COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M volleyball (7-3) saw its six-match win streak come to an end Friday night in its toughest test of the 2021 season, taking No. 1 Texas (8-0) to four sets before ultimately falling, 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 29-27), in front of a raucous and historic Reed Arena crowd.
The program set a new attendance record, welcoming 6,822 members of the 12th Man into Reed Arena, demolishing a previous program-high by over 2,000 attendees. That gathering of Aggies joins a list of nine other matches against Texas that compose A&M volleyball’s top-10 home attendance records. Additionally, Friday night’s match proved to be the third-largest crowd to view an Aggie volleyball match, irrespective of location.
Multiple Aggies finished with impressive statistical performances, including double-doubles from both Camille Conner and Morgan Christon. Conner dished out 41 assists with 10 digs, while Christon amassed 16 kills and 11 digs. London Austin-Roark compiled a new season high in kills with 13 successful swings, hitting at an impressive .455 clip, while adding a pair of blocks and two key service aces. Lauren Davis rounded out the Aggies attack, logging 10 kills in the four-set effort.
Destiny Cox lifted the lid off of Reed Arena with her first kill of the match, and the Aggies deadlocked the first set at five. A&M and Texas continued to exchange points in the early going, with the Aggies taking a 15-14 lead at the media intermission. The Maroon & White led by as many as four points at 19-15, but Texas battled back with a 9-2 scoring run to take the first set, 25-22.
The Longhorns lurched out to a 6-2 lead early on, forcing Texas A&M into a timeout. Texas’ momentum carried forward toward the middle of the set, and after a quick Longhorn timeout, they rattled off a 5-1 run to build a 20-11 advantage. Texas closed the frame on a 3-0 run, and took the second, 25-14.
Set three opened with a kill from Talbert, and a pair of successful smashes from Austin-Roark, to lead Texas A&M to a quick 3-1 lead. Back-to-back Aggie points by Davis and Talbert gave the Maroon & White a 17-13 edge, and a resounding smash from Christon paved the way for a 19-15 advantage. Texas managed to pull ahead by one, but a 3-0 jaunt led by Austin-Roark placed the Aggies on the precipice of taking their first set of the match, 24-22. A dig and a kill by Christon from the back row off a Conner set gave A&M a 25-22 win to force a fourth set.
Texas bounced back with a 5-1 run to open the fourth frame, but Christon’s 10th kill of the match stymied the Longhorn effort. Kills by Davis and Talbert bookended a 4-0 scoring run for the Maroon & White, shifting momentum and giving the Aggies a 9-8 lead. Both squads went back and forth, totaling 17 ties and four lead changes in the set. Multiple exchanges led to a 27-all deadlock, but the Longhorns eventually stole the finale by a score of 29-27.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M volleyball prepares to enter its 10th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference next Wednesday, September 22, when it travels to Alabama. First serve between the Aggies and Crimson Tide at Foster Auditorium is scheduled for 6 p.m.
BIRD BITS
Texas A&M Head Coach, Laura “Bird” Kuhn
Overall thoughts on the match…
“I am proud of the way we fought for sure, but we have to play to win and to finish, especially when you have the pressure on them. We’ve now proven who we are and who we can be and now it’s just being consistent. We say it all the time – how consistent can you be every day in your behaviors, in how you’re competing, just being a teammate and training, not only in big matches but all the time. That’s how you become consistent.”
On the environment and energy…
“The 12th Man was amazing. I believe we broke the attendance record by 2,200 so that’s awesome. What a great way to start the weekend off with all the home events. I’m proud of that.”
Senior setter Camille Conner
On offensive production out of the middle…
“The first contact is huge, especially when we want to run our middles that fast. I think tonight we had a lot of really good moments of our first contact being on-point and our middles were up, and up fast so they were able to score.”
On the energy brought by the 12th Man…
“This is my fifth year here and there has never been an atmosphere as alive as tonight. I don’t know if that is because of COVID or what, but it was so cool to see that many people there and every single point they were cheering. There was not a moment I remember people sitting down and that is really cool to see as a fifth-year senior.”
Senior middle blocker London Austin-Roark…
On battling with the Longhorns…
“It is something we talked about in the locker room, minimizing those errors is going to take us to the next level, especially against this team (Texas). You know you have to match their energy, if not even more, so those errors kind of kept us out. But I think if we practice that, we will keep getting better and that Is going to take us to the next level.”
Message to the fans…
“I just want to give a huge thank you to the 12th Man. I wish we could have brought home that win for them, but I think it was amazing and something I will never forget, and I hope I get to see that again. I definitely think that they (Texas) made some errors that were completely due to the 12th Man and I think that’s amazing that they can pitch in like that.”
