Texas A&M volleyball fell short 3-1 after a hard fought battle against No. 10 Baylor in its season opener.
The Aggies finished the 2020 season with a 9-9 record, which placed them seventh in the SEC. On Saturday, Aug. 20, the Aggies went up against a competitive Baylor team who finished last season with a 20-7 overall record, placing them second in the Big 12. The game went back-and-forth for the first three matches before the Baylor Bears took control during the middle of the third set.
Both teams came out in set one on their toes. It was a defensive battle on both ends with five lead changes and eight ties throughout. Junior outside hitter Morgan Christon had a remarkable game tonight on the defensive end, leading the team with 12 digs, half of which came from set one. After the final lead change, the Aggies fought to come back and fell short 22-25.
The table turned for the Aggies during the second frame. With only four ties throughout the set, they were able to keep control of the game and had their biggest lead of the night at 22-17. The Aggies ended up winning the set 25-23, with a strong block from senior middle blocker Mallory Talbert.
With the match tied at 1-1, both teams came out with a spark in the third. The maroon and white started hot with an early 7-5 lead. Similar to the first set, they went back and forth with seven ties and two lead changes. However, the Aggies ran out of steam and faced their largest deficit of the night after a 9-0 run by the Baylor Bears. A&M ended up losing set three, 25-17.
The Aggies’s night came to an end during the fourth set after the Bears came out on a 6-0 run. Struggling to cut down the lead, the Aggies fell short and lost the game 3-1.
Despite the defeat, senior middle blocker London Austin-Roark had a great game offensively. Austin-Roark led the team in kills with 11 and held a .625 hitting percentage for the game. Fifth-year setter Camille Conner also finished the game strong with six kills and an outstanding 35 assists out of the 38 total for A&M. Baylor finished the game with 46 kills total, 18 of them from their fifth-year outside hitter Yossiana Pressley of Cypress.
Next week A&M will be heading to the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Classic where they will face off against Marquette on Aug. 27, Fairfield on Aug. 28 and Hawaii for their final game of the tourney on Aug. 29.