Aggie volleyball team sweeps weekend to get back to .500

By: Michael Teague

Posted: 9/8/08

Following a 0-3 start to the 2008 season, the Texas A&M women's volleyball team returned home and to a .500 record this weekend.
The Aggies (3-3) defeated American (2-4), Siena (0-5), and No. 16 BYU (5-1) en route to winning the Texas A&M Invitational Tournament.
A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli believes this weekend's performance gave her team a boost of confidence for the rest of the season.
Saturday night's 3-1 victory over BYU defined the tournament for the Aggies. Juniors Sarah Ammerman and Mary Batis combined for 31 of A&M's 60 kills against the Cougars.
Both players credited their teammates for their exceptional play.
"It was a complete 100% team effort," Ammerman said. "Everybody stepped up."
Batis was named the tournament's MVP but said that it was more of the team's award rather than an individual award. Ammerman and senior Kelsey Bryant joined Batis on the All-Tournament team.
Corbelli also mentioned freshman Chelsea Ringel as a key performer in the tournament.
"She has great backcourt skills," Corbelli said about Ringel. "Its one of her greatest strengths. It really allows your great hitters to do what they can do."
In their opening match, the Aggies came back from a loss in the opening set to defeat American 3-1. Ammerman had a season-high 18 kills while Batis recorded 18 digs.
The home opener had 1,707 fans in attendance for the win over the Eagles.
"It felt so great to be at home," said Batis. "We just have that much more energy."
A&M has now won 19-straight home openers dating back to 1989.
Against Siena in the second game of the weekend, the Aggies got off to a good start in the first set and continued to outperform the Saints on their way to a 3-0 sweep. Batis once again dominated offensively and defensively with 14 kills and 9 digs.
This Sunday morning was quite different from last week's for the Aggies.
"We were just in another world," Corbelli explained. "We couldn't get a rhythm. We couldn't get ourselves going in the game."
Many questions surrounded the Aggies last weekend after losing senior Jillian Phillips to a shin injury.
"I didn't know how the team would respond," Corbelli admitted. "But we've been training four or five different girls in the middle and the right."
The lineup changes and substitutions throughout the tournament by Corbelli fed the teamwork that led to the Aggies' victories.
Ammerman said she believes that there was also a change in mentality over the past week.
"After last weekend, we decided right after it ended that that wasn't us and that it was going to be different," she said. "So we started Monday in practice."
Although the Aggies won all their games this weekend, Corbelli still sees room for improvement.
"We're going to continue to work our blocking and continue to work our right side," Corbelli said. "We really need to attack the right side of the net a little bit more than we are. We need to get our middle more consistent. [Its] always a work in progress."
Texas A&M has a quick turnaround as they host Texas State at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The team's confidence and focus will no longer be in question this week.
"We know what we're capable of and now that we've shown it, we've got to keep it up," Batis said.