The volleyball team took on yet another ranked opponent this weekend in Texas A&M. Though the team looked good in the first set, it was not enough as it lost 3-1.

The Jayhawks led through most of the first set. When the Aggies tried to climb their way back into it, the Jayhawks shut the door on them. The team won the first set 25-23.

“We started off strong, which is usually our weak point,” sophomore setter Nicole Tate said, “Now we just have to finish the matches that we start.”

Tate led the team with 45 assists to go along with her 10 digs.

The second set started and the Jayhawks battled their way through the second set. It looked as though the team would be able to get back into the game after a kill by sophomore Allison Mayfield brought the score to 18-23, but in the end lost 25-22.

“We hit .233 and had as many kills,” coach Ray Bechard said. “We just did not hit as high a proficiency.”

The Jayhawks played the first set and had a .277 attack percentage and looked as though they were the better team as Texas A&M had a .176 attack percentage in the first set.

In the third set the Jayhawks battled through most of the game but could not come through as they lost 23-25. Freshman middle blocker Taylor Tolefree started the third set and immediately contributed. She had an attack percentage of .667 in the third set with five kills.

“This is a really important game that we needed; we didn’t get it, but everyone just felt the importance of it,” Tolefree said. “From here we go back to practice and we either execute it or we don’t, so we will get to a point to do that consistently.”

The Jayhawks looked as if they had some momentum going until the ball got stuck in the ceiling and forced a replay on the ball.

The Aggies proved to be just too much in the fourth set as they took the set 25-15. The Jayhawks never seemed to be in a rhythm during the set. By the time they tried to mount a comeback it was already 8-18 and it was too late.

“This was an opportunity we let go.” Tate said, “This is our gym and we should have had bigger pride against them. We had our game plan and just didn’t execute. The coaches gave us something to do and we were just not able to pull it out.”

The team next heads to Colorado Wednesday and then Oklahoma Saturday.

— Edited by Abbey Strusz