A&M ends three-game losing slide by sweeping Oklahoma in Norman
The Aggies are back in the win column.
Texas A&M volleyball was in Norman on Wednesday night for a tilt with Oklahoma, seeking an end to its three-game losing streak.
The Aggies needed to dominate, and that’s exactly what they did to the Sooners. The Maroon & White swept the SEC newcomers, 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-13), and the Ags are now 16-7 overall and 7-6 in conference play.
"This one felt great,” A&M head coach Jamie Morrison said. “The SEC is a grind, and it's a battlefield every time you play, and it's hard to stay true to your principles, and I thought we did a really good job of that today."
The Aggies held an early 3-1 lead in the first set, with junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and junior outside hitter Taylor Humphrey notching a kill each. While Oklahoma tied it at 4-4, A&M quickly built a 10-7 advantage. The Aggies then scored three consecutive points for a 13-7 lead.
Cos-Okpalla and Humphrey did a lot of the heavy lifting in the opening period offensively and had the Ags up 18-10, forcing the Sooners to call a timeout.
With A&M leading 20-11, Oklahoma showed some fight by cutting the deficit to 23-19. However, the Ags did not allow the stanza to get away from them, partly to junior outside hitter Emily Hellmuth.
Hellmuth, who finished the match with eight kills, scored two to help A&M win the first set 25-21.
The second set began similar to the first. The two sides were even at 6-6, but the Aggies again went on a run to go up 11-7 following a service ace from junior middle blocker Morgan Perkins.
Oklahoma kept it close throughout the period, but A&M pushed hard late to pull away. Leading 17-15, the Aggies received some kills from Hellmuth and Perkins again to inch closer to another set win.
Now 21-18, the Sooners didn’t score another point, and Humphrey tacked on yet another kill for the Aggies to win it 25-18. Oklahoma had six total errors in the period, proving instrumental to its defeat.
A&M dominated the final set of the match, and they led 6-1 with their eyes locked on a victory. The Ags poured it on the Sooners, and they were up by as many as 11. Junior opposite Logan Lednicky had five kills in the set and was key in finishing off the win for the Maroon & White.
With the Aggies leading 20-9, Perkins continued her busy day by adding two more kills, and her second kill was the final point A&M needed for a 25-13 triumph. Oklahoma once again was disorganized, as they accumulated 12 total errors in the final period.
A&M needed to get back in the win column and snap its losing streak, and the team finally did so by letting all their frustration out in Norman. The Sooners had just 52 total points in the match to A&M’s 75, and the host had a .218 hitting percentage and a dismal 18 attack errors.
This win was also the first time the Ags have swept a conference opponent this season, and it is their first sweep since Sept. 15 against Louisiana.
"I think it's the fashion that we bounced back in which I was happy with,” Morrison said. “We got dialed in and played really low error and did a really good job across the board. We also played with good balance, getting kills in a lot of different directions, so I'm really happy with how today went."
A&M will have some much-needed time off following Wednesday.
The Aggies’ next game is in nine days on Nov. 22, with a 6:30 p.m. tilt against Georgia at Reed Arena.