The Texas A&M volleyball team’s road loss to Missouri dropped its record to 9-7 on the season. The loss gave Missouri the sweep and increased A&M’s losing streak to three games.
A&M coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said she felt the Aggies needed to do a better job of executing the little plays and finishing road games.
“Our response was being more disciplined on the court,” Kuhn said. “We locked into the game plan. We executed defensively much better. We were able to do more offensively, because our passing was there. Tonight’s match came down to small ball, so we just needed to be cleaner with some little plays. We are proud to see the team respond and lock back in, but we have to finish when it comes down to it, especially on the road. We have things to work on for sure, but we have to refocus and we get to go back home and play a good Florida team to finish out the season.”
The first set of the match was a back-and-forth affair, with 12 ties and five lead changes. The Aggies ended up winning the set 25-22 buoyed by eight kills from their middle-blockers London Austin-Roark and Mallory Talbert.
Missouri took the second set 25-19 after pulling away at the end. At this point the match was tied at a set apiece.
A&M and Missouri started off the third set tied at 10, but once again the Tigers pulled away toward the end and took the set 25-17. This gave Missouri a 2-1 set lead.
Missouri started off the fourth set of the match quickly by taking an early 14-11 lead. However, the Aggies used a 7-2 run to take the set 25-22 and force a winner-take-all fifth set. In the set the Aggies had a combined 13 kills from Lauren Davis, Claire Hecht and Austin-Roark. Davis led the way with seven kills.
In the decisive fifth set, the Tigers took a quick 6-3 lead over the Aggies. Despite a valiant effort, the Aggies ended up losing the set, 15-11, and match to Missouri.
Statistically, the Aggies were led by Davis’s 15 kills and Talbert’s 14 kills. Camille Conner racked up 44 assists in the matchup.
Up next for the Aggies is a mid-week home double header against no.7 Florida. The Wednesday matchup at Reed Arena is slated to start at 6 p.m.