Game 11 - Conference Game #1
Aggies Record (8-2)
Opponent: #21 Missouri Tigers (8-3)
Date: September 24th
Time: 6:00pm
Location: THE BEAUTIFUL REED ARENA
Streaming: ESPN2
Tickets: https://12thmanfoundation.evenue.net/event/VB25/VB04?RSRC=SIDEARM&RDAT=sgl
Stats: https://12thman.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Game Preview
It just means more. Conference play is here. 15 games, every single team in the conference. It's time! Southeastern Conference plays for your #13 Texas A&M Aggies begins as they will host the #21 Missouri Tigers. Two sweet sixteen teams in 2024 and two teams with lofty goals in 2025. Everyone who can, make you way to Reed Arena on Wednesday for the huge and important matchup.
In the preseason conference poll the Aggies were picked 3rd with Mizzou right behind us in 4th. Now that non conference is over, it's time to take care of business and position ourselves in a great position to be able to host in the postseason (top 16 overall seed). The conference it seems is extremely top heavy. Texas and Kentucky are two of the best teams in the country currently. Us, Florida, Missouri, and Tennessee are ranked in the top 25 as well. Starting 1-0 would be vital and huge for us, especially given the competition.
Non conference saw us win 8 games. For a little recap, we began the season in South Dakota where we took down a strong top 15 team in Minnesota. We returned home and swept Rice before taking down Central Arkansas in a tight one. We then traveled to Salt Lake City and swept ranked Utah, and then traveled north to Logan, Utah where we took down Utah State in 4 sets. Ranked #8, we had another back to back on the road were we we would take on ranked teams SMU and TCU. We unfortunately were knocked down and picked up two losses, swept at SMU and a 5 set loss at TCU. We would then have a week off before hosting our own invitational AND FIRST HOME MATCH. In the Texas A&M Invitational we swept Southeastern Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Loyala Marymount.
Through non conference we showcased our versatility on offense. Maddie Waak distributed the ball around the court as she has weapons at both pins, Logan Lednicky, Kyndal Stowers, and Emily Hellmuth. She also got the middles Ifenna Cos-Okaplla and Morgan Perkins heavily involved from the middle. Waak of late has even called her own number. Defensively, we have Ava Underwood and Addi Applegate in the back row. Their play looked phenomenal this past weekend after some hiccups in the DFW. Our block has been great at times but can be a little more consistent through each set. Our defense will be important through to carry us through SEC play. We'll need to keep spreading the ball around, but it all starts with a clean first touch. Out of the back row or a great block at the net. We have been cleaning up the service errors, but not many aces are coming with it. We'll need to serve a lot harder and more efficient.
Looking at MIssouri, they too won 8 games in non conference, but picked up one more loss. I believe they had a much easier schooled thus far. They have nor ranked wins and lost against their two ranked opponents, Stanford and TCU, picking up a set against each. They were also upset against Arkansas State. Their wins came against James Madison, Florida Gulf Coast, Arkansas State, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Valparaiso, Chicago State, and Western Illinois.
After reaching the sweet sixteen last year, they had to replace their two pins Jordon Iliff and Mychael Vernon. They brought in transfer Caylen Alexander from Hawaii who has some of the best hitting numbers in the country. It also helps that they returned one of the best setters in the country and one of the best liberos in Maya Sands. Tough serving is a must against Mizzou with their excellent back row play and great setting.
A concern I have is their tough and efficient serving. Even after losing Iliff who was one of the best, they have some strong servers. It's always a point of emphasis for their teams. In 11 matches they have more than double the amount of aces we have. We have 40 and they have 85. However, they only have 65 service errors which is unbelievable compared to their aces. On the other hand, we have 106 service errors. They have 4 players with more than 10 aces, we have 1 with more than 5. This could easily make or break the match. So we must have our best defensive performance of the season. I do think Mizzou doesn't have a strong block so if we can handle their serves I think we can score easily.
On our side let's hope Underwood and Applegate bring their A game, but we'll also need some outsides to have be strong on serve receive. We know how strong we can be when everything is humming nicely. Last season we needed a reverse sweep to take down Mizzou. Their serve won them the first two sets and we found ourselves in a hole multiple times. We need to dictate the match early. We need to swing hard and take advantage when we can. I'd also love to see Logan Lednicky have a huge game. Her power hasn't been there lately and teams are able to return her shots, hopefully if we can get the middles going early, we can open up things for Lednicky. In these tough games we need to lean on her and have her produce. She has the ability to take over an entire match. She got to rest a lot this past weekend.
I'm also hoping the home crowd could make a difference. For an invitational against smaller teams, there was a great crowd. But I think the crowd could and should be bigger Wednesday evening! Maybe we can throw them off. They've been on the road against Arkansas State and TCU and lost both. Their other road games were Florida Gulf Coast and Western Illinois which they won. I hope we see a big crowd of maroon that can really impact the game.
All that matters right now is game 1 and starting 1-0. Not only will winking the first one be important, it will be against a huge opponent who will be near the top of the conference standings. Let's put on a show at home and start conference play the right way! BTHO mizzou!!!
Aggies Record (8-2)
Opponent: #21 Missouri Tigers (8-3)
Date: September 24th
Time: 6:00pm
Location: THE BEAUTIFUL REED ARENA
Streaming: ESPN2
Tickets: https://12thmanfoundation.evenue.net/event/VB25/VB04?RSRC=SIDEARM&RDAT=sgl
Stats: https://12thman.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Game Preview
It just means more. Conference play is here. 15 games, every single team in the conference. It's time! Southeastern Conference plays for your #13 Texas A&M Aggies begins as they will host the #21 Missouri Tigers. Two sweet sixteen teams in 2024 and two teams with lofty goals in 2025. Everyone who can, make you way to Reed Arena on Wednesday for the huge and important matchup.
In the preseason conference poll the Aggies were picked 3rd with Mizzou right behind us in 4th. Now that non conference is over, it's time to take care of business and position ourselves in a great position to be able to host in the postseason (top 16 overall seed). The conference it seems is extremely top heavy. Texas and Kentucky are two of the best teams in the country currently. Us, Florida, Missouri, and Tennessee are ranked in the top 25 as well. Starting 1-0 would be vital and huge for us, especially given the competition.
Non conference saw us win 8 games. For a little recap, we began the season in South Dakota where we took down a strong top 15 team in Minnesota. We returned home and swept Rice before taking down Central Arkansas in a tight one. We then traveled to Salt Lake City and swept ranked Utah, and then traveled north to Logan, Utah where we took down Utah State in 4 sets. Ranked #8, we had another back to back on the road were we we would take on ranked teams SMU and TCU. We unfortunately were knocked down and picked up two losses, swept at SMU and a 5 set loss at TCU. We would then have a week off before hosting our own invitational AND FIRST HOME MATCH. In the Texas A&M Invitational we swept Southeastern Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Loyala Marymount.
Through non conference we showcased our versatility on offense. Maddie Waak distributed the ball around the court as she has weapons at both pins, Logan Lednicky, Kyndal Stowers, and Emily Hellmuth. She also got the middles Ifenna Cos-Okaplla and Morgan Perkins heavily involved from the middle. Waak of late has even called her own number. Defensively, we have Ava Underwood and Addi Applegate in the back row. Their play looked phenomenal this past weekend after some hiccups in the DFW. Our block has been great at times but can be a little more consistent through each set. Our defense will be important through to carry us through SEC play. We'll need to keep spreading the ball around, but it all starts with a clean first touch. Out of the back row or a great block at the net. We have been cleaning up the service errors, but not many aces are coming with it. We'll need to serve a lot harder and more efficient.
Looking at MIssouri, they too won 8 games in non conference, but picked up one more loss. I believe they had a much easier schooled thus far. They have nor ranked wins and lost against their two ranked opponents, Stanford and TCU, picking up a set against each. They were also upset against Arkansas State. Their wins came against James Madison, Florida Gulf Coast, Arkansas State, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Valparaiso, Chicago State, and Western Illinois.
After reaching the sweet sixteen last year, they had to replace their two pins Jordon Iliff and Mychael Vernon. They brought in transfer Caylen Alexander from Hawaii who has some of the best hitting numbers in the country. It also helps that they returned one of the best setters in the country and one of the best liberos in Maya Sands. Tough serving is a must against Mizzou with their excellent back row play and great setting.
A concern I have is their tough and efficient serving. Even after losing Iliff who was one of the best, they have some strong servers. It's always a point of emphasis for their teams. In 11 matches they have more than double the amount of aces we have. We have 40 and they have 85. However, they only have 65 service errors which is unbelievable compared to their aces. On the other hand, we have 106 service errors. They have 4 players with more than 10 aces, we have 1 with more than 5. This could easily make or break the match. So we must have our best defensive performance of the season. I do think Mizzou doesn't have a strong block so if we can handle their serves I think we can score easily.
On our side let's hope Underwood and Applegate bring their A game, but we'll also need some outsides to have be strong on serve receive. We know how strong we can be when everything is humming nicely. Last season we needed a reverse sweep to take down Mizzou. Their serve won them the first two sets and we found ourselves in a hole multiple times. We need to dictate the match early. We need to swing hard and take advantage when we can. I'd also love to see Logan Lednicky have a huge game. Her power hasn't been there lately and teams are able to return her shots, hopefully if we can get the middles going early, we can open up things for Lednicky. In these tough games we need to lean on her and have her produce. She has the ability to take over an entire match. She got to rest a lot this past weekend.
I'm also hoping the home crowd could make a difference. For an invitational against smaller teams, there was a great crowd. But I think the crowd could and should be bigger Wednesday evening! Maybe we can throw them off. They've been on the road against Arkansas State and TCU and lost both. Their other road games were Florida Gulf Coast and Western Illinois which they won. I hope we see a big crowd of maroon that can really impact the game.
All that matters right now is game 1 and starting 1-0. Not only will winking the first one be important, it will be against a huge opponent who will be near the top of the conference standings. Let's put on a show at home and start conference play the right way! BTHO mizzou!!!
