The Texas A&M volleyball team bested South Carolina in a 3-1 match on Wednesday.
Senior outside hitter Hollann Hans led the statline on both sides as she tallied 22.5 points, 20 kills and one block, notching her 10th game this season with 20 or more kills.
Junior setter Camille Conner added 34 assists, 10.5 points and 10 kills for her 9th double-double this season, as junior middle blocker Makena Patterson tacked on 10 points and eight blocks on Wednesday.
A&M coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said this win for the Aggies will help them going into Gainesville on Saturday and to finish this season on a strong note.
“It was a big time road win and a team win,” Kuhn told 12thman.com. “They earned every point and it was huge for us. We had some key swings out of system and in system, but we’re heading to Gainesville feeling good – road warrior style. We just have to keep executing at a high level.”
The Aggies held the lead through the entire first set that got started with a service ace by sophomore defensive specialist Taylor Voss. The largest lead for A&M was four points, and it came by a kill from Conner after a South Carolina timeout, to put the score at 20-16. A South Carolina attack error secured the 25-22 set win for A&M.
There was one lead change in the second set as the Aggies trailed through most of it. A&M was able to stay within a few points before the Gamecocks pushed themselves out to their largest lead of 21-17 after a kill. The Aggies were able to get within two points after back-to-back kills from Conner and Hans, pushing the Gamecocks to call a timeout. A service error by Hans coming out of the cutoff gave South Carolina the 25-23 set win.
After both teams split the first four points to open the third set, South Carolina pulled away to 4-2 off two Aggie offensive errors. A service error and back-to-back kills by Hans gave the lead back to A&M at 11-9. The Aggies were able to build their lead up to four points after an attack error by the Gamecocks put the score at 14-10. A&M held the advantage through the end of the set and sealed the 25-22 set win with a kill by Conner.
The Aggies started off the fourth set down 4-1 following a few attack errors but two consecutive kills from Hans and Conner to put them within one. Another kill and a service ace by Hans gave A&M their first lead of the set at 6-5. This time, the Aggies would not let go of the lead and would be ahead by, at most, nine points and a score of 22-14. A&M would only allow two more points before they closed out the set 25-16 and clinched the match win.
The Aggies will next travel to Gainesville, Florida to take on the Florida Gators at the Exactech Arena on Nov. 30 at 3 p.m. in their regular season finale. The game will be televised on the SEC Network+.