Aggies sweep Huskies in three

There were no cheers or screams of support for Steve Greene.

Still, the Aggies knew their matchup with Houston Baptist on Wednesday night had special meaning to new assistant volleyball coach Steve Greene.

Greene coached at Houston Baptist the previous two seasons and had recruited many of the players across the net from the Aggies, who beat the Huskies 25-15, 25-17, 25-16 at Reed Arena.

"I noticed he was a little more on edge than normal," A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said. "I think he wanted it really badly, wanted to have a good performance. He's very close to that group. He really had us quite prepared. It was advantage A&M because he knew what they were going to do in every situation."

The Aggies (11-2) carried out Greene's plan to perfection, gaining enough of a lead to get the backups in before opening Big 12 play Saturday at Missouri.

A&M's Stephanie Minnerly, who backs up middle blockers Lindsey Miller and Elise Hendrickson, took advantage of the extra playing time and led the team with a solo block and three block assists. The 6-foot-2 junior also had six kills.

"I personally love blocking," Minnerly said. "It's my strong point as a middle. I was focusing on it because we've been working on it every day in practice -- that was our main focus and if we messed up we started over. I felt like that really transferred into the match tonight."

The Aggies opened the match ranking last in the Big 12 in blocks at 1.74 per set. They helped that stat with nine blocks against the Huskies (12-5).

"I was really pleased that our blocking numbers went up and our unforced errors went down," Corbelli said.

A&M had six attack errors with no player making more than one. HBU finished with 24 attack errors and a hitting percentage of .040.

Kelsey Black led A&M with nine kills in her two-plus sets. Chelsea Ringel had six kills and hit .357, while Minnerly, who started the second set, hit .417.

"I need to work on more of my offensive game and bring it up with blocking," said Minnerly, a starter for most of last season. "I hope to see more playing time, and I hope that if I do get playing time, that I'm more versatile and able to see the ball and the court and put it where it needs to go."

The match began as a defensive affair with neither team being able to put away a kill, making for some long points. HBU libero Courtney Whittleman, who averages just under five digs a set, had 12 in the first set.

Alisia Kastmo, the tallest player on the court at 6-4, nearly matched HBU's libero with eight first-set digs. She finished with a team-high 12. Black had 11.

A&M newcomer Cinthya Roberto, playing libero in the third set, turned in the defensive gem of the night with a dig that also earned her a kill. Five points later, Hendrickson, one of four Aggies with at least two block assists, closed out the match with a solo block.