Texas A&M volleyball head coach Laurie Corbelli clinched her 500th career win and her 400th win at Texas A&M as the Aggies opened up the season with a three-set sweep (25-16, 25-15, 25-16) of the Texas State Bobcats in Reed Arena Friday.
The start of the first set was a close battle. The teams were tied at seven when the Aggies went on a 9-3 run to take a 16-10 lead and they never looked back. Corbelli said though she expected to get her 500th win this season, she never took it for granted.
Waiting for nine months since [last year] I knew that if nothing happened to me over the summer that I would probably experience it this season, Corbelli said. I certainly dont like to take for granted that my first match might be a victory, but I knew we were the favorite to win this morning.
Corbelli started her career as a coach at the University of San Francisco where she spent four years. She then moved to Santa Clara University for three years before starting her time at A&M. In her 20 years at A&M she has coached 73 players to Academic All-Big 12 Honors and has made the NCAA tournament 15 of the last 19 years.
Senior middle blocker Lindsey Miller said that it meant a lot to the current players to experience this with their coach.
It was really exciting knowing that Laurie had a chance for number 500 today, Miller said. Its cool in this program because all of us playing wanted to get that for her. We wanted to be the group that was there when she accomplished that.
Not only were coach Corbelli and the players excited, but students were glad to enjoy this milestone with her. After the game, Corbelli expressed her excitement to see so many students in the stands supporting them. Jessica Deitschel, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, said that a milestone like this would only increase attendance to future volleyball games.
Having already set a milestone this year gives us all great confidence in our athletics programs, especially going into the SEC, Deitschel said. I think that an important win like this will bring out more students and Im sure the team appreciates the support and would love more.
Corbelli said multiple times how much she loves her job and coaching her student athlets. When asked about winning 500 more games, Corbelli said she doesnt know, but is in no hurry to leave.
Actually, I just take it a season at a time, Corbelli said. I know a lot of coaches that go 25 years and start to look at how soon can I slow this down, but I almost dont know what life would be like without it, so Im not in any hurry to not have this around me.