CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team honored its four seniors prior to Saturday's home finale, and, just over an hour later, the Islanders honored those four in the most fitting of ways by sweeping Central Arkansas 25-20, 25-11, 25-14, to clinch the program's first Southland Conference Championship.
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Morgan Carlson and Brittany Gilpin hammered home 10 kills apiece to lead the Islanders (26-4, 14-0) to the rout over the second place Sugar Bears. The Islanders finished the match hitting .347 while holding Central Arkansas (15-11, 11-3) to a .079 hitting percentage, its second-lowest mark of the season.
In a year full of firsts, the Islanders capped their home season off with another by clinching the Southland regular season title.
"It's hard to put into words how much this means," said head coach Tony Graystone. "This is something we've been working toward for so long and it's so fitting to see us do it today, on senior day, with these seniors who have been the core for so long.
"I'm proud of them, I'm happy for them and they've been a joy to coach all season long. We've all had such a good time together this season and are so close, and it's just perfect to clinch our first championship at home and on senior day."
KING SERVES THE TURNING POINT
After trading points over the early going, senior Hailey King served up a 4-0 run to take the Islanders from down 12-11 to a 15-12 lead. The Islanders would never relinquish the lead in the first set, seeing out a 25-20 victory and seizing the momentum.
With King's strong serve forcing Central Arkansas out of system, Gilpin capitalized, knocking down three kills during the spurt.
RIDING THE WAVE
With emotions high on senior day, the Islanders took their cue from an electric Dugan Wellness Center. In the second and third sets, the blue and green seemed to floor every match-changing point in pulling away for the huge set victories.
• The 25-11 second set victory was the Islanders second-largest margin of victory in a Southland set this season.
• The Islanders hit an incredible .412 in the middle set, before closing out the match with a .310 clip in the third.
• Madeleine Doud had nine kills in the match and hit an eye-popping .900, failing to find a kill on just one swing.
THE ISLANDERS FAIRYTALE
In so many ways, the storyline for the Islanders is pure perfection. This senior class opened their Southland volleyball careers with a home win over Central Arkansas and today, four years and change later, they close their time in Dugan Wellness Center with a romping victory over the Sugar Bears.
This season, the four seniors, King, Shayla Maldonado, Kelsee Felux and Ivy Baresh opened the Southland slate with a sweep at Central Arkansas, a feat never before accomplished by the Islanders. Now today, they clinch the program's first Southland Conference championship with another sweep of the Sugar Bears.
• Maldonado finished the match with six digs.
"It's so sweet," said Maldonado. "I don't have any words, this is so awesome."
• Baresh concluded her Islanders home career with a six-kill, seven-dig day.
"It was bittersweet coming in to my last home game," said Baresh. "But the fact that we went out with a win against the second-place team makes me so proud of everyone. Our team played their hearts out for us and I couldn't be more proud."
• King served out a 4-0 run to establish a first set lead and finished the match with four digs.
"I'm so excited about all we accomplished this year," said King. "Everything we do as a team we do it with all of our heart and that's all I could ask for. We came in knowing this was going to be a tough game and we left everything out on the court."
• Felux knocked down five kills and added a pair of digs to her final home match.
"This moment is so awesome," said Felux. "In my two years here, we had never beaten UCA at home and they're always such a great team. To get it done today and clinch the championship is amazing."
CLOSING TIME
The Islanders will finish off the regular season with a road trip to Lamar and Sam Houston State in the coming week. The following weekend, the Islanders will travel to Conway, Ark. as the top seed in the Southland Conference Tournament.
