Ags' hot start not enough for Corbelli to top old coach

For two games, the pupil became the master. Three games later, though, experience won out.

In an exhibition game pitting A&M coach Laurie Corbelli against the former coach of her silver medal-winning 1984 USA Olympic Team, Arie Selinger, the teacher got the last laugh as the Aggies (3-1) fell for the first time in the 2011 season with a 25-21, 25-16, 20-25, 18-25, 12-15 defeat to the Israeli National Team in front of 1,814 Tuesday at Reed Arena.

"It was really cool," Corbelli said. "It was kind of surreal. The whole day has been surreal."

A&M couldn't overcome the size and skill of the Israelis in the decisive fifth game as it trailed throughout. Led by Kelsey Black, who had four kills in the game, the team clawed to within 11-9, but the visiting team's hitters, coupled with a service error by Chelsea Ringel, proved to be too much for A&M.

"You could sense that they were an older team," outside hitter Elise Hendrickson said. "After the first two sets, they adjusted to everything we did."

Timely hitting from the Aggies' frontline, along with a couple unforced Israeli errors, kept A&M comfortably in front for much of the first game.

Up 23-19 in the first, the Israelis scored two-straight points, but a kill by Hendrickson and a mishit by Anna Velikiy gave A&M the first game.

Tori Mellinger, again being used as an outside hitter rather than the team's libero, had three kills in the first set and Hendrickson hit on five of her six kill attempts as the team hit .278 collectively in the first set.

Lindsey Miller got into the act in the second game. A kill, coupled with a block, put A&M in front 11-4 and forced Selinger to call a timeout.

Megan Pendergast, a junior transfer from Nebraska, took over the libero duties from Mellinger. In the second game, her presence was felt as she compiled four digs.

A&M was accurate and efficient on the attack in hitting an astonishing .545 during the game. During the first two games, Corbelli saw some good things from her team that she hopes continue throughout the season.

"I think our team learned a lot of things that are difficult to teach in a practice session," she said." We're hoping we can build on the things we did really well and what they did well and learn from it and use it for the remainder of our season."

The Israelis made two consecutive errors early in the third game to put the Aggies out in front 7-2. The gaffes forced a befuddled Selinger to call a timeout.

The visiting team fought back, playing much cleaner volleyball to make things interesting.

A kill by Allie Sawatzky broke open a 15-15 tie, but the Israelis answered with a kill of its own to tie the game again. An error from Black put the Israelis up 21-20 late in the third game, giving them its first lead of the match. A kill by Anna Velikiy capped off six consecutive points for the Israelis to win the game.

Down 16-12 in the fourth, Black had one of her patented kills from the outside. It started a string of three-straight points that caused Selinger to use a timeout.

But a bevy of errors from A&M handed the fourth set to the Israelis. With its strong play in the fifth, the Israel National team had completed the comeback from two games down. Corbelli said the friendly match allowed the team to experiment with some stuff it wouldn't normally do.

"Being a friendly match, it was about the learning aspect and teaching and looking at a couple different players in different spots," she said.

For the night, Black led the Aggies with 12 kills, but only hit .133. A&M hit only .207 collectively. Pendergast led the team with 18 digs.

But the story of the night was Corbelli squaring off with a man who made such an imprint on her life. The experience from across the court was a touch different than the ol' days.

"It was a lot of fun to see him yell at other people instead of me."