Texas A&M hosted LSU in Reed Arena Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 6 p.m. The Aggies fought off the Tigers but fell short in the final sets, the sets being 25-16, 16-25, 24-26 and 24-26.
The Fightin’ Farmers were facing their SEC rival, and it was the last home game of the season. A&M is 4-12 in SEC play after losing to LSU. Overall, A&M is 12-15 which finishes out the season with a losing record. They also had losing records at home, 5-8, and away, 4-5, with the only winning record being games at a neutral site, 3-1.
In the first set, the Aggies came out firing against LSU. A&M ran to a quick 9-5 lead with graduate outside hitter Caroline Meuth having three kills and three digs in the first set alone. Sophomore outside hitter Mia Johnson had an impressive four-kill set as well. Freshman outside hitter Lexi Guinn had an impressive spike that curved through three blocking defenders to land on the wood to gain the 24th point and her first kill of the night. After the Aggies had a successful outing and meshed together perfectly, they dominated the Tigers with a 25-16 win; 15 total kills in the first set and a hitting percentage of 0.453 led the Aggies to a first-set win.
In the second, LSU ran away with it. Looking for revenge, the Aggies could not get out of the teens as they were stuck at 16 until LSU ended the set bringing the score to 25-16. Meuth was having a dominant game with several kills and having the only two aces the team possessed at the time. With 13 kills in this set, the Farmers couldn’t hold on.
The third and fourth finished off the game with A&M having a successful run and being the first to make it to match point in each set, but allowed LSU to rally and return. LSU ended up winning both sets with the same narrow finish of 26-24. This heartbreaking finale left the team defeated, but several individuals had successful outings that night. Meuth ended with a team-high 23 kills and freshman libero Ava Underwood recorded a career-high 24 digs.
This was senior night for the Aggies, and the volleyball program held a ceremony thanking graduating seniors. As a special tribute to them, head coach Luara Kuhn told the media that these seniors have paved a great path for the returning players to follow.
”The pride they have for this school and team is incredible,” Kuhn said. “The biggest thing about these senior nights is honoring them, because of their dedication and commitment to this program and one another.”
Up next is Missouri on its home turf on Nov. 19. This will be their second to last game before finishing the season on Nov. 20 against Missouri.