky said after the match against Nebraska. “ … Who cares about the logo across the net from us? Why not us? Why can’t it be us to get to the Final Four?”
And get to the Final Four they did.
After a shocking 3-2 upset over the Cornhuskers, the Aggies will pack their bags and head to Kansas City, where they will take on the 1-seed Pittsburgh Panthers in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals.
“We’re here; we’re on the public landscape,” coach Jamie Morrison said at Wednesday’s press conference. “We’re going to be a program that’s going to be a contender for a long time to come.”
The road to the Final Four was an uphill battle for A&M, requiring a reverse sweep of then-2-seed Louisville and a five-set thriller against Nebraska — during which Morrison coined the phrase: “Play like yourselves.”
And what does it mean to “play like themselves?”
That could mean tangibly, like putting up a staggering total of 75 kills and 17 blocks as A&M did in the match against Nebraska. Or it could mean mentally, like finding encouragement from a random note on the scorer’s table that reads, “Something great is about to happen.”
Regardless of what motivates A&M in the next round, its uphill battle remains, as it will match up against a prolific Pitt team that enters the Final Four for the fifth season in a row.
“If I’m another team, I don’t wanna play us right now,” senior libero Ava Underwood said at Monday’s press conference. “ … We’re a team that doesn’t quit. … Staying true to who we are and just competing how we know how to compete, when we do that, we’re a really hard team to beat.”
Looking to take down A&M is Pittsburgh which is coming off a 3-1 win over then-3-seed Purdue. In that match, the Panthers recorded 60 kills and 11 blocks on the night, with junior right side hitter Olivia Babcock leading the charge with 23 kills — nine of which she recorded in Set 1 alone.
The 6-foot-4 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year semifinalist leads the Panthers in kills by more than 300, sitting at 624 on the season.
While the Maroon and White trail that number significantly, they have two consistent scorers at the net in Lednicky and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Kyndal Stowers, who have recorded 442 and 359 kills, respectively.
In A&M’s match against Nebraska, Stowers walked away with a career-high 25 kills, while Lednicky climbed the A&M career kill ladder to No. 3, passing Hollann Hans’ total of 1,640.
In the same match, senior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla secured the No. 2 spot on the career blocks list with 556. On the other side of the net, Pitt redshirt senior MB Bre Kelley trails Cos-Okpalla’s 190 blocks with 161 on the season.
A&M has dominated at the net during its NCAA Tournament run with 75 kills against Nebraska, with Pitt’s high of 60 against Purdue lagging behind. Likewise, A&M leads in blocks, recording its highest of 17 against both Nebraska and Louisville with Pittsburgh trailing once again, having a high of 11 against UMBC in the first round.
The back row tells a similar story as in their postseason run, the Aggies have outdug the Panthers, recording a tournament high against the Cardinals with 64, as the Panthers recorded a high of 49 digs against the Golden Gophers. However, a stark difference between the teams lies behind the service line.
A&M has remained plagued with service errors throughout the tournament tallying 38 total errors, whereas Pittsburgh only sits at 26.
Going against a seasoned team that’s seen five straight Final Four matchups, the Aggies will have to dominate on both sides of the ball and limit errors behind the service line in order to take down a Goliath on Thursday, Dec. 18, in Kansas City at the T-Mobile Center.
“Pitt [is] a very, very good team,” Underwood said. “They have very talented players, have a great coach, so I think it’s going to be a great battle, but again … I’ll always bet on us.”
