CONWAY, Ark. – Facing tournament host Central Arkansas, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi overcame both the Sugar Bears and the home crowd for an emphatic 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-22 victory in Saturday's Southland Conference Semifinals.
"I think we showed a lot of resiliency start to finish," said head coach
Steve Greene. "We did a really good job of quelling some of UCA's runs. Central Arkansas played a really strong match and has some offensive weapons that our block and defense did a great job of handling. Maddie Doud did great job blocking which allowed five players to get double-digit digs behind her."
Three Islanders finished the match with double-doubles, but it was lone senior
Morgan Carlson who led the way for the Blue and Green. The right side went off, collecting 17 kills while digging up 14 Central Arkansas attacks. Carlson ended the day hitting a match-best .441.
Mallory Moran came up with a dozen kills to supplement the attack. The sophomore had one of her best performances of the season against the Sugar Bears, hitting .323 in the victory.
Brittany Gilpin added a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs while setter
Kristyn Nicholson rolled up 44 assists and 13 digs.
"I thought this was the most complete match Kristyn has put together all year," said Greene. "She played great defense, was great attacking and did a really nice job distributing the ball. She had us one-on-one or with big splits all night long."
The Islanders came out firing, hitting .355 as a team on their way to a 25-20 first-set victory. Carlson pounded five of her 17 kills to the floor in the opening set.
A&M-Corpus Christi looked well on its way to a 2-0 lead in the second, but Central Arkansas rallied from a 14-9 deficit to tie it at 15-all. Sugar Bear right side Samantha Anderson racked up six of her 14 kills in the set. Haley Tippett added five to send UCA to a 25-23 win.
Following the break, it was all Islanders as the Blue and Green locked down on defense, holding UCA to .035 hitting over the decisive third and fourth frames.
BLOCKING BEARS
The Islanders (23-7) slowed the Central Arkansas attack by throwing up a strong block at the net.
Madeleine Doud led that effort with five blocks on the match as the Islanders held Central Arkansas to .112 hitting on the match.
Madi Fitzsimmons knocked down three Sugar Bear attacks, one of which was of the solo variety. Nicholson added a trio of rejections while Gilpin chipped in a pair.
While the box score only officially reads eight team blocks, the Islanders forced 32 errors from Central Arkansas compared to just 15 committed.
DIG DOUBLE-DIGITS
At the end of the night, five different Islanders dotted the stat sheets with 10 or more digs. Libero
Kate Klepetka led the way with 21 digs to lead all players in the match. 15 of her 21 came in the final two sets.
• Defensive specialists
Madison Woods added 15 digs.
• Carlson was next on the list with 14.
• Nicholson rounded out her double-double day with 13 digs.
• Gilpin racked up 10 digs.
GOING TO THE 'SHIP
The victory moves the Islanders into the Southland Conference Championship for the second consecutive season. The Blue and Green will face the six seed Sam Houston State at 3:05 p.m. on ESPN3 Sunday afternoon.
