Sunday afternoon, the A&M volleyball team lost to Ole Miss at Reed Arena in four sets; 18-25, 22-25, 25-22 and 16-25. The loss marks the Aggies’ second straight defeat just one weekend before hosting Tennessee next Friday.
Sophomore outside hitter Hollann Hans had 16 kills and 12 digs, her second career double. Freshman setter Camille Conner garnered 39 assists.
Ole Miss started the set on fire, winning eight of the first 10 points. The Aggies crawled back into the set getting as close as 11-9. However, any time the Aggies were able to string a couple points together, they were unable to execute.
Texas A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli said many of the errors the team made were uncharacteristic.
“We had attack errors that were just flying off the hand, just some really odd stuff that is very hard to explain,” Corbelli said.
The Aggies were unable to mount a comeback and Ole Miss took the first set 25-18.
The second set was much more competitive as the Aggies got out to an early 9-5 lead. Ole Miss then won 10 out of the next 11 points. A&M made a comeback later in the set, winning seven straight points and tying the score up at 21-21. The Rebels then won four out of the next five points, and clinched a 2-0 lead in match.
“We just can’t seem to get anything going for very long,” Corbelli said. “It’s a little bit of fight here and there but not all the time.”
The Aggies seemed to finally be clicking in the third set, thanks in large part to Hans’s coming alive with six kills and three digs. The Aggies battled to a 20-20 tie and won five out of the next seven points, narrowing their margin to 2-1.
Hans and senior Kiara McGee were bright spots in the fourth set, with six and four kills respectively. The Aggies had seven errors as opposed to Ole Miss’s two, which made a big difference in the set. Ole Miss handily won the fourth set 25-16 and clinched the match with three wins and just one loss.
Two losses this weekend will make it very tough for the Aggies to make a run at the NCAA tournament; however, Corbelli says the team won’t let up their fight.
“You never stop the 12-hour days with your team, with video, team meetings and player meetings,” Corbelli said. “We’ll have to have a staff meeting to see what changes we’re going to make. The team needs to make a change in mindset.”
A bright spot for the Aggies was freshman middle blocker Morgan Davis who came in for the second set and had three kills. Davis has played in just nine sets since the start of the season; however, she dominated at the net against the Rebels. Davis finished the match with seven kills.
“[Davis] does that every day in practice and it was just time to get her on the floor,” Corbelli said. “She was on fire today and helped us win set three for sure.”
The Aggies will get back to work in practice this week and host the Volunteers on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. in Reed Arena.