A&M Falls to No. 13 Kentucky, 3-0

Sunday, October 5

Lexington, Ky.

5:00 PM

Texas A&M

10-4, 2-1SEC

Kentucky

14-2, 4-0SEC

Texas A&M

Kentucky

Oct 05, 2014 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

No. 13 Kentucky won its eighth consecutive match as the Wildcats made the clutch plays and held off No. 21 Texas A&M, 25-20, 28-26, 30-28, tonight at Memorial Coliseum.

Texas A&M sophomore middle blocker Jazzmin Babers had a career-high 16 kills while hitting .412, and freshman outside hitter Kiara McGee came off the bench to post a personal-best nine kills, but it was a match of missed opportunities for the Aggies who were at set point a combined six times over the last two sets.

A&M was out of sorts to open the match and spotted Kentucky a 6-0 lead. The Wildcats continued to lead, 9-3, when A&M got in sync and reeled off six unanswered points to tie the score. A&M also tied the set at 10 and 11 before an ace by Angela Lowak gave A&M its first lead, 12-11. Babers followed with a kill to put A&M up 13-11, but the Aggies were unable to pull away. Kentucky quickly closed the gap, tying the score at 13-13 and 14-14 before retaking the lead at 15-14 following an A&M attack error. The Wildcats went on to build a 20-17 cushion, but kills by Babers and Reasor put A&M within 20-19. The Aggies, however, were unable to catch the Wildcats, who went on a 5-1 run to close out the set.

Babers and Reasor once again connected on back-to-back kills in the second set to give the Aggies an 8-7 edge. A&M went on to build its largest lead at 15-11 and was up, 18-16, when Kentucky reeled off three consecutive points to go up 19-18. The Wildcats would hold a 21-20 advantage when McGee tied the score with a kill. Kentucky then hit into the net and followed that with a ball handling error to put A&M up, 23-21. The Wildcats' Lauren O'Conner, who earlier in the match had posted her 1,000^thcareer kill, but down consecutive kills to tie the score at 23 before Reasor caromed a kill off the Kentucky block to put the Aggies at set point, 24-23. Kentucky countered with a kill and an ace to be serving for the set. A&M fought off two set points before the Wildcats posted consecutive kills to close out the 28-26 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Wildcats had built a 14-9 third-set lead, when A&M began to chip away. Later a Kentucky service error and a kill by A&M's Shelby Sullivan knotted the score, 21-21. After exchanging points, kills by McGee and Aggie setter Stephanie Aiple gave the Aggies a 23-22 lead, but A&M served into the net to tie the score at 23-23. Lowak tooled the Kentucky block to put that Aggies at set point, but the Wildcats had a solo block to knot the score. The teams continued to trade point-for-point with Sullivan getting a kill down the line to give the Aggies a 28-27 lead. O'Conner countered with a cross-court kill to tie the score for the final time. A&M hit into the net and then got blocked to end the match.

Lowak joined Babers in double-digit kills with 11 while hitting .476. Hardesty, playing libero for the second time in her career, tied her personal-best with a team-leading 19 digs, and Reasor scooped up a career-high 15 digs.

O'Conner led the Wildcats with 17 kills, and Anni Thomasson posted six aces as Kentucky had nine aces for the match, tying for the most by an A&M opponent this season.

The Wildcats, who outhit A&M .319 to .295 in the match, improved to 14-2 overall and 4-0 in Southeastern Conference play. A&M's three-match win streak came to an end, and the Aggies suffered their first SEC loss as they fall to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in SEC play.

A&M returns home to host Alabama on Friday. Match time is 6 p.m. at Reed Arena. It will be “First Responders Night” withfree admission for all police/firefighters/EMS.

Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter by following @AggieVolleyball.