Texas A&M sweeps Kentucky for volleyball national championship

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Logan Lednicky had 11 kills, Maddie Waak had 29 assists and Texas A&M won its first NCAA volleyball championship, sweeping Kentucky 3-0 on Sunday. Set scores were 26-24, 25-15, 25-20. The Aggies (29-4) accomplished the rare feat of defeating three No. 1 seeds. They defeated Nebraska and Pittsburgh earlier in the tournament. They did not drop a set in the Final Four. At 24-18 in the third set, Kentucky held off a couple of match points before the Aggies took advantage of a free ball and Cos-Okpalla delivered the championship point, crushing a set from Waak out of the middle. Kyndal Stowers finished with 10 kills and hit .304. Cos-Okpalla added eight kills, hitting .235 and Lednicky hit .250.Eva Hudson had a match-high 13 kills for Kentucky and Kassie O'Brien had 34 assists. The Aggies hit .257 as a team, compared to Kentucky's .148. The Aggies trailed throughout the first set until they tied it at 20-all and also saved a set point to tie it at 24. The Aggies took their first lead at 25-24 on an attack error by Kentucky's Brooklyn DeLeye, her fifth of the set. Stowers finished off the 26-24 first-set win for the Aggies with a tip off the Kentucky block. After taking that 25-24 lead, the Aggies did not trail at any point in the rest of the match. Kentucky (30-3) continued to struggle at the net in the second set. The Wildcats had nine errors in the first set and six more while falling behind 19-9 in the second. The Aggies continued to dominate, winning 25-15 after outhitting their SEC rival .253—.077. Stowers and Lednicky had eight kills each in the first two sets, with Stowers hitting .368 and Lednicky .240. Texas A&M led 13-10 in the third set before a kill by Lednicky started a 6-1 scoring run for a commanding 19-11 lead, six points from the national championship.