Texas A&M volleyball traveled east this weekend for the West Kentucky University Invitational, its last tournament of the season and the final stretch of non-conference play. The first game of three was against Indiana University on Friday, Sept. 16, and it ended in a hard loss for the Aggies.
A&M took the court against Indiana for the first time since 2018 with high energy from its five-win streak. Freshman opposite hitter Logan Lednicky was named back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday, Sept. 12, and she carried her fuel onto the court. A&M delivered a strong performance during the match but ultimately lost to the Hoosiers in a four-set battle.
Set 1 took off with a quick run by the Aggies to a 13-4 lead and caused Indiana to call their first timeout early in the matchup. A&M continued to push to 21 points with the Hoosiers struggling. Both teams played lagging with back-and-forth errors, and a kill by graduate outside hitter Caroline Meuth finished the set with a 25-19 win for A&M.
The second set started off with more sluggish play. A&M called its first timeout to regain focus after falling into a 4-point hole. Indiana kept the momentum and pushed to 15-10, causing another timeout by the Aggies. Tensions were high at 24-19, with Indiana on the brink of taking Set 2. The Aggies battled back on a 3-point run, but Indiana answered with a kill and won the second set.
The back-and-forth play continued into Set 3, with no one commanding the court at the start. Indiana took off with the game’s energy at the midway point and forced back-to-back A&M timeouts. The Hoosiers won the third set 25-19, but not without a great effort from the Aggies.
The fourth set was full of big swings on both sides of the net, and neither team could go on a long run without a defensive error to cut it off. The maroon and white battled all the way to a 23-all score with no clear winner in sight. A&M called a timeout in hopes of keeping the game win from its opponents. Indiana came out strong with an ace and kill to secure the Set 4 and game win 25-23. This type of high-pressure play against a skilled team is valuable for A&M going forward as conference play begins next week against Ole Miss on Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn gave her overall thoughts on the match and expressed the need to bounce back before facing off with WKU later that same day.
“We need to do a better job at staying locked in at the beginning and keeping our focus throughout the match,” Kuhn said. “Indiana is a good team, and we’ve got another tough opponent tonight in Western Kentucky. We always talk about the response, so we need to reset and get ready for tonight’s match.”
A&M will play Western Kentucky Friday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. The tournament will conclude Sunday, Sept. 18, at noon against Tennessee Tech for the first matchup in program history.