(KBTX) – In the middle of the third set of Friday’s NCAA Tournament region semifinal volleyball match, Texas A&M opposite hitter Logan Lednicky glanced at a random piece of paper in the middle of the score’s table.
After being the first team to 15 points in both of the first two sets, the third-seeded Aggies’ allowed No. 2 seed Louisville to rally and set up a three-game sweep. The Aggies needed a rare reverse sweep to keep their season alive. They were looking for an answer to the situation they found themselves in.
Sometimes the sign is literally a sign.
“Something great is about to happen,” the piece of paper read.
Three sets later, the Aggies were celebrating on the court of the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Nebraska, having rallied to beat Louisville 3-2 in a five set thriller. It was A&M’s first reverse sweep since September 29 of last year, when the Aggies’ came from behind to beat Missouri in Reed Arena.
“I’m like floating on air,” Lednicky said after the match. “That was the most insane experience I have ever been a part of.”
From the start, A&M appeared to be in control of the match, jumping out to a 17-12 lead. However, after A&M reached 15 points, Louisville did not commit another error in the set. The Cardinals closed out the set on a 6-3 run to take the first game.
History repeated itself in the second set. A&M pulled out to a 21-16 lead, but allowed a 5-0 Cardinal run to tie the game. An 8-0 run ultimately sealed the 2-0 start for Louisville and put the Aggies’ season in jeopardy.
It wasn’t unfamiliar territory for the Aggies. Not only did A&M travel to Nebraska last season for the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, they fell behind 2-1 to Wisconsin and needed to push the game to a fifth set to try to advance. That effort fell short in the final game, 15-13, ending the Aggies season.
The story of this season wouldn’t end the same way.
“I think we spent a lot of time under tension,” Aggie middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla said. “I think that was something we all said when we were in that fifth set, just knowing that we had been here before. We played here before. We’ve been in this exact situation before and it’s really just on us to turn it around and capitalize.”
The Aggie block leader was key at the net in the match turn-around. A&M finished the match with 17 blocks, 12 of which came from Cos-Okpalla. The Aggies had nine blocks in the fourth set, seven off the hands of Cos-Okpalla.
The senior finished with nine kills, to go along with her blocking effort and a .316 hit percentage.
“Even when I wasn’t getting blocked or good touches, I think I was in a good enough spot to like funnel out space for the defense to work behind me,” Cos-Okpalla said. “We can just run our offense from there. So yeah, it takes everybody on the team honestly, but, yeah, I’m just so proud.”
The fifth set saw nine ties and three lead changes in a back-and-forth struggle for the next line of the bracket. The Aggies needed a 3-0 run through the middle of the set to take a 10-9 lead, thanks to two Louisville errors and a block by Cos-Okpalla and Lednicky. Then, the Aggies closed the match out on a 5-2 run with outside hitter Kyndal Stowers recording the final kill.
Lednicky paced the Aggies with 20 kills and added 12 digs and seven blocks. Stowers had 17 kills and 11 digs.
Louisville’s Chloe Chicoine led all attackers with 26 kills.
A&M hit at a .277 clip, slightly better than Louisville’s .229.
The Aggies advance to the program’s third-ever regional final and will face the No. 1 overall seed Nebraska on its home court Sunday at 2 p.m. The Cornhuskers took down No. 4 seed Kansas 3-0 in a match directly following A&M’s win.
In the meantime, A&M can take a moment to relish in the program they’ve builtin the three years of the Morrison era.
“My No. 1 thing that I said when I first got here was to get it back to where its was and take it further and we have it back to where it was… Now, it’s time, in two days, to take it further,” Morrison said.
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