The Texas A&M volleyball team was swept by Arkansas tonight 25-20, 25-17, and 26-24 in a one-sided affair.
The Aggies came out with a slightly modified lineup with junior Amy Houser starting the match for the Aggies.
“[Amy] Houser’s been passing really well in practice every single day and consistency is really important for us. I totally trust her with passing,” head coach Laurie Corbelli said.
The early part of the first set was very competitive with the two teams trading off points. The Aggies went up 12-10, however, Arkansas won five out of the next seven points and were in control of the set, leading 17-12.
Freshman setter Camille Conner was dominant in the first set, getting several sneaky kills that looked like they were going to be sets. The Aggies were relentless, however, attacking errors prohibited them from them from overcoming the deficit.
“We blocked better than them tonight and I did see some bright spots but man, [offensively] we were having a hard time even making contact with the ball,” Corbelli said.
Attacking errors have plagued the Aggies were the majority of the season, however, Corbelli has emphasized that, that’s not the case in practice so, she’s been unable to pinpoint why that’s the case in games.
“It’s a mystery to me, it’s really exhausting for me to try to figure this out,” Corbelli said.
The Aggies’ errors in tandem with strong play at the net by Arkansas senior outside hitter Pilar Victoria resulted in Arkansas taking the first set 25-20.
The Aggies seemed to have turned things around and got into a bit of a rhythm in the second set. Sophomore middle blocker Maddie Douglas was a huge part of the Aggies success early on in the set, with three kills.
The set was very competitive early on, with eight tie scores and four lead changes. The Aggies held a 17-16 lead, however, Arkansas rattled off the next nine points and won the set 25-17.
“There’s no excuse for us to not finish games. We do drills all the time in practice where we’re behind, and we have to come back. That’s another thing that wasn’t there tonight, the mentality of ‘finish this game,’” senior outside hitter Kiara McGee said.
McGee led an Aggie team that looked determined to avenge their two set losses in the third set. The Aggies held a 20-14 lead, however, the storyline was the same in the third set: the Aggies were quite simply unable to finish the set.
Arkansas won 10 out of the last 13 points and won the match in straight sets, 3-0.
The Aggies finished the match with 26 attack errors, which Douglas said is very difficult to overcome.
“We had 26 hitting errors and they had six blocks. We can give them the six blocks, that’s okay, but 26 hitting errors that’s going to sting a little bit,” Douglas said.
Corbelli was very disappointed in how the Aggies played especially after their strong performance against Auburn.
“They [Arkansas] were much better than us tonight, they deserved that win completely. We were pretty pathetic,” Corbelli said.
The Aggies will look to reframe their mindset and get back to playing Aggie volleyball when they take on Ole Miss on Sunday. McGee says the biggest thing for the Aggies will be playing with confidence and not playing not to make a mistake.
“Everyone needs to come to the games with the same mentality that we have in practices. We’re in practices playing the best volleyball that we can play and then we come to games and we’re conservative. We can’t expect to win that way,” McGee said.
The Aggies will host Ole Miss (4-5 SEC), at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday at Reed Arena in a match that is pivotal for the Aggies hopes of making the NCAA tournament.
“We need to win out, we don’t have a choice,” Douglas said.