When playing the No. 3 team in the nation, near-perfect volleyball is almost mandatory for a victory.

It was the third-ranked Texas Longhorns, though, who were perfect in two sets and good enough the rest of the night for a 25-13, 23-25, 25-16, 25-18 victory over Texas A&M in front of 3,203 at G. Rollie White Coliseum on Wednesday.

With their three All-American attackers carrying the load, the Longhorns (13-2, 7-1 Big 12) had no hitting errors in sets one and three. Combined with Ashley Engle's serving and a quick start in the fourth set, Texas ended A&M's three-match winning streak and dropped the Aggies (9-9, 4-4) back to .500.

"In games one and three with no hitting errors, it's going to be tough to beat anybody, so we were pretty smooth in those two games," Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said. "That gave us two big runs, and anytime we can do that, it bodes well for our team the way we can side out."

Engle was a big reason for Texas' runs with her left-handed jump serve. She served 11 straight points in set one and had another run of four in the fourth set.

The Longhorns, led by 6-foot-4 Destinee Hooker, also had a hitting percentage of .619 in the opening set and .484 in set three.

Hooker finished with a match-high 20 kills and committed only four errors for a .419 hitting percentage.

"We not only saw one of the most physical females in the nation in any sport, but she's a fine volleyball player," A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said.

A&M outside hitter Mary Batis has seen Hooker play many times, having been on her club team and now on the opposite side of the net for three years in the Lone Star Showdown.

"She's got all the confidence in the world," Batis said. "Playing against her, I personally wanted to touch every ball, because how often do you get to play against one of best players in the nation?"

The Aggies stood toe-to-toe with Texas in set two, opening well and holding off any run the Longhorns made. That included stopping a late Texas rally when A&M won the set on a Darla Donaldson kill after the Longhorns had closed a five-point gap to two.

"We got into our groove, played Aggie volleyball in game two," Corbelli said.

A&M had three of its five blocks in set two and outhit the Longhorns .243 to .206. It was a balanced attack with six players getting at least two kills. Batis led the way with four and setter Jola Kelner, who was replaced momentarily by Kristen Schevikhoven in set one, had three well-timed dumps for kills.

"It's nice to know game two is there and in us, and like we said after the match, if we play like we did in game two we are above No. 3 in the nation," Batis said. "To know we have that potential is incredible. Game two, we came out with a different attitude than we did in games one, three and four, and that attitude is what we need to find and carry over."

Kills by Ammerman and Batis, who led A&M with 15 each, kept the partisan crowd in the match and gave the Aggies hope of a comeback.

But in the end, Engle with her timely kills and Hooker's high-flying act was too much for the Aggies, who were without senior middle blocker Jillian Phillips. Schevikhoven also was limited.

"Obviously we feel good to win in this arena, one of the best volleyball environments in the country," Elliott said. "It's different when Texas comes to town, but our team played with poise and had some nice runs."

*

NOTES -- A&M returns to G. Rollie White Coliseum on Friday against Baylor in a key matchup if the Aggies are to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. A&M, Baylor and Iowa State are all 4-4 and tied for fourth in the Big 12. ... Kelner established a career high with 15 digs. She also had 34 assists. ... Texas only had 10 hitting errors in all compared to 32 for A&M. ... Texas outblocked A&M 10-5. ... Batis and Ammerman accounted for 81 of the team's 139 attacks. Corbelli said that percentage is too high and that she wants A&M's middle attack to get going. ... The 3,203 was the sixth-largest volleyball crowd at G. Rollie White Coliseum.