Aggie volleyball returns home Tuesday night to host Colorado State after the Aggies’ four-match winning streak was snapped at the Comfort Suites Challenge.
In the Challenge, A&M gained a victory against Milwaukee in the team’s first ever meeting, but suffered losses to both Iowa and Iowa State. Prior to the Aggie volleyball team’s recent visit to Iowa City, A&M opened up its season against No. 2 Stanford with a loss, but earned a win against Minnesota in Palo Alto. Then the Aggies hosted the Texas A&M Invitational and hoisted the championship, garnering them a national ranking at No. 25 the next week.
A&M regained senior team captains Angela Lowak and Shelby Sullivan in Iowa after their injuries in the Texas A&M Invitational. Lowak returned to practice Sept. 8 and Sullivan joined the team on Sept. 10 before traveling to Iowa.
“Things were rusty, and we go to those two a lot,” said A&M head coach Corbelli to 12thman.com. “I think there was a little bit of doubt in the team’s mind about how smooth this is going to be if they haven’t been practicing and haven’t been here.”
The No. 15 Colorado State Rams (6-2) had an impressive 2014 record of 31-3. The Rams also dominated in conference action with a 17-1 conference record to set them as the Mountain West Champions for the sixth year in a row. CSU is the only team in the nation to claim its conference championship for the last six consecutive seasons.
The Rams not only advanced into the NCAA tournament, but routed Denver in the first round 3-0, followed by a 3-2 defeat of Colorado. They were finally eliminated by No. 2 seeded Texas in the Regional Semifinals of the tournament.
Colorado State’s coach, Tom Hilbert, is entering his 19th year of coaching at CSU. With his guidance, he has propelled his squad to the NCAA tournament all 18 seasons.
The Rams hold a 6-2 all-time lead against the Aggies. Colorado State is attending Reed Arena after showing clear force against Iona with a 3-0 rout, but were shutout by No. 4 Texas with a surprising 3-0 sweep in Austin. Also, all of CSU’s games this season have been decided by a sweep, whether winning or losing.
The Aggies look to hold their own as they haven’t lost in Reed Arena thus far in the season. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
