The No. 23 Texas A&M Aggies will visit Foster Auditorium in Tuscaloosa Friday at 7:00 p.m. for a rematch with the Alabama Crimson Tide (18-5, 6-3 SEC). After claiming a 3-2 victory against the Tide earlier this month, A&M aims to complete the sweep on Alabama’s home court to start the second half of conference play.
Alabama is coming off a 3-1 victory against Arkansas on Sunday and has lost just one match at home this season. Krystal Rivers, a redshirt sophomore, was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week after impressive performances against Arkansas and Auburn.
Also featured in the contest will be the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week, A&M freshman libero Amy Nettles. Nettles averaged 4.89 digs per set in wins against Georgia and Kentucky, including a team high 26 digs against the Wildcats.
Despite the streak of recent success of their upcoming opponent, confidence remains strong for the Aggies.
“The team is in a really confident place,” A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. “They know how talented Alabama is. They are really good, I’m not sure they gave us their best team effort when they were here. They had some good individual performances, but I know they have more than that. The challenge is tremendous, but it will be a fun one.”
A&M sits at 14-6 overall with a 6-3 record in conference play. In the last contest against the Tide, A&M rallied from a 2-1 set deficit to claim victory over their conference opponent. Sophomore defensive specialist Katelyn Labhart believes the team is prepared for the challenge.
“As a team we’ve really been wanting to focus on unity,” Labhart said. “[Alabama is] such an athletic, good team. We have to respect that. I think we want to go in as a unit and beat a good team.”
Alabama is 0-2 against ranked opponents this season with losses to A&M as well as no. 13 Kentucky in contests earlier this month.
After A&M finishes with Alabama, they will travel to Columbia to face off with the Missouri Tigers. The contest is set for Sunday at 3:00 p.m. A&M will return to College Station next Thursday, November 6^th for a 6:00 p.m. contest against LSU.