On Friday at Reed Arena, the Texas A&M volleyball team lost to South Carolina, 3-2. This is their second loss to the Gamecocks this season and was also their Daddy Daughter night.
It was a night filled with career-highs for the Aggies. Freshman middle blocker Mallory Talbert and junior opposite hitter Sydney Fields set their career-highs in kills with nine and eight kills.
Sophomore setter Camille Connor also had a career-high game with 21 digs and senior libero Amy Houser led all players with her career-high of 26 digs.
As a result of the strong defensive performance, the Aggies finished with a season-high of 93 digs.
Also noteworthy was junior outside hitter Hollann Hans, who had her 14th double-double of the season and is now tied for fifth place in the A&M all-time record with 50 aces. Hans is only nine aces away from the program record, which was set in 1983.
Aggie-first year head coach Laura Kuhn said she is looking to improve her team’s response when in a tough game.
“That was a rough match for us start to finish.” Kuhn told 12thman.com “I just kept saying in the huddles this is that match where you have to grind. At the end of the day, it’s on our staff to figure out how to get the response to be different, the feeling to be different in those situations.”
The Gamecocks opened strong in the first set. They outhit the Aggies .276 to .074 in the frame. A&M fought hard and was able to capitalize a 3-0 spurt to get within two points of South Carolina, but ultimately lost the set.
Things began to look up for the Aggies during the second set. Hans had 10 kills in the set and A&M outhit South Carolina overall. The set was well fought and featured 10 lead changes, before A&M emerged as the winner.
South Carolina captured an early 13-1 lead during the third set. The difference was too much for the Aggies to overcome, who fell to the Gamecocks 25-15.
The fourth set was very close throughout. A&M capitalized on a 4-0 run to build a 11-6 lead. The Gamecocks came back and took the lead, 21-17. Back-to-back kills by Fields put the Aggies within 21-19. An A&M error put South Carolina at set point, but the Aggies posted two kills to tie the score, 24-24.
After multiple service errors and kills, the game was again tied at 25-25. Another A&M error put South Carolina up by one point, but a service error by them tied the score once again. The Gamecocks recaptured the lead with a kill, but errors allowed the Aggies to close out a 29-7 win.
The Gamecocks came out extremely strong during the final set and captured a 14-3 lead. The Aggies fought back and strung together consecutive points to make the score 14-8. South Carolina then delivered the set and match-winning kills.