Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Volleyball
Volleyball: Texas A&M loses heartbreaker to No. 5 Florida 3-2
COLLEGE STATION - The Texas A&M volleyball team 11-10 (3-7) suffered their most heartbreaking match of the season, losing to the fifth ranked Florida Gators 22-2 (11-1) in the final set, 16-14.
Taylor Unroe, Florida’s libero and the nation’s leading server, had a part in the ending.
On match point, Unroe served up her sixth ace, ending the match as the ball rolled over the net.
“She’s the nation’s leading server, it had to be her of course at 13 all,” said Texas A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli. “She just did a great job. It was a beautiful serve. We have two young players out there who just did beautiful jobs fighting against it. She just does a great job.”
Despite Unroe’s heroic finale, Texas A&M was a mere two points shy of upsetting the No. 5 team in the country.
Even after a 25-8 defeat in the third set, giving the Gators a 2-1 lead, the Aggies continued to fight, capturing the fourth set 26-24.
Losing with the ball rolling over the net is better than us not fighting at all. We fought the whole entire match. Third set we kind of fell off a little bit, but as a young team being able to turn it around and to fight the fourth and fifth set; that shows a lot about this team.
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Sophomore outside hitter, Angela Lowak, continually rose to the occasion for Texas A&M, not only providing a spark of energy in pivotal moments but providing 18 kills.
“Losing with the ball rolling over the net is better than us not fighting at all,” said Aggie senior libero, Heather Reynolds. “We fought the whole entire match. Third set we kind of fell off a little bit, but as a young team being able to turn it around and to fight the fourth and fifth set; that shows a lot about this team.”
To go down fighting is always better than simply rolling over, and as Reynolds put it, the Aggies went down swinging.
“Well obviously it was a heartbreaker that we didn’t get the last two points,” said Coach Corbelli. “It wasn’t just those two points. We had some opportunities to go up to 14. We had opportunities, and at the same time I am incredibly proud of the effort the team put in.”
With just seven games left in the regular season, the Aggies will need to continue their hard work in order to avoid a losing conference record.
Texas A&M looks to carry over their effort into their next match this Friday, against Mississippi State in Starkville.
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