Sept. 8, 2006
Box Score
College Station, Texas - Host Texas A&M got off to a fast start and never let up, knocking off Loyola, 3-0 (30-15, 30-26, 30-17), this afternoon at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas. Loyola drops to 3-6 on the season with the loss while the Aggies improve to 6-1 with the win.
"I was proud of the way that we competed in this environment," said head coach Marcie Bomhack. "We played better than the scores indicate, and especially well on defense, and even though we made a lot of errors, they were aggressive errors."
Playing in front of a partisan crowd, Loyola struggled to find its feet in the early going. An Aggie error helped Loyola move within two, 5-3, before the hosts began to build some momentum. A pair of aces helped TAMU build a 10-4 lead and an eight-point run later on the service of Meghan Kainz made it a 20-6 lead and a Mary Batis kill closed out the opening frame, 30-15. Playing just two hours after the completion of its morning match, Loyola struggled, offensively, in the opening game, putting down just seven kills against 13 errors.
Game two was a marked improvement, as the team began to settle in. A three-point run highlighted by an Ann Deelo service ace and capped with a Shelby Henriksen kill moved LU into an 8-8 tie. The teams traded points to 13-all when TAMU rattled off four-straight points to open up a 17-13 edge. Two Aggie errors helped Loyola close to within two, 18-16, and two more Henriksen kills sandwiched around one from Keily Zins sliced the deficit to a single point, 22-21. The Ramblers had two chances to draw closer but could not capitalize and a late Aggie surge gave them a 30-26 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Loyola opened game three strong, and two kills from Zins helped open an early 7-4 lead. Zins scored again later to make it 10-8 before Texas A&M pulled even at 10 and slowly began to build a lead. A Sarah Elmer kill moments later cut the margin to 18-15, but the Aggies managed to side-out and Christi Hahn rattled off eight straight points from the service line, six of them coming on Loyola errors, resulting in a 27-15 lead and they cruised from there.
Texas A&M hit a blistering .319 for the match, committing just 11 errors in the three frames, while holding the Ramblers to a season-low .000 offensive efficiency.
Zins celebrated her 22nd birthday by posting a team-high 11 kills. Ashley added seven kills and nine digs.
Loyola takes tomorrow off before wrapping up tournament play on Sunday morning with a rematch against McNeese State. First serve from College Station, Texas is scheduled for 10 a.m.
