Aggie volleyball kicked off the Texas A&M Invitational with a 3-1 win against undefeated Houston Cougars.
Set one was a back-and-forth contest that consisted of 15 lead changes, five ties and a nail-biter ending. Early in the set, senior middle blocker Mallory Talbert elevated for her first kill of the game, giving the Aggies a 5-4 lead. The Cougars got their largest lead of the night after a 3-0 run, putting them up 19-16. However, the momentum suddenly changed after Lauren Davis’s seventh kill of the night cut the lead 19-18. Junior outside hitter Morgan Christon came up huge in the end with a kill that put them up 26-25, then a hit which led to a Cougar error, winning them the set 27-25.
Talbert said she was really proud of the energy the team brought to the game today.
“We had a really focused week in practice,” Talbert said. “I think that translated here tonight, and it was really cool to see everyone having fun, doing their job and knowing their role.”
However, going against undefeated Houston was going to be a grind. The momentum carried over for the Aggies in the second set. They came out hot, getting an early 6-2 lead and sustained the lead throughout. The maroon and white gained their largest lead of the night at 24-19 before Talbert finished the set with a strong kill to pick up their second win of the match.
After just two sets, the Aggies were ahead in all categories. They went into the third set with 35 kills, 51 digs and 35 assists, 30 coming from 5th-year setter Camille Connor.
The Aggies went into the third set looking to sweep the Cougars and obtain their second win of the season in Reed Arena. Meanwhile, Houston was not going down without a fight. Similar to the first, this set consisted of 11 ties and five lead changes. The Cougars presented the Aggies with their largest deficit of the night after going on a 4-0 run putting them up 19-15. Houston had three aces in this one set and concluded the match with a kill from junior outside hitter Abbie Jackson.
Although the fourth set started out rough, the Aggies were finally able to finish off the Cougars on their home court. A&M acquired their first ace of the night from senior libero Taylor Voss, which led to a monster block from Talbert and junior outside hitter Destiny Cox on the next serve. Davis went on a rampage of kills in the final set, recording 11 total attacks and passing up her career-high, 20 kills, to finish off the Cougars 25-20.
Davis gave credit to her team for her achievement on the court, she said.
“As a team, we did really well,” Davis said. “We trusted our game plan, we got a lot of good information from the bench and our coaches throughout the whole game which was able to lead to our success on the court.”
A&M coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn said she was proud of the way the bench responded after the loss in the third set.
“We went to them late in set four,” Kuhn said. “They were able to step up and do their job in the end and turned out to be an overall team win for us.”
The Aggies will continue their Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday with a doubleheader. The first serve is set for 12:30 p.m. against the University of Albany in Reed Arena. Their second game of the night will be 7:30 p.m. against UTSA.