11/9/04

Volleyball Preview: No. 13 Texas A&M

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Match #23 - State Farm Lone Star Showdown
No. 9 Texas (20-2, 12-2 Big 12) vs.
No. 13 Texas A&M (16-5, 12-3 Big 12)
When: Thursday, November 11, 2004 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Austin, Texas (Gregory Gym; capacity: 4,400)
All-Time Series Record: Texas leads, 55-22 (27-5 home, 19-10 away, 11-5 neutral)
Series Streaks: A&M has won three of the last five matches - with each team winning at home - and nine of last 11
Last Meeting: Oct. 16, 2003: A&M won, 3-1 (32-34, 30-24, 30-27, 30-21) and handed UT its first loss of 2004
Last UT victory: Oct. 1, 2003: UT won, 3-2 (29-31, 24-30, 30-21, 31-29, 18-16) in Austin (UT was down, 2-0)
Last A&M victory: See last meeting
Elliott vs. Texas A&M: 2-5
Television: Will be aired on a tape-delayed by CSTV on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 5:30 p.m. Central

QUICK SETS
Texas inched back into the Top 10 in this week's USA Today/CSTV Top 25 Coaches Poll, moving up one spot to No. 9 ... the last time Texas was No. 9, A&M beat UT (3-1 on Oct. 16 in College Station) ... Texas is ranked No. 10 in this week's Volleyball Magazine poll.
Texas's victory last week at Colorado gave the team 20 wins on the season, marking the first time since 2002 the team reached that milestone and the second time in head coach Jerritt Elliott's tenure at Texas.
Texas is third in the nation in hitting percentage (NCAA Stats release, 11/9/04), with a .318 mark through last week, and is ranked 12th in kills per game (17.25) and 12th in assists per game (15.74) with a freshman - Michelle Moriarty - leading the offense at setter..
Mira Topic is ranked fifth nationally - and leads the Big 12 in both overall and conference only - in kills/game ... She has earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors a league-best three times in 2004.
Brandy Magee is coming off the best performance of her career as she had a career-high 24 kills and a .742 attack percentage at Colorado, with just one error on a career-best 31 attacks ... she earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors for performance, a rarity for a player who only played one match the previous week.
Mira Topic is now just 75 kills away from tying Dee Sance's UT career kills record (2,013) ... at her current pace, she should break the school record at Iowa State on Sunday, Nov. 21.
UT has limited it opponents to a hitting percentage under .250 in 21 of its 22 matches, including seven matches where the team has held its opponents below .100 ... offensively, Texas has hit for an attack percentage of .350 or higher in 12 of 22 matches this season, including five matches of .400 or higher.
UT has won 17 of its 20 victories matches by 3-0 scores, and has won 63 games to its opponents' 10 in 2004 ... Texas has limited opponents to 19 or fewer points in 30 games this season ... UT managed the feat in only eight games in 2003.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Texas A&M is ranked No. 13 nationally, and has won its last eight matches ... the Aggies are third in the Big 12 standings with a 12-3 record, one-half game behind second-place Texas ... A&M is 3-3 against ranked teams this season, including a victory over Texas ... although the Aggies are 10-1 at home, they are only 6-3 on the road and 5-3 in conference matches ... Melissa Munsch leads the team with a .316 attack percentage and is averaging 3.88 kills/game, 3.23 digs/game and 1.76 blocks/game ... Laura Jones averages 4.69 kills/game (second in the Big 12 behind UT's Mira Topic).

TEXAS A&M QUICK FACTS Location: College Station, Texas Nickname: Aggies Colors: Maroon and White 2003 Record: 23-10 2003 Big 12 Record (Finish): 13-7 (Tied for third) Postseason: NCAA Round of 16 Final AVCA Ranking: No. 16