CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi beach volleyball team is set to open the 2020 season at the LSU Tiger Beach Challenge, hosted by Louisiana State University Saturday, Feb. 29 and Sunday, March 1 in Baton Rouge, La. The weekend will include matches against UCLA, Tulane, LSU and Spring Hill College.
"I am excited to kick off this season at LSU against some of the best teams in the country," said head coach
Gayle Stammer. "This is the start of a new season that I suspect will be more successful than our last. With the support of my staff, and all of their hard work, we are prepared to compete this weekend!'
The Islanders are coming off a 14-15 season in 2019, posting a 5-3 record at home. The 2020 slate includes two home contests beginning with the Islanders Classic March 27-28 at the Water's Edge Park in downtown Corpus Christi.
This year's schedule is highlighted by the 2020 Southland Conference Championships, set for April 17-19, also at Water's Edge Park.
In addition, the Islanders will battle conference opponent UNO on March 6-7 before heading to the Midseason Conference tournament in Houston, Texas. The Blue and Green round out conference play with two matches against Houston Baptist. The non-conference slate features matches against Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Grand Canyon University and Florida Atlantic.
This year's team roster includes 21 student-athletes with four seniors, five juniors, eight sophomores and four freshmen. Coach Stammer enters her third season on the Island and assistant coach Vincent Miranda begins his first at A&M-Corpus Christi.
When discussing this year's pairings, Coach Stammer stated, "On any given day my top three teams are
Abigail DeVido/
Emma Coudon,
Rachel Young/
Fanny Ahman and
Brooke Adkisson/
Giuliana Poletti Corrales. But I also have depth in the four and five teams with
Kylie Kvam/
Taylor Horsfall and
Demi McInnis/
Sam Dumity. Senior
Hannah Smyers and sophomore
Anna Erftenbeck will be playing in the six spot and will be ready to move up in the starting five if needed." The duo of Young and Dumity, who was chosen as Most Improved in 2019, join the squad after competing for the indoor team this past fall.
The Islanders return a wealth of experience from last year's team in that all of the pairings have played in the top five in 2019, except for the newcomers. The Blue and Green welcome two new players to the starting lineup including
Giuliana Poletti Corrales from Asuncion, Paraguay and University of Tulsa transfer
Taylor Horsfallm who have added tremendous depth to the program.
"It takes a village and we cannot wait to play! This is going be a great experience to build off as we work towards our ultimate season goal of winning the inaugural Southland Conference Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas."
To view the complete schedule for this upcoming weekend, please click
here.
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