Texas A&M opened the home portion of its season schedule with a 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 victory over Pepperdine tonight, giving Aggie first-year head coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn a win in her official debut at Reed Arena.
A&M (5-2) used a balanced attack, with junior outside hitter Hollann Hans leading the way with nine kills. Sophomore setter Camille Conner, who dished out 23 assists, also got into an offensive mode and posted a season-high eight kills while hitting at a .667 clip. Freshman middle blocker London Austin-Roark pitched in seven kills while hitting .429, and three other players had three or more kills as the Aggies led the Waves in kills, 35-30, and outhit Pepperdine, .227 to .069.
A&M senior libero Amy Houser led A&M in digs with eight, and freshmen defensive specialists Allison Fields, Sydney Little and Taylor Voss also pitched in as A&M outdug Pepperdine, 40-32. Austin-Roark took match-high honors in blocks with four as A&M outblocked the Waves, 7-3.
Freshman outside hitter Rachel Ahrens led the Waves with seven kills but hit .095. With the loss, Pepperdine had its three-match win streak snapped and falls to 4-3.
In the opening match of the Texas A&M Invitational, Missouri State cruised to a 25-8, 25-13, 25-12 victory over Nicholls State University.
