Eagle Staff Report
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Lindsey Miller's pair of Game 4, crunch-time kills extended Texas A&M's return to the NCAA Tournament for at least one day.
Miller knocked down a kill to get the Aggie volleyball team to match point, then two Arizona points later, Miller staved off the Wildcats' comeback attempt and made A&M a 3-1 winner in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Maravich Center on Friday.
A&M (19-10) hadn't been to the Tournament since 2005 and hadn't won an NCAA match since 2004. But Jennifer Banse hit .340 for 23 kills to go with 20 digs, and Miller hit .414 for 14 kills to help fuel the Aggies' 18-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 victory over 19th-ranked Arizona (19-11).
A&M will face LSU at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the second round at the Maravich Center. The winner will advance to the Omaha Regional in Nebraska.
LSU beat Tulane 25-15, 25-12, 25-15 in the first round Friday night.
A&M's Kelsey Black had 17 kills and 14 digs, while Mary Batis had 11 kills and 15 digs. Setter Kristen Schevikhoven had 59 assists and 19 digs to help the Aggies in a match that included 12 ties and eight lead changes. Games 3 and 4 were the tightest after the teams split the first two; Game 3 had four ties and four lead changes, while Game 4 had seven ties and three lead changes.
Despite the back-and-forth play, however, A&M controlled the second half of Game 4. Arizona led 12-11 when A&M tied the score on a Batis kill. The Aggies took a 13-12 lead on an Arizona error, but the Wildcats' tied it at 13 on Whitney Dosty's kill.
Dosty and Tiffany Owens each had 18 kills to lead Arizona, while Courtney Karst had 14.
When Banse broke the tie to give A&M a 14-13 lead with a kill, the Aggies led the rest of the way, building their lead to as much as four points at 20-16 and 21-17.
Miller pushed A&M ahead 24-21 with a kill, but Owens knocked down a kill and Batis missed on a kill attempt to trim A&M's lead to 24-23. The Aggies called a timeout after Batis' error and won the match on the next point on Miller's final kill.