Texas A&M volleyball falls to No. 25 San Diego in straight sets, 3-0
Texas A&M volleyball took on its first ranked opponent of the season, No. 25 San Diego on Saturday in Reed Arena.
The Aggies’ second match of the Texas A&M Invitational against the San Diego Toreros ultimately ended in a straight-set loss, 3-0.
Logan Lednicky and Caroline Meuth both registered eight kills throughout the match. The duo also contributed two block assists. Libero Lauren Hogan totaled 12 digs in the match as well.
A&M head coach Bird Kuhn said the Aggies’ struggles were attributed to failure to control the first contact.
“We talked about it, first contact,” Kuhn said. “We had to get them out of system as much as we could, and we had to control the ball on our side.”
In set one, the Toreros started strong, up 11-6 when Kuhn took her first time out of the match. Following the timeout, Meuth responded with a five-point serving run to bring the deficit to 17-14.
After two sets, the Aggies headed into the third looking for a change in pace. Kuhn brought in graduate student Allison Fields, senior Ciera Hecht and freshman Ava Underwood to help Hogan on the back row.
“When everyone comes in they bring such good energy because it does get tiring and sometimes you can’t find a way to score and then someone comes in with bright eyes ready to ball out with you,” Hogan said. “That’s all you need.”
Texas A&M did not give up easily as they went into the third set of the match.
“They made a decision,” Kuhn said. “They decided that they were going to battle.”
The Aggies fought back towards the end of the frame but were not able to close it out as San Diego finished the set off with a score of 25-22.
“We have to find our competitive chemistry as a team and learn how to respond faster in matches like that,” Kuhn said. “The good thing is we have a great opponent again tomorrow to show that response.”
The Aggies are set to conclude the Texas A&M Invitational with No. 6 Pittsburgh tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at Reed Arena.
