DALLAS – Reigning Southland Conference Player of the Year and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior
Brittany Gilpin dropped a double-double in the 2017 opener to lead the Islanders past regional rival Rice, 3-1, on Friday morning.
Gilpin showed why she was named the league's best player a season ago as the outside hitter hammered 13 kills and dug up 23 Rice attacks in the 25-18, 10-25, 25-15, 25-21 victory. After posting 16 double-doubles in 2016, Gilpin started 2017 with a bang against the Owls. The 23 digs mark a new career-high for the senior, besting her 17 in the Southland Championship match last season.
FRESHMEN STEP UP
With the opening set sitting at 9-9, the Islanders made their decisive move with an 8-2 run to open up a six-point lead. Rookie
Rachel Young was a major part, flooring three kills during the run.
The middle blocker went on to earn seven kills in the match and hit .286. While not evident on the stat sheet Young also provided plenty of impact on the defensive side with a slew of soft blocks, which allowed the Islanders to dig 73 balls.
After the break, it was
Chloe Simon's turn to change the match as all nine of the freshman's kills came in sets three and four. The young outside finished the match hitting .368 and provided the final kill to send the Blue and Green to 1-0.
BALANCED ATTACK
Five Islanders notched seven or more kills to spread the workload in the victory.
>> Gilpin's 13 set the pace while Simon followed with nine kills
>> Young was one of three players with 7 terminations as
Kristyn Nicholson and
Morgan Williams joined
>> Nicholson hit a team-best .467 while adding 35 assists
DIGGING THE DEFENSE
Three Islanders racked up double-digit digs as the Islanders held Rice to .179 hitting in the match. Outside of the second set, the Blue and Green stifled Rice to the tune of a .117 clip.
Gilpin led the way with her career-best 23 while libero
Madison Woods scraped up 19 Owl attacks.
Mallory Moran finished with 10 digs to round out the trio in double figures.
BACK WITH BULLDOGS
The Islanders will continue play at 4:30 p.m. against Mississippi State. Follow @IslandersVB on Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates.
- #GoDers -
