Alabama
15-10, 4-8SEC
Texas A&M
15-7,9-2SEC
Alabama Volleyball Falls in Four-Set Road Match Thursday at Texas A&M
11/3/2016 8:21:00 PM | Volleyball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas. - Alabama volleyball fell in a tough-four set road match at Texas A&M Thursday night, as the Aggies used a late comeback in the third set to spur a decisive win in the fourth to take the match, 3-1.
Alabama (15-10, 4-8 SEC) dropped the opening set to Texas A&M (15-7, 9-2 SEC), 20-25, but rebounded with a big 25-18 win in the second to even it up at intermission. The Tide reached set point first in the third set but the Aggies made a huge late comeback to win, 25-27, and seal it with a 16-25 win in the fourth. Krystal Rivers led all players with 25 kills, putting her 71 shy of the Alabama career record. She added 10 digs for her eighth double-double, her fifth in the last seven matches, while fellow senior Brittany Thomas earned her fourth double-double with 12 kills and a team-leading 19 digs.
Alabama scored three-straight points to start the first set and held onto the lead for the first half, remaining up by three at the media timeout, 15-12. The Aggies fought back to tie the set out of the break with a 4-1 run, making it 16-16, and took the lead shortly thereafter at 18-17. Texas A&M scored two more points to make it 20-17 before Alabama took a timeout looking to halt the Aggies' momentum, having scored four-straight points. The Aggies closed out the frame with a 5-3 run, winning 25-22.
The two teams were evenly matched to the 10-point mark until Alabama rattled off five-straight points, capped by a solo block from Texas native Abolanle Onipede, to lead 15-10 at the media timeout. With a five-point lead at 19-14, a kill by Hayley McSparin made it 20-14 as the Aggies took its first timeout. Up 21-16, a long back-and-forth ended with Leah Lawrence tipping a kill to the middle of the floor to make it 22-16 and Natalie Murison followed with an ace to make it 23-16 as Texas A&M took its final timeout. The Tide held on to win, 25-18, and even the match at 1-1.
Tied at 2-2 early in set three, Texas A&M used a 5-1 run to build a 7-3 lead but Alabama continued to chip away at the deficit, eventually tying it at 11-11 on a Thomas service ace and taking a 12-11 lead on a kill by Rivers. Texas A&M took its first timeout trailing 13-11 and Alabama continued to pull away with the Aggies taking its second timeout down 19-14. Texas A&M closed the gap to three points as Alabama was forced to take a timeout up 21-18 and, after reaching set point 24-19, the Tide had to burn its second timeout after four-straight points by the Aggies made it a one-point game, 24-23. Two more points swung set point in Texas A&M's favor, 25-24, and the Aggies eventually completed the comeback with a 27-25 win in the third to take a 2-1 match lead.
Texas A&M carried its momentum into the fourth, building an early 5-1 lead as Alabama had to take an early timeout. The Tide chipped away at the deficit and eventually tied it up at 10-10 on a kill by Thomas and took the lead on the next point. Tied at 12-12, the Aggies scored four-straight points to make it 16-12 as the Tide took a timeout but the run continued after the break, eventually stretching to eight-straight points before a kill by Lawrence gave the Tide possession trailing 20-13. Texas A&M eventually reached set point with a double-digit lead, 24-14, and won the set, 25-16, to take a 3-1 match decision.
Next up, returns home to face Arkansas (5-18, 3-8 SEC) in Foster Auditorium on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. CT live on the SEC Network.
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