Aggies take down Houston in four sets to begin Texas A&M Invitational

Texas A&M volleyball charted a win in four sets (27-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-20) against the University of Houston on Friday night, improving to 4-2 on the season.

The win marks the team’s first victory in the two-day Texas A&M Invitational tournament.

Emerging as a team leader throughout the match, Lauren Davis registered a career-high 21 kills. Morgan Christon put up 21 kills of her own, while Mallory Talbert totaled four blocks and 14 kills, and Camille Conner dished out a match-high 58 assists.

Meredith Tabor, TexAgs

The Aggies will close out the Texas A&M Invitational with matches against Albany and UTSA. 

“We knew Houston was going to be fired up. They were undefeated coming in here. It was going to be a grind. They’re a smart, well-drilled team,” said Texas A&M head coach Bird Kuhn postgame. “It’s an overall team win, and we had some solid performances from our starters. I am proud of the way that we responded as a team.”

Texas A&M came into the with strong momentum following a home win earlier this week, but it was clear that the Cougars were prepared to fight. Both teams managed to tie the score 15 times in the first set until the Aggies finally pulled away for a 27-25 win.

The second set opened with a double block from Treyaunna Rush and Talbert, setting up another victory for the Aggies as they maintained the lead for the entire set.

After claiming the first two sets, Texas A&M stumbled as Houston found their momentum in the third, building a palpable excitement on the court. The set was evenly matched, but Houston pulled away with a 23-20 lead and scored two consecutive kills to close the set.

Despite dropping the previous set, the Aggies revived their energy in the fourth set. Fighting a 12-8 deficit, Texas A&M called a timeout, subbing in Destiny Cox to turn the tide.

“Late in set four, we had people step up and do their jobs when they went in,” Kuhn said. “Destiny came in and took some big swings. When you get your energy, you hear the bench just go nuts. That’s the team. That was part of the spark.”

After a kill from Talbert evened the score at 16-16, Cox slammed three consecutive kills to take the lead, allowing the Aggies to close out the match with a 25-20 in the final set.

This game marked Houston’s first loss of the season, which played a big role in the Aggies’ drive to come back and claim the victory.

“We have a saying that we like to be dream crushers,” Davis said. “Knowing that they started the season 6-0 gave us that extra fire. Tonight was a really big win for us.”

The Aggies continue the tournament this weekend with a Saturday doubleheader against Albany and UTSA at Reed Arena. A&M’s first match is set for 12:20 p.m., with the nightcap beginning at 7:30 p.m.