CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Senior
Montez Uigaese was two kills shy of a school record as the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's volleyball program padded its first-place lead in the Southland standings with a 3-2 (16-25, 25-21, 25-21, 18-25, 15-7) victory over HBU on Saturday at the Dugan Wellness Center.
With the win, the Islanders (11-7, 7-0 SLC) are two games ahead of HBU (14-7, 5-2 SLC) at the top of the conference standings. A&M-Corpus Christi has won 12 consecutive SLC matches dating back to last year.
"The team really showed their resiliency and desire to compete today. I'm so happy for our team to be able to shine in front of our home crowd," said head coach
Steve Greene.
Uigaese slammed down a career-high 25 kills and hit for a .404 mark. Her previous career-high was 14 kills set last season, and she more-than doubled her previous season-high of 12 set against Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 4.
Uigaese flirted with the school record of 27 kills held by Jordan Wagner in 2007 and Emma Ridley in 2009.
"Montez carried us with such an awesome performance offensively. She has an uncanny ability to attack off the block and score in difficult situations," Greene said. "Faith [Panhans} and Carissa [Barnes} did an outstanding job of leading the team and keeping us focused on what we can control," Greene said.
Uigaese was one of several Islanders to post big numbers in the win. Nearing a triple-double was junior
Faith Panhans, the two-time reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week winner. Panhans submitted a season-high 56 assists, 10 kills and nine digs.
Tallying her first career double-double was freshman
Kyndal Payne. She dug up a career-high 16 attacks and also put-away 15 swings.
Payne was one of four Islanders with double-digit digs in the back row. Junior
Carissa Barnes, the two-time reigning SLC Defensive Player of the Week winner who entered the match leading the nation in digs per set, recorded 25 digs. Freshman
Kayla White racked up a career-high 15 digs and senior
Angel Felan had a season-high 10.
The Islanders got off to a slow start as the Huskies rolled out to a 12-6 lead in the first set. A&M-Corpus Christi got it to 17-13 after a kill by freshman
Leah Stolfus but couldn't get any closer. HBU hit .342 in the frame and closed it out 25-16.
HBU was again ahead 8-5 in the second with the Islanders responded. A kill by Payne sparked a 6-0 run to go up 11-8 and forced a visiting timeout. The set got tight at 20-19 A&M-Corpus Christi, but a couple more kills by Payne created separation at the end. The Islanders won the frame on a kill by senior
Julia Carter.
The third set was a side-out fest most of the way. The Islanders trailed 19-18 when they finally began to hold serve with Barnes. An ace put them ahead 20-19 and a kill by Uigaese increased it to 22-19. They won six straight points in total to go up 24-19 and clinched it on another kill by Uigaese.
The fourth was even at 13-13 when the Huskies went on a 6-1 run to take control 20-14. The Islanders cut it to 22-18 after a kill by Payne, but HBU won the next three points to force a fifth.
In the final frame, the Islanders put their foot on the pedal early and never looked back. They led 5-2 on a kill by Carter and upped it to 8-3 after an HBU error. A kill by Uigaese and an ace by Panhans made it 14-7 and the match ended on an error by the Huskies.
A&M-Corpus Christi improved to 14-5 all-time against HBU and 9-3 at home. The Islanders have won the last four meetings.
Up next, the Islanders will hit the road for rematches against McNeese and HBU. It begins Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with a visit to McNeese. A&M-Corpus Christi defeated the Cowgirls at home 3-1 two days ago.
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