CONWAY, Ark. – Thursday night could not have gone much better for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team who opened the 2015 Southland Conference season with a thrilling sweep of Central Arkansas.
A perennial power in the Southland, Central Arkansas (2-9, 0-1) finished 2014 as the regular season runner-up and won the previous two conference titles. History did little to sway or slow the Islanders (10-3, 1-0) on the road in Conway, Ark., however as the squad ran through the SugarBears in straight sets to extend its winning streak to six matches.
"That was a big win. UCA is always a strong program and every year it seems you have to go through them in the conference," said head coach Tony Graystone. "We played a great game tonight as UCA is a very strong and physical offensive team and we stepped up to the challenge. We were solid offensively all night and were able to win early sets just through a bit of tenacity and desire. Then, in the final set, our defense really came around with some big blocks."
Central Arkansas jumped out to an early first set lead with a 4-1 run to open the match. The Islanders quickly countered with a 5-0 run of their own, part of a larger 11-4 run, to take a 12-8 advantage and force a SugarBears timeout. Ivy Baresh played a major role in flipping the early momentum, earning four kills in the early going.
The Islanders built their largest lead of the first set at 15-12, but Central Arkansas would not lie down in the opener, climbing back to level the score at 20-20. That's when Kelsee Felux stepped up for the Islanders as the senior smashed back-to-back kills to finish the set and give the Islanders a 25-22 victory.
The second game started in much the same fashion as set one, as the teams traded points with neither side leading by more than a pair until the Islanders built a 14-11 advantage. From there, the blue and green grabbed four of the next five points to stretch the lead to 18-12 and see the set out with a 25-18 victory. Shayla Maldonado capped off the middle set with a service ace to stake a 2-0 lead for the Islanders over last season's regular-season runner-up.
For the third-consecutive game, the SugarBears took an early lead but it was short-lived. Trailing 2-1 after the first three points, the Islanders uncorked an 8-1 run, highlighted by Brittany Gilpin stuffing a solo block and adding a pair of assisted blocks. The sophomore middle blocker also notched a point off of a kill to earn three of her 8.5 points during the run.
The run placed A&M-Corpus Christi in total control of the third set, or so it seemed. With the Islanders nearing the sweep, Central Arkansas rolled off four-straight points to pull within one at 22-21. The Islanders called timeout and the chance to regroup paid dividends.
"When UCA made their run it was just a case of us wanting it so bad we made some errors," said Graystone. "So we called timeout to just calm down a little. In the timeout we discussed how we closed out the Rice match and we came right out of the break and got a sideout and two big plays to seal the match."
Out of the break, Morgan Carlson ripped a kill to turn back the SugarBears onslaught and clinch the momentum one last time. With triple match point, libero Kate Klepetka hit her second ace of the match propelling the Islanders to a perfect start to the Southland Conference slate.
The win marks the first victory over Central Arkansas since the 2012 campaign. The Islanders will now step outside of conference play to complete the UCA Invitational in a doubleheader tomorrow versus Louisiana Tech and Alabama State.
