Creighton University
Texas A&M
Volleyball Falls at A&M as Bober & Sanford Named All-Tourney
8/27/2011 3:46:00 PM | Volleyball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Tourney host Texas A&M won the Texas A&M Invitational title over Creighton with a 25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 25-10 victory on Saturday afternoon at Reed Arena.
The visiting Bluejays finished its first weekend of 2011 with a 1-2 mark, while the Aggies went 3-0, in the rare three-team event. The other team in the field, UTSA, went 0-2.
Creighton outblocked the hosts 14-8, including 11 stuffs from junior Laurel Sanford, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Aggies statistical advantages in kills (62-40), aces (8-5), digs (78-65) and hitting percentage (.202-.137).
Despite the consecutive setbacks, Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth remained optimistic about her team. "I definitely felt we were a better team today than yesterday," said Booth. "We improved in every match this weekend, and other than the last one we had a chance to win the other three sets today. Now we have to learn to seize more of those opportunities."
Creighton got off to a strong start against the Aggies in the first set, pushing ahead 9-4 and forcing an early timeout by Laurie Corbelli. A&M responded to tie the score at 10, only to see Creighton pull ahead 14-11. From then on the Aggies took control. A 4-0 lead gave A&M the lead for good, and the lead eventually reached five on two occasions. Creighton withstood three set points before a Chelsea Ringel kill found the floor and gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the match. Laurel Sanford had four kills in the first set, while Julianne Mandolfo added five digs for the Jays.The second set followed a similar pattern to the first, only this time Creighton dug deep to pull away late. Creighton led 9-6 and 14-11 early before A&M rallied to even the score at 16. The Jays won a long rally to go ahead 20-17, but the Aggies followed with four consecutive points to go ahead 21-20 and force a Bluejay timeout. Creighton got a sideout to make it 21-all, then went ahead on a Megan Bober kill. Bober and Laurel Sanford teamed for a stuff to give CU a 23-21 lead, and the Jays got to set point after an Aggie attack error. After a sideout, Creighton closed out the set when Texas A&M couldn't handle the heat of a Karisa Almgren kill as the Jays claimed a 25-22 set victory of their own.
"The difference in the second set was blocking," noted Booth. "We really did a great job of that as a team and they had trouble getting around a couple of our big kids, particularly Laurel, and then Karisa had a big kill to win the set. I felt we went and won that game...now we have to continue to do that on a consistent basis."
Despite falling behind by as much as 19-11, Creighton never gave up in the third set. Just when it looked like a lost cause, Creighton put together a 9-1 run to deadlock the score at 20 after another combined stuff by Bober and Sanford. The Aggies broke away to earn three set points with a 24-21 lead, but a Heather Thorson kill, followed by two straight Aggie attack errors, moved the score back to 24-all. But an A&M timeout halted CU's momentum, and the Jays had a service error before Kelsey Black and Elise Hendrickson combined to block Almgren as A&M took the third frame, 26-24.
Texas A&M closed out the match in impressive fashion. After Creighton's Natalie Hackbarth served an ace to make it 5-5, the Aggies scored 11 consecutive points before the Jays scored again and closed the contest on a 20-5 run for a 25-10 fourth-set victory.
Creighton was keyed by 10 kills from Bober, who also had 28 assists for her second double-double of the fall. Julianne Mandolfo led Creighton's defense with 22 digs, while Sanford had 11 blocks.
Texas A&M was paced by 16 kills, three aces and 22 digs by Black, who also picked up Tournament MVP honors. Fellow all-Tourney choice Lindsey Miller had 13 kills and hit .429.
Creighton returns to action with another Big 12 road match when it faces Kansas State. That match starts at 7 pm and will be broadcast on KKAR (1290 AM). Creighton's home opener is Friday against Northern Illinois.
NOTES: Sophomore Natalie Hackbarth made her first career start and finished with career-highs of six kills, two aces, one block and nine digs ... The Texas A&M Invitational marked Creighton's first matches in Texas since reinstating the program in 1994 ... The Texas A&M Invitational All-Tournament Team consisted of UTSA's Elise Huskey, Creighton's Megan Bober and Laurel Sanford, as well as the Texas A&M trio of Lindsey Miller, Allie Sawatzky, Alisia Kastmo as well as tournament MVP Kelsey Black.
