Texas A&M volleyball traveled to Thompson-Boling Arena on Sunday, to face the Tennessee Volunteers for its second match of a three-game road trip. Coming off of a 3-0 sweep on Friday to the No. 13 Kentucky Wildcats, the Aggies attempted to redeem themselves with a victory versus the Volunteers.
The Aggies played a solid offensive game with big contributions from junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla’s 11 kills for the Maroon and White as well as junior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky’s 27 kills. The Fightin’ Farmers formidable effort on offense was all for not, as they were taken down by the Volunteers, 3-1.
The Aggies were in control throughout the entire first set, never allowing the Vols to take the lead. The Maroon and White had an excellent defensive game led by senior libero/defensive specialist Ellee Stinson who had 11 digs for the Aggies, and made tremendous hustle-plays which allowed the Aggies to stay ahead on the scoreboard.
By the end of the first set, Tennessee tightened up their deficit and eventually tied the Aggies 20-20 allowing it to become anyone’s game. A&M’s junior OH Emily Hellmuth led the Aggies to victory with a dominant kill followed by two service aces to win set one for the away team, 25-21.
The second set began with back and forth action before the Vols began to chip off a lead due to unforced errors made by the Aggies. A&M gave Tennessee five points from attacking errors, bad sets and service aces ultimately allowing the Orange and White to take an early lead midway through the second set. After many errors on the Aggie offense, the Volunteers claimed the second set, 25-21.
Entering the third set, the Vols got out to an early 4-0 lead with three straight attacking errors from Cos-Okpalla, Lednicky and Hellmuth. The Maroon and White completely fell apart in the third set as they were down by nine points midway through allowing the Vols to extend their lead. Graduate OH Nina Cajic led Tennessee to topple A&M in the third set, 25-15.
The fourth and final set of the match was a nailbiter, featuring several lead changes. Lednicky was on fire with back to back kills early in the set allowing the Aggies to go up early. Towards the end of set four, Lednicky earned a season-high record of 24 kills and managed to tack on 3 more before the set ended up going to Tennessee, 27-25.
The Aggies will travel to McCasland Field House on Wednesday, Nov. 13, to wrap up their three-game road trip when they take on the Oklahoma Sooners.
