COLUMBIA, SC – The Texas A&M volleyball team completed the road sweep of the South Carolina Gamecocks with a difficult 3-1 victory (17-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-21) on Thursday at Carolina Volleyball Center.
The win raised the Aggies record to 6-4, Gamecocks dropped to 9-5.
After a slow start that resulted in a defeat in the first set, the Aggies were tenacious in the second and recovered to equal the overall score of 1-1. As in the first set, the Aggies lost early, but they continued to fight and eventually assumed an advantage that would not yield in 9-8. The Aggies closed the set with five consecutive points for a nine-point advantage, 25-16.
Taking advantage of the moment, the Aggies maintained a small advantage during most of the start of the third set before taking control in the final stretch. A wave of three points towards the end of the set gave the Aggies a six point advantage in 22-16 and the Gamecocks would never come close to four points, as the Aggies recorded a 25-21 victory on the set. The momentum did not accompany the Aggies in the fourth set, but their struggle and resilience did. The Aggies lost most of the first 30 points of the set before taking the lead by 16-15. The Aggies never moved away from South Carolina, but kept them at bay until the death of freshman Claire Jeter ensured victory by 25-21 on set and gave the Aggies the overall victory of the match.
Sophomores Morgan Christon and Lauren Davis led the way with 12 deaths each, and the Aggies received additional offensive firepower from Junior Mallory Talbert (8 deaths), Jeter (7) and Junior London Austin-Roark (5). Sophomore Sabrina Sustala produced a 19-excavation career record and had five assists. Senior Camille Conner completed the statistics sheet with 37 assists, four deaths and seven digs.