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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The top three teams in the Southland Conference standings will all be at the Dugan Wellness Center this weekend when the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's volleyball program hosts McNeese at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and HBU at 1 p.m. Saturday in matches on ESPN+.
The first-place Islanders (9-7, 5-0 SLC) have a one-game lead on second-place HBU (13-6, 4-1 SLC) and are two games ahead of McNeese (9-7, 3-2 SLC).
Thursday night's match will be the Pack It Pink Game, sponsored by Radiology Associates. Fans in attendance are encouraged to wear pink. Saturday will be Volleyball Club Day.
A&M-Corpus Christi has won 10 consecutive SLC matches dating back to last year. This season, the Islanders have dropped just one set in conference and four of their five victories have been 3-0 sweeps.
A&M-Corpus Christi is 5-0 for the fourth time in seven years.
Junior libero
Carissa Barnes continues to lead the nation in digs per set for the seventh consecutive week. She won her fifth SLC Defensive Player of the Week award of the season Monday and averages 6.68 digs per set, and also leads the league in aces with .45 per set.
It was the second week in a row that the Islanders swept the SLC weekly awards as junior
Faith Panhans repeated as the Offensive Player of the Week winner. Panhans turned in her second career triple-double last week against Nicholls and followed it up with a double-double versus New Orleans. Panhans has played a large role in the team leading the conference in hitting percentage with a .228 mark.
Freshman
Kyndal Payne has been the team's leading attacker statistically with 3.16 kills per set, which ranks third in the league. Also in the top-10 in senior
Rachel Young with 2.61 kills per frame and a .310 hitting percentage.
McNeese comes to town ranked second in the league in both hitting percentage (.203) and opponent hitting percentage (.160). The Cowgirls are coming off a 3-0 road sweep over Northwestern State.
The Islanders are 13-5 all-time against McNeese (8-2 at home) and have won 13 consecutive meetings, including four straight sweeps.
HBU will head to UIW on Thursday before heading to Corpus Christi. The Huskies have shined defensively and lead the conference in both blocks (2.69 b/s) and digs (16.58). Ebonie Ballesteros is the SLC's leading blocker (1.3 b/s), while Ellie Wipf ranks first in assists (9.62 a/s).
Coincidentally, A&M-Corpus Christi is also 13-5 all-time against HBU and are 8-3 at home. The Islanders have won the last three meetings, most recently a 3-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2020 SLC Tournament in the spring.
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