COLLEGE STATION, Texas — John Cook ranked Nebraska’s road match at Texas A&M among the toughest the Huskers would play in 2009.
Now everybody knows why.
The Aggies snapped their decade-long, 19-match losing skid against the Nebraska volleyball team, rolling to a 28-26, 17-25, 25-19, 25-19 victory Wednesday night over the sixth-ranked Huskers. A&M hadn’t defeated Nebraska since 1999, one year before Cook took over as coach.
The win set off a wild celebration among the rowdy crowd of 1,867 at Reed Arena, and the victory should vault the Aggies into the Top 25 next week. A&M (9-1, 2-0 Big 12) boasts a senior-heavy roster, and this same group came just two points shy of upending Nebraska last year in College Station.
But even though Cook knew that the Aggies would have advantages on their home court, the coach was upset that his team made things so easy for A&M.
Nebraska (9-3, 2-1) gave away 11 points on serving errors and allowed A&M to register a 6-2 edge in ace serves. Save for the second set, Cook said the Huskers didn’t do anything to rattle the Aggies out of their offense. During the last half of the match, the coach said, A&M almost set up its attack at will.
“It was all about serving and passing. We were bad serving tonight, and we were horrible passing,” Cook said. “If we could’ve won game one, we might win that match 3-0. But A&M knew it was going to win, because it became clear that we weren’t doing anything to pressure them late in the match.”
In losing the back-and-forth opener, Nebraska failed to score on its three chances at set point. Even worse, the Aggies scored five times in that game on NU service errors.
Sydney Anderson opened set two intent on making up for NU’s struggles from the line. The junior setter served nine straight as Nebraska strung together 10 consecutive points and jumped out to a 10-1 lead.
But that success was short-lived, and in the third it was A&M that built a big lead and cruised to an easy victory. The Aggies did exactly the same thing in the final set, going up 11-4. Nebraska fought back to within 20-17, but A&M took a timeout and easily closed out the match.
Sarah Ammerman led the Aggies with 18 kills, while Mary Batis added 14 more and finished with three aces. A&M’s hitting percentage was .333 in the final two sets.
“We just weren’t doing the small things that allow us to be a good team,” said NU junior Tara Mueller, who had a match-high 21 kills on .275 hitting. “Except for the second game, we just couldn’t seem to get into a groove.”
Nebraska’s offense did click with some regularity Wednesday, but that couldn’t offset the Huskers’ woeful serving.
Anderson had 48 assists and helped NU outhit the Aggies .253-.236. Lindsey Licht had 13 kills on .423 attacking, and Hannah Werth hit .320 with 11 kills. It marked the first time in three seasons that the Huskers outhit an opponent in a loss.
The Huskers now have to bounce back in a big way to avoid their first two-match losing skid since 2003. Nebraska hosts second-ranked Texas on Saturday at the Coliseum, and the loaded Longhorns will be heavy favorites to win in Lincoln for the first time since 1988.
Texas remained undefeated Wednesday with a 25-14, 25-18, 25-8 blowout victory at Colorado. That match marked just the first time this year the Longhorns (8-0, 3-0) weren’t playing a ranked team, and Cook said the Huskers won’t be able to play with Texas if they don’t quickly learn from their mistakes at A&M.
“I think every game we play, win or lose, we need to learn from it,” Mueller said. “That’s what we’re continuing to do. It’s a whole new team this year, and we’re still trying to make our own path.”
In another surprising Big 12 result Wednesday, No. 24 Baylor put together a 25-23, 25-19, 33-31 home sweep over 11th-ranked Iowa State. Coming off a Sept. 18 loss at Texas, the Cyclones now are 1-2 in the Big 12.
Nebraska (9-3, 2-1)..............26 25 19 19
Texas A&M (9-1, 2-0).........28 17 25 25
Nebraska (kills-aces-blocks): Anderson 2-1-1, Licht 13-0-3, Delano 8-0-1, Cooper 6-0-5, Mueller 21-0-2, Werth 11-1-2, Banwarth 0-0-0, Wilberger 1-0-0, Mancuso 0-0-0, Pendergast 0-0-0, McNeal 1-0-1.
Texas A&M (kills-aces-blocks): Schevikhoven 1-0-2, Kastmo 7-0-1, Ammerman 18-2-1, Miller 7-0-5, Banse 7-0-1, Batis 14-3-2, Mellinger 0-1-0, Kelner 0-0-0, Ringel 0-0-0.
Set assists: Nebraska 59 (Anderson 48, Banwarth 8); Texas A&M 49 (Schevikhoven 40). A: 1,867.
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