The Aggies, now (12-7, 6-2 SEC) trailed by a 2-1 deficit before topping Georgia (13-8, 1-7 SEC) in five sets 3-2. This season marks Laurie Corbelli’s 24th year as the head volleyball coach at Texas A&M and her 31st season of her collegiate head coaching career. Friday evening earned the 1984 Olympic silver medalist her 600th collegiate victory as well as her 500th win with the Aggies.
“To be the 500th, I will never forget it, for it to be this exciting,” Corbelli told 12thman.com. “I told myself today’s match I am going to enjoy every single bit of it. I smiled at the team every time they would look at me. I had a smile and encouragement, and it felt so good to not be stressed out. I just know that they needed me to be that way today, and so I am just really proud of my team.”
The Aggies continue their streak of topping the Bulldogs, now 6-0 against Georgia while part of the SEC. They were led by sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake as she pounded out a career-best 16 kills and hit .538. Senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers and junior outside hitter Kiara McGee collected 14 and 12 kills respectively. Star freshman outside hitter Hollann Hans and junior opposite Ashlie Reasor each added 10 kills, rounding out five A&M players to record double-digit kills in a match for the first time this season.
Junior setter Stephanie Aiple also surpassed the 3,000 assists mark for her collegiate career, distributing a whopping 46. Junior libero Amy Nettles headed the match with 20 digs while Blake and Babers each found four blocks, helping the Aggies outblock the Bulldogs 9-4.
“This was pretty hard fought and a pretty incredible match,” Corbelli said.“We haven’t really been tested to our core like we were today. [Georgia] just have us everything we could handle. We really had to fight back, and that’s the one thing I am really proud about. I knew that they could do it and they knew that they could.”
The Aggies did well to bounce back from a tough 1-3 loss at No. 9 Florida last weekend, snapping their five-game winning streak. It was their first five-set match victory of the season. They finished the competition 20-25, 25-17, 21-25, 26-24, 15-7.
The Aggies set themselves up for a real test as they return to action Wednesday, October 26. They will host the Missouri Tigers, who stand at the top of the conference and remain undefeated in the SEC. First serve is 8 p.m. in Reed Arena.