Sarah Ammerman had a match-high in kills and digs, but it was a play in which she received nothing but a pat on the back that sent Texas A&M's volleyball team on its way to a four-set victory over Colorado at Reed Arena on Saturday.
Up 2-1 in sets but trailing 5-7 in the fourth, Ammerman chased down a free ball, and with her back to the net, stretched out parallel to the floor to keep the point alive and help the Aggies improve to 7-0 at Reed Arena.
"At that point we were just trying to get anything going," Ammerman said. "We've been talking about working really hard and putting a lot of work into every rally, and if that means chasing down a ball that's 20 feet off the court, then that's what it takes.
"Something like that is such a huge momentum swing and shows your team what you are all about and what we are all about."
The Aggies got the ball back over the net but were on the defensive again until finally the Buffaloes made a hitting error.
No. 22 A&M outscored CU 19-10 from that moment on to better its record to 13-4 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12. Colorado dropped to 6-12 and 1-8.
Ammerman finished with 21 kills and 15 digs, but refused to take any more credit than any other player on the team for giving the Aggies the spark they needed after just missing out on a sweep of CU.
"That's the kind of rallies we have every day in practice by a lot of our players. I showed it, but every day in the gym we get those kind of rallies, people flying all over the floor," said Ammerman, who is from Colorado. "That's what we love to show and that's the most fun part, throwing your body on the floor and finding a way to bring the ball back."
A&M won the first set relatively easy at 25-17 and then put everything together to cruise in the second set, 25-11. Corbelli substituted freely in the third set and the Aggies fell 25-23.
In the second set, CU hit at a minus-0.37 clip, partially because of plays such as the one made by Kelsey Black and Tori Mellinger on the same sequence that led to an Aggie point.
Black made an acrobatic dig near the net, and Mellinger got under two CU kill attempts before the Aggies won the point.
"I think they were definitely out of system quite a bit [in the second set]; if they did get a dig they weren't able to get a strong attack off it," Corbelli said. "They had a lot of back row [players] attacking us, trying to avoid our block or hit deep in our court, and I think the team did a nice job of staying patient, making the play and turning it into a transition attack kill."
Another of A&M's Coloradoans, Kristen Schevikhoven, had a strong match and finished with a flourish.
The senior setter had 33 assists in a little less than three sets and caught the Buffaloes off guard with a string of three straight kills near the end of the fourth set.
"I have complete faith and I trust my team that they knew they hadn't gotten going yet," Corbelli said of losing the third set and starting slow in the fourth. "I just trusted that they would creep back into it and I knew they would. I didn't call a timeout, I wanted them to dig deeper and find way to get themselves back in it with their help."
In the third set, CU gained some confidence with back-to-back digs for kills that gave the Buffaloes a 13-11 lead.
The play, which often times doesn't happen once in a match, let alone consecutively, came a few points after Aggie middle blocker Alisia Kastmo turned a third-hit reach for a ball below the net into a winner.
Jennifer Banse continued her fine play this season, collecting her fourth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 14 digs.
The Aggies played much of the match without Mary Batis, who was has been ill for most of the past week. Batis finished with two kills and eight digs.
Black filled in admirably for Batis with eight kills and five digs.
A&M hosts Oklahoma on Wednesday.
"This was an important win for us, to keep our winning streak alive at Reed Arena," Corbelli said. "Coming off a tough road trip to Iowa State (a loss), we were bound and determined to get the win."
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