NATCHITOCHES, La. - The Texas A&M - Corpus Christi volleyball team's season came to a close
today with a 3-0 loss (26-24, 26-24, 25-21) to No. 2 seed Central Arkansas (20-10, 14-3) in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament at Prather Coliseum. The Islanders finish with a 19-16 overall record, and an 11-5 record in conference play.
Brianna Brink finished an impressive career with six kills in the match. She wraps her career as the all-time career-kills leader in Islanders' history with 1,391 kills.
Brittany Gilpin propelled the Islanders' offense with 11 kills on an impressive .625 hitting and Kelsee Felux put down nine kills. Defensively, Kate Klepetka led the team with 10 digs while Hailey King added nine.
UCA hit .272 in the match and record three service aces. Heather Schnars powered the team with a match-high 16 kills while Amy South dished out 43 assists.
The Islanders and UCA battled back-and-forth in the opening set to a score of nine apiece before the Sugar Bears would take the lead for good. Ashley Phelps accounted for five kills in the set, but she was unable to generate enough momentum to get the Islanders close enough to pressure Central Arkansas as they took the set.
In the second set, A&M -Corpus Christi was able to outhit the Sugar bears by a mark of .263 to .235 thanks to the strong play Felux who had five kills in the frame. The Islanders had a 24-21 lead but Central Arkansas' Heather Schnars ignited the Sugar Bears' offense as she put down the final three kills to propel UCA to the set win.
A&M - Corpus Christi came out strong after halftime, jumping out to an early 6-3 lead. Senior Ashley Phelps and Gilpin helped the Islanders to a match-high nine point lead at19-10. But after a Central Arkansas timeout, the Sugar Bears rallied and reeled off a 15-2 run to end the match. The run included six attacking errors and two of the Sugar Bears' three service aces.
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