Texas A&M volleyball got off to an exhilarating start this season after winning their first match under new head coach Jamie Morrison. The win was also Morrison’s first collegiate head-coaching win in his career.
A&M started the Omaha Invite on Friday, Aug. 25, at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Nebraska after finishing 13-15 the previous season.
The first set began with a back-and-forth bout with the Mavericks, until the Aggies edged ahead in a 16-12 run. Two service errors by Omaha’s junior outside hitter Shayla McCormick and junior defensive specialist Erica Fava, then a kill by graduate outside hitter Caroline Meuth, helped seal the first set for A&M, 25-18.
The second set mirrored the first up until Omaha evened the set at 14 with a kill by sophomore outside hitter Kali Jurgensmeier. Then the Fightin’ Farmers pushed ahead with a 17-14 run after a key block by sophomore middle blocker Morgan Perkins on the outside.
After a kill by senior middle blocker McKenna Ruch, and two service aces by Fava, the Mavericks went on a late 5-0 run to make the set 23-21. Mavericks then earned 2 more points through kills by Jurgensmeier and McCormick to even the set at 24.
The two teams went back and forth extending the set past 25 until Omaha pushed ahead with two kills, one more from Jurgensmeier and another from freshman middle blocker Anika Ivester, ending the set at 27-25.
A&M got off to a quick 10-4 start in the third set, after three errors from Jurgensmeier. Then, following a 10-5 run, the Aggies leaped ahead 20-9, with Meuth leading the pack with 11 total kills. The set ended in 25-12 for A&M, with redshirt freshman middle blocker Ital Lopuyo and Perkins both totaling 2.5 blocks through three sets.
The Mavericks got off to a better start in the fourth set, leading 5-2 until the Fightin’ Farmers overcame their 3-point deficit after a set of kills by Meuth and Lopuyo. The set remained tied in a similar fashion to the last two sets, until a late 3-1 run by the Aggies stretched the lead to 21-17.
Two attacking errors by sophomore opposite hitter Logan Lednicky brought the Mavericks within striking distance, however, their last minute rally was quickly crushed after two self inflicted errors and a kill by freshman outside hitter Muoneke Bianna ended the set 25-21, and the game, 3-1.
“It’s a great start to our season and we [had] treated our exhibition like an exhibition, to learn about our team,” Morrision said. “I thought we went into our first match with some first match jitters a little bit. We hit .390 on the match and that’s really, really hard to do so there’s some really good pieces to build around.”
Next, A&M volleyball continues the Omaha Invite against Pepperdine on Saturday, Aug. 26, at 2:30 pm.