The Alabama Crimson Tide rolled into Reed Arena on Friday night to test Texas A&M volleyball after its victory over then-No. 7 Texas last week. The Aggies came out on top, 3-1, in front of the ninth-largest crowd in A&M volleyball history with 3,390 fans in attendance.
A&M started the first set with a bang with senior defensive specialist Ellee Stinson recording a service ace on the first serve of the game. The Crimson Tide responded with two points of their own coming off of attack errors by the Maroon and White.
The two squads exchanged points until Alabama senior outside hitter Paris Thompson took over. She recorded two kills and a block in consecutive points. The Crimson Tide were able to build momentum off of Thompson’s spark and forced coach Jamie Morrison to take his first timeout of the match, down 12-7.
A break was what the Aggies needed. A&M proceeded to put together a run of its own, recording back-to-back kills from junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and junior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky. Junior setter Maddie Waak immediately followed up with a service ace to cut the deficit to two, prompting Alabama coach Rashinda Reed to take her first timeout of the match.
Coming out of the timeout, Alabama put together a run to push its lead to five, but the Aggies would not fold. They put together two three-point runs down the stretch, which included a monster block to end a long rally courtesy of junior MB Morgan Perkins. A&M’s late push would be too little, too late, though as Alabama took Set 1, 25-22.
Set 2 was a battle out of the gates. Both teams traded scores, staying within two points of each other. In the fray, Stinson recorded her second service error of the night to tie the set up at eight.
The Aggies broke the stalemate with a 4-0 run, capped by a statement kill from junior OH Emily Hellmuth. Rattled, the Crimson Tide took a timeout, trailing 13-10. A&M’s late 6-2 run sealed the deal on the second set as it took Set 2, 25-19, to tie the match.
The third frame was all crimson to start. Alabama struck first, then A&M responded, and from there the Crimson Tide scored five straight. The Maroon and White managed to put together a 4-1 run of their own, cutting the Bama lead to two. Then, the Tide quickly responded with a 5-1 run of their own to push Morrison to a timeout in order to stop the bleeding.
The Aggies did not go down without a fight, outscoring the Tide 5-2 coming out of the timeout. Back-to-back kills from redshirt sophomore Ital Lopuyo OPP flipped the momentum in favor of the Maroon and White. With the kills, A&M dug into Alabama’s lead, bringing the score to 17-14.
The Crimson Tide matched whatever points the Aggies scored until A&M picked up steam once again. The Aggies scored four straight off of errors and kills by Perkins and Hellmuth. Alabama responded with points of its own off a kill from sophomore OH Kaleigh Palmer. Hellmuth stayed in the driver’s seat for A&M, recording another kill to make the score 24-23, Alabama.
Cos-Okpalla tied it for the Aggies with a kill and was followed by Lednicky to take the lead, 25-24. However, Palmer provided a kill for Alabama, tying the set at 25. A service error put the Aggies ahead by one, and match point was decided when Cos-Okpalla’s block was called out of bounds. After review, the ball was in and the Aggies would complete the comeback to take Set 3, 27-25.
Cos-Okpalla tied her career high with three solo blocks and five total on the night.
“I’m not trying to stuff the ball,” Flower Mound native Cos-Okpalla said. “If I do, that’s great, but [I look towards] getting a good touch so my defense can work behind me.”
Junior libero Ava Underwood credited the Aggies’ grit for their ability to stay calm after going down early.
“We’ve been in a lot of situations like that,” Underwood said. “I think we do a really good job in high-pressure moments. We all looked at each other and took a deep breath and were like, ‘Okay, we got it. Just another one.'”
A&M rode the wave of momentum into the fourth set. The Aggies jumped out to an early 7-1 lead, with Lednicky, Cos-Okpalla and Hellmuth leading the way.
The Aggies continued their onslaught, forcing error after error to increase their lead to 1o before Reed took another timeout. The timeout would not help the Crimson Tide, as the Aggies increased their lead with help from another service ace from Stinson. A&M went on to take the fourth set, 25-12, and the match, 3-1.
“There was some randomness on the court to start the match and we started to clean that up as it went on,” Morrison said “It’s not magic fairy dust that makes teams good, it’s execution about the little things.”
Morrison explained that October and November are two of the most important months of the season.
”We’ve had some themes throughout different months,” Morrison said. “October was making sure that we conserve energy, or before that, to make sure we have one of the best Octobers this program has ever had. … November is for setting the tone for what the postseason is like. It’s playing the way we want to from beginning to end.”
The match saw two A&M players set career milestones. Sophomore S Margot Manning recorded her 500th career assist in the opening set and Waak recorded her 2,000th career assist in the second frame.
The Aggies will host the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday with first serve scheduled for 2 p.m. on SEC Network+.
