Saturday evening, Texas A&M completed two of three games in the D.C. Koehl Classic in Columbus, Ohio.
A&M mounted a comeback during their first game of the day to defeat Albany 3-1.
The Aggies lost their first set 26-24 before turning it on and winning the last sets 25-15, 25-13 and 25-16. A&M won their sets thanks to key contributor junior hitter Hollann Hans.
Hans had a match high of 25 kills. Contributions also came from senior Amy Houser with a team high of 16 digs, sophomore Camille Conner had a double-double of 42 assists and 15 digs, and freshman Allison Fields had 11 digs in her first start for the Aggies.
The win would advanced the Aggies to the Koehl Classic championship game against tournament host Ohio State.
In their second game of the day, the Aggies fell to Ohio State in straight sets. The loss marks A&M’s first loss of the season.
In the championship game, Ohio State won all three sets against the Aggies. Both teams came into the match 2-0, with wins over Ohio University and Albany.
A&M juniors Bookah Palmer and Hans were selected for the all tournament team.
Hans led the Aggies with 12 kills, while Conner had 31 assists and Houser led the Aggies with seven digs.
New A&M head volleyball coach Laura Kuhn said the environment of playing inside St. Joseph Arena against the home crowd was overwhelming at first.
“I think the atmosphere got us at the beginning, and that is just something we have to grow through,” Kuhn told 12thMan.com. “Towards the end of the third set it became us, and I think they finally settled in.”
On the other side, Ohio State had the tournament MVP Lauren Witte lead the match with five blocks, all tournament selection Mia Grunze led Ohio State with 13 kills, and Ohio State had a 9-2 advantage in total blocks.
The Aggies return to the court on August 31 when they take on Indiana in the Penn State Classic.