No. 6 Tennessee volleyball falls 3-1 at No. 17 Texas A&M

No. 6 Tennessee volleyball went on the road to College Station, Texas, for a ranked match with No. 17 Texas A&M. The Lady Vols fell 3-1 (25-27, 31-33, 25-15, 23-25) and had their seven-match win streak snapped.

Tennessee was without middle blocker Chelsea Sutton, the reigning SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, and she was missed. Sutton sustained an injury against Vanderbilt and was a game-time decision. She will be reevaluated for Sunday’s match at Missouri.

First two sets

These sets were a back-and-forth battle. Neither team could pull away until the ends of both sets, but the Aggies found ways to jump ahead 2-0. The first set was tied 19 times before Natalie Ring closed it 27-25 with an ace. Tennessee had set point four times in the second set, but Texas A&M took it 33-31.

Kennedi Rogers did all she could with 18 kills across the first two sets and was set up by Caroline Kerr, who had 32 assists.

Texas A&M’s Kyndal Stowers and Ring seemed to have answers, and the Aggies were dominant at the net. Stowers had 11 kills and Ring added nine without an error. The Aggies held a 12-2 block advantage after two sets and hit .315. The Lady Vols committed 19 attack errors to Texas A&M’s five and just could not do themselves any favors late.

Third set

Tennessee was much better in the third set and avoided the sweep with a 25-15 win. The Lady Vols built a 6-2 lead before a Texas A&M timeout. Jolene Oddo entered the match and immediately gave Tennessee good block support up front, with a hand in three blocks during the early run.

The Aggies were out of sorts, and Tennessee maintained control. Raegan Burns served two straight points on Texas A&M attack errors for an 11-5 lead, and Tennessee led 15-8 at the media timeout. The Aggies cut it to 21-15, but Tennessee scored the last four points, and Maggie Dostic served out the set with an ace and the final kill. Tennessee hit .364 in the set, while Texas A&M hit a negative .077 with nine attack errors.

Fourth set

All of the momentum continued in Tennessee’s direction to start. The Lady Vols jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Eliza Sharp broke the run with a kill. Rogers reached her career high with her 22nd kill to put Tennessee up 4-1, but Stowers and Ring would not go away.

Block touches were a big deal in this match. The Aggies were able to overturn a couple of calls, and those turned out to be important. Texas A&M regained its momentum and took an 11-10 lead with the same recipe it had used all night: big defense at the net and capitalizing on errors. But Oddo and Rogers answered with blocks of their own to regain a two-point lead at 13-11.

Tennessee pushed its lead to 18-14, but the Aggies cut it to 18-17 and took momentum back. Stowers and Sharp came up big, and a Rogers attack error tied the set at 19 before a Perry kill put Tennessee back in front 20-19. That started a 4-0 run, capped by an Emma Frietch ace, for a 23-19 lead.

But the Aggies would not go away and closed the match on a 6-0 run. Ring, Stowers and Kaia Castle came up with big kills, and Margot Manning sealed it with an ace. Manning served the final five points.

Stat leaders

Rogers finished with a career-high 24 kills and 17 digs. Kerr had 47 assists, and Dostic and Jalyn Stout each added 15 digs. Oddo finished with eight blocks in just two sets.

Stowers led Texas A&M with 19 kills, 15 digs and seven blocks. Ring had 18 kills on .357 hitting, and Manning added 48 assists, 16 digs and two aces. Tennessee outhit Texas A&M .216 to .215, but the Aggies won the block battle 16-12.

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