Texas A&M's volleyball team has been working on hitting more efficiently, and it paid off as the Aggies worked over Kansas State on Wednesday night.
The Aggies (11-3, 4-2) swept the struggling Wildcats 25-16, 25-15, 25-17 before a crowd of 1,355 at Reed Arena, beating KSU (6-9, 0-5) for the first time in three years.
A&M entered the match ranked 16th nationally with a hitting percentage of .270, but that number has dipped in recent weeks. The Aggies' .374 percentage against Kansas State was their best in the last five Big 12 matches.
"That's an excellent number," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said. "We've been working on diminishing our hitting errors and trying to figure out a better way to transition with our hitters. What I saw tonight was the result of the things we've really been trying to improve on in practice."
The Wildcats had as many returning starters -- four -- as the Aggies, but KSU has not been able to overcome the loss of its leading attacker. A&M has added a couple of freshmen hitters to go with seniors Sarah Ammerman, Mary Batis and Jennifer Banse, coming up with a nice balance.
Setter Kristen Schevikhoven was able to spread the opportunities against KSU, allowing the Aggies to have four players with at least eight kills. The Wildcats had only one.
"I was confident no matter who I was going to," Schevikhoven said. "Everybody was hot."
Schevikhoven delivered a couple of nice saves during a spirited rally in the third game that drew applause from Corbelli after Batis finished with a back-row spike.
"I thought [Schevikhoven] played a phenomenal match, one of the best matches she's had in a long time in terms of her consistency and her location," Corbelli said.
KSU stayed close to the Aggies for a while in the first and third games. A&M led 11-9 in Game 1 before taking control with an 8-1 run that featured a kill and a couple of aces by freshman Alisia Kastmo. In Game 3, the Wildcats led 10-9 before A&M took 10 of the next 11 points. Ammerman had four kills and a block during the spurt.
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