Texas A&M ends slide with sweep over No. 16 Kentucky at Reed Arena
Texas A&M volleyball ended their six-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over No. 16 Kentucky on Saturday at Reed Arena.
The team hit at a .252 clip, bringing in 43 kills and 10 total blocks on the day.
The Aggies came out with high energy, looking for a win after a hard-fought five-set loss earlier in the week in Arkansas. Leading the effort was senior middle blocker Madison Bowser, who finished the day with 10 kills and four blocks. Freshman Lexi Guinn followed behind with a career-high 10 kills of her own.
In the first set, middles Bowser and Molly Brown were put to work early, totaling eight kills. The Wildcats stayed point-for-point with the Aggies throughout the set until setter Elena Karakasi ultimately finished it with a kill, 25-23.
grinding, but to finish and come out and be that focused and locked in, they set the tone today.”
“Personally, we have been working on forcing the middles all week, and I think we executed that today,” Bowser said. “Our offense was pretty spread out, and their blockers didn’t know what to do.”
Heading into the second set, the energy remained high and the Aggies took on an early lead. After a handful of kills from Kentucky and several hitting errors on A&M’s side, the Wildcats tied up the score going into the end of the set. With back-to-back kills and blocks from both teams, graduate transfer Caroline Meuth closed the set out with an ace, 27-25.
The third set was controlled by the Aggies from start to finish.
Bowser set the tone with a kill to score the first point for the team right away. After a handful of long rallies, Guinn took control and placed a kill right on the line to put the Aggies up 20-15.
Two more kills from Guinn brought the Aggies within reach of the sweep, and standout freshman Logan Lednicky finished the job with a kill, closing the match 25-20.
“I’m proud of this team. They were locked in, they knew the scout, and they executed,” A&M
head coach Bird Kuhn said. “I’m proud of them for so many reasons because they’ve been
grinding, but to finish and come out and be that focused and locked in, they set the tone today.”
The Aggies will take on Kentucky again tomorrow at 2 p.m. CT.