Game Preview
It's time to dance. The NCAA Tournament is here folks and it's time for our Texas A&M fightin' Aggies to make a run this postseason. The Aggies after a 23 win season earned a 3 seed in the tourney and earned the right to host the first two rounds in the NCAA Tournament. That's right, postseason volleyball is here in College Station, Texas.
Our first round match we will host Campbell University, the Coastal Champions on Friday at 6:30. Obviously we will go in favored and have a huge advantage, but we must take care of business. That starts with playing our brand of volleyball. A great block and an offense where everybody eats!
Many of you know and for those who are knew we have 9 seniors on this squad. We didn't make the tourney in 2022. We got ousted in the first round in 2023. We got our heartbroken in a 5 set loss in the sweet sixteen last season. Now we have 9 seniors ready to make a run. It's now or never. The next game is not promised, it's win or go home.
Logan Lednicky, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Ava Underwood, Lexi Guinn, Morgan Perkins, Maddie Waak, Emily Hellmuth, Tatum Thomas, Taylor Humphrey. 9 seniors. All felt the heartbreak after that Wisconsin game. This season we came in with lofty expectations, they delivered. 23 wins, runner up in the SEC, 4 top 25 wins. Now all that is in the past and it's time to make a run.
First up we'll have Campbell and then play the winner of TCU and Stephen F Austin. We will host both of these matches on Friday and Saturday in Reed Arena so be there and be loud! Campbell has a great record but obviously with a much weaker schedule. We have one common opponent and that is South Carolina. Campbell got swept by them and we beat them 3-1 early in conference play. Campbell also played two other power 4 teams, Clemson and Northwestern, and got swept by both. They lost 3 conference matches and won their two conference tourney games in 5 sets. They were also 6-22 last year so the turnaround is impressive.
Their best two players are senior #18 Gwen Wolkow and their freshman from Poland #14 Maja Daca. They're both outsides that get set most of the time. Daca has 49 aces on the year, but does also have a lot of service errors, so she'll be bringing the heat. In comprising we only have two with more than 20 aces. Cos-Okpalla (33) and Waak (25). If Campbell wants to stay in each set they'll need to rely on a run with Daca serving. They do have two Texans on the roster and both are seniors so I'm glad they get to play one last time in front of all their friends and family!
In just his 3rd season, Jamie Morrison has us hosting in the NCAA Tournament. Any team both Campbell and a potential second round matchup are going to walk into a hostile environment. Reed is going to be rocking, it's going to be loud, it's going to be fun. Be part of the success and cheer on your Aggies! Get to Reed Arena, game starts at 6:30 Friday night! Saturday's game will be at 7:00. But first let's take care of business and BTHO campbell!!!
