After a successful weekend, the Texas A&M volleyball team (13-5, 5-3 SEC) will return to College Station to host Georgia on Sunday.
The Aggies faced two tough road environments in Mississippi State and Ole Miss, and swept both opponents.
A&M will now look to continue its winning streak against Georgia (15-4, 7-1 SEC).
“Volleyball is a game of momentum,” A&M coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said. “Even with a win like that, you have to feel it, you have to acknowledge it, but then it is a clean slate. Now we go back to the drawing board, come back to the fundamentals and get back in the gym.”
This week is the first where the Aggies do not have a mid-week matchup and instead face only one opponent. Kuhn said the rest allows the team to better handle their practice time.
“We’ll have more time to focus on us,” Kuhn said. “Typically we would focus on us on the first day, and it’d be offense or what we needed to defend better. But this week we gave them an extra day off. We’ll focus on us for two days, and then we’ll get to game plan for Georgia and defend Georgia for two days. So you just have more time to work on you and your opponent.”
Senior outside hitter Hollann Hans was dominant in the team’s Mississippi road trip, totaling 53 kills across both matches en route to being named SEC Offensive Player of the Week. On the season, Hans leads the SEC in kills with 307, while also ranking second in points with 356. In the match against Ole Miss, Hans tied her career high with 32 kills, which is an A&M record for most kills in a five-set match.
Senior libero Camila Gomez had another strong weekend defensively, leading the Aggies with 34 digs last weekend, including 19 against Ole Miss. Gomez leads A&M in digs this season with 285, nearly doubling her nearest teammate.
Kuhn said Gomez’s leadership has helped the team to build a strong chemistry.
“This fall it has been very apparent obvious when she calls the team in at practice or she runs a huddle or she demands of someone,” Kuhn said. “She is a very direct communicator and I think that’s super positive for a leader, especially in a female sport. And the team respects her, so it’s never taken the wrong way. That’s the chemistry that we have on the team and that’s really positive.”
After keeping their winning streak alive against Ole Miss this weekend, the Aggies will look to do the same against Georgia. Since joining the SEC, the Aggies have defeated the Bulldogs in all 10 matchups, including two last year, which were both decided in five sets.
First serve will begin at 2 p.m. at Reed Arena, and the game will be broadcast live on SECN+.