Game 12 - Conference Game #3
Aggies Record (10-2, 2-0)
Opponent: South Carolina Gamecocks (6-6, 0-2)
Date: October 1st
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Carolina Volleyball Center - Columbia, South Carolina
Streaming: SEC Network
Tickets:
Stats: https://12thman.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Game Preview
Week 2 of conference play beings Wednesday for your top ten Texas A&M Aggies as they hit the road again to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina comes into the match at an even 6-6, but they dropped their first two conference matches by getting swept to both Kentucky and Tennessee. Their brutal stretch to being conference play continues as they will host the on fire Aggies who are on a 5 match winning streak and took down ranked Mizzou 3-1 and swept Vandy 3-0.
South Carolina began the season with a couple easy matches where they swept East Tennessee State and Campbell before falling to Clemson. They then needed 5 sets to take down Coastal Carolina before they lost 3 straight to Florida State, USF, and NC State. They then grabbed a huge upset over ranked North Carolina and added a couple easy wins against Wofford and USC Upstate.
In their two conference games where they got swept they were really only close in 1 set. They did push Kentucky to a 29-27 set. In both matches they had 10 service errors and hit .143 and .144. Both matches were on the road. We will be their first home conference match. They have an intimate home court that can get loud due to its small size and intimate setting.
South Carolina has a 3 headed attack led by outside hitter Nia Hall. The 5'10 outside hitter is their leader in kills and they run a lot of their offense through her. Their second outside hitter is 5'10 as well. While they don't have a lot of heights at the pin, they have a 6'5 middle in Emily Beeker. They aren't a strong blocking team outside of her, so our offense should be able to execute efficiently. They aren't an efficient serving team either. Where they try to do most of their damage is through a fast offense.
Being on the road in the SEC is never easy, but having a veteran team who's played in tough environments will benefit us. This season alone we've been on the road plenty. So we must have a strong start to establish ourselves and put the pressure on them. Our serving has been improving as has our block. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla is a big reason for that. She is playing herself into a first team all-American honor. I expect her numbers to keep rising. With a weak block from South Carolina, hopefully we can move the ball efficiently and quickly to have clean windows to hit from. Kyndal Stowers has been hitting efficiently and I expect that to continue. Ava Underwood and Addi Applegate looked great last week, hopefully that continues through conference play.
This year there is no double opponents. There are 15 conference games. In a year where we are fighting to host the first two rounds of the tournament, it is imperative we continue to collect wins and avoid slip ups or trap games. We got 2 wins, time to collect a couple more because in less than 2 weeks #3 Kentucky comes to Reed Arena. But first, going on the road and taking down South Carolina is next up! Moving to 3-0 would be awesome, there are only 6 undefeated teams in conference play after 2 matches. BTHO s.carolina
Stat Leaders - SC (per set)
Kills
Nia Hall - 3.36
Alayna Johnson - 2.87
Elise Marchal - 2.68
Assists
Sarah Jordan - 5.84
Jimmie Thompson - 3.98
Aces
Alayna Johnson - 0.27
Elizabeth McElveen - 0.26
Anne Bing - 0.25
Blocks
Emily Bleeker - 1.00
Elise Marchal - 0.64
Digs
Victoria Harris - 3.89
Victoria Hill - 1.89
Stat Leaders - Texas A&M (per set)
Kills
Logan Lednicky - 3.67
Kyndal Stowers - 3.24
Emily Hellmuth - 3.12
Assists
Maddie Waak - 11.51
Aces
Maddie Waak - 0.35
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla - 0.23
Blocks
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla 1.58
Morgan Perkins - 0.79
Logan Lednicky - 0.77
Digs
Ava Underwood - 3.12
Kyndal Stowers - 2.61
Logan Lednicky - 2.54
Aggies Record (10-2, 2-0)
Opponent: South Carolina Gamecocks (6-6, 0-2)
Date: October 1st
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Carolina Volleyball Center - Columbia, South Carolina
Streaming: SEC Network
Tickets:
Stats: https://12thman.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Game Preview
Week 2 of conference play beings Wednesday for your top ten Texas A&M Aggies as they hit the road again to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina comes into the match at an even 6-6, but they dropped their first two conference matches by getting swept to both Kentucky and Tennessee. Their brutal stretch to being conference play continues as they will host the on fire Aggies who are on a 5 match winning streak and took down ranked Mizzou 3-1 and swept Vandy 3-0.
South Carolina began the season with a couple easy matches where they swept East Tennessee State and Campbell before falling to Clemson. They then needed 5 sets to take down Coastal Carolina before they lost 3 straight to Florida State, USF, and NC State. They then grabbed a huge upset over ranked North Carolina and added a couple easy wins against Wofford and USC Upstate.
In their two conference games where they got swept they were really only close in 1 set. They did push Kentucky to a 29-27 set. In both matches they had 10 service errors and hit .143 and .144. Both matches were on the road. We will be their first home conference match. They have an intimate home court that can get loud due to its small size and intimate setting.
South Carolina has a 3 headed attack led by outside hitter Nia Hall. The 5'10 outside hitter is their leader in kills and they run a lot of their offense through her. Their second outside hitter is 5'10 as well. While they don't have a lot of heights at the pin, they have a 6'5 middle in Emily Beeker. They aren't a strong blocking team outside of her, so our offense should be able to execute efficiently. They aren't an efficient serving team either. Where they try to do most of their damage is through a fast offense.
Being on the road in the SEC is never easy, but having a veteran team who's played in tough environments will benefit us. This season alone we've been on the road plenty. So we must have a strong start to establish ourselves and put the pressure on them. Our serving has been improving as has our block. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla is a big reason for that. She is playing herself into a first team all-American honor. I expect her numbers to keep rising. With a weak block from South Carolina, hopefully we can move the ball efficiently and quickly to have clean windows to hit from. Kyndal Stowers has been hitting efficiently and I expect that to continue. Ava Underwood and Addi Applegate looked great last week, hopefully that continues through conference play.
This year there is no double opponents. There are 15 conference games. In a year where we are fighting to host the first two rounds of the tournament, it is imperative we continue to collect wins and avoid slip ups or trap games. We got 2 wins, time to collect a couple more because in less than 2 weeks #3 Kentucky comes to Reed Arena. But first, going on the road and taking down South Carolina is next up! Moving to 3-0 would be awesome, there are only 6 undefeated teams in conference play after 2 matches. BTHO s.carolina
Stat Leaders - SC (per set)
Kills
Nia Hall - 3.36
Alayna Johnson - 2.87
Elise Marchal - 2.68
Assists
Sarah Jordan - 5.84
Jimmie Thompson - 3.98
Aces
Alayna Johnson - 0.27
Elizabeth McElveen - 0.26
Anne Bing - 0.25
Blocks
Emily Bleeker - 1.00
Elise Marchal - 0.64
Digs
Victoria Harris - 3.89
Victoria Hill - 1.89
Stat Leaders - Texas A&M (per set)
Kills
Logan Lednicky - 3.67
Kyndal Stowers - 3.24
Emily Hellmuth - 3.12
Assists
Maddie Waak - 11.51
Aces
Maddie Waak - 0.35
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla - 0.23
Blocks
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla 1.58
Morgan Perkins - 0.79
Logan Lednicky - 0.77
Digs
Ava Underwood - 3.12
Kyndal Stowers - 2.61
Logan Lednicky - 2.54
