The Texas A&M volleyball team dropped a closely contested match 3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 25-27, 25-10) against No. 1 Florida (12-0, 4-0 SEC), falling to 4-7 overall and 1-3 against Southeastern Conference opponents.
“This was one of the best starts we have had,” A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli told 12thMan.com. “I thought the first two sets, we had every opportunity to win. The execution kind of broke down in our serving and passing in set four.”
Errors plagued A&M in the loss, with the Aggies committing 32, compared to Florida’s 16.
The Gators held the Aggies to a .170 hitting percentage, and only .038 in the fourth set. This marked the 11th time the Gators have held an opponent to under .185 this season.
Outside hitter Hollann Hans led the Aggies in kills with 12, and added 13 points, four assists and an ace. Senior outside hitter Kiara McGee followed with 10 kills, 10 points, and two digs.
Carli Snyder led the Gators in points, contributing 19.5 of their 101 total points. The senior also led with 16 kills, and added two aces, two assists, and eight digs. Freshman Paige Hammons added three aces, 12 digs, and six kills. Junior setter Allie Monserez led Florida with 31 assists, and tallied 10 digs and two aces.
The Aggies fell behind early in the first set, with the Gators jumping out to a 1-0 start. Nine ties and four lead changes would follow before Florida would eventually take the set win on a Snyder kill.
Twelve Gator errors in the first game allowed the Aggies to keep the set close with a 7-0 scoring run, tying it up at 21-21, then 22-22, and again at 24-24 with a kill by Hans. Snyder pulled off two consecutive kills to win the first set for Florida 26-24.
The second set played out much the same way, though Florida did not relinquish the lead to the Aggies, who tied the Gators seven times.
A&M fought hard just as they did at the end of the first set, using kills by Blake and Hans to keep the score tied at 18-18, 19-19, and 22-22, though it ultimately did not help as Florida took the 25-23 win with a kill by Rhamat Alhassan.
The third set was the most hard-fought of the night, with six lead changes and 16 ties.
Texas A&M took an early 4-2 lead, starting the set off with two aces by Amy Nettles and Amy Houser in rapid succession. Florida tied with a kill by Snyder, then took the 5-4 lead with an Aggie error. The two teams then went point-for-point for a 12-12 tie. The Aggies then took a 15-13 lead before the Gators came back to tie again.
A streak of six consecutive errors plagued both teams, but ultimately gave the Aggies their largest lead of the night at 23-19. Kills by Florida sophomore Cheyenne Huskey and Alhassan allowed Monserez to tie up the set at 24-all.
McGee saved the set with a crucial kill that allowed Texas A&M to take a winning 27-25 lead over Florida.
The Aggies’ inability to overcome Florida’s aggression in the final moments of the first two sets ultimately proved to be lethal as their chances of an upset ended with a Florida-dominant fourth game.
Florida started off the final set with a 2-0 run that was cut short with a Hans kill. The Aggies kept in step with the Gators until a Huskey kill initiated a Florida run of eight unanswered points to put the Gators in a comfortable 14-5 lead that would last them through to a 25-10 set win and the 3-1 win over the Aggies to remain the only undefeated team in the nation.
Texas A&M will host Mississippi State on Oct. 8 to continue SEC play. The match is slated for 1:30 p.m.