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HOUSTON – Looking to defend its tournament title, the top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball program found out it will go up against fifth-seeded UIW at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Southland Conference Semifinals in Sharp Gym, hosted by HBU.
The Islanders (17-9, 13-1 SLC) won the regular season title and earned a double bye to the semifinals. They entered the tournament awaiting results from the previous rounds for an opponent, and UIW (13-18, 6-8 SLC) emerged after beating New Orleans 3-2 in the first round Thursday and Southeastern 3-1 in the quarterfinals Friday.
A&M-Corpus Christi swept the season series over Cardinals, winning 3-0 both times. The Islanders are 15-1 all-time against UIW and have won 14 in a row.
The Islanders are 12-6 all-time in the conference tournament and have never lost an SLC Tournament match to any school still in the conference. A&M-Corpus Christi is 6-0 all-time as the No. 1 seed.
The Islanders are playing for their seventh championship and fourth SLC Tournament crown in program history. They are also looking to earn the automatic bid and make their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance.
Head coach
Steve Greene is closing in on a historic win mark. With a 98-69 (68-22 SLC) record, he's two wins away from reaching 100.
The Islanders landed five student-athletes on the SLC All-Conference Team. Junior
Faith Panhans was named the SLC Player of the Year, repeated as Setter of the Year and to the All-Conference First-Team. Fellow junior
Carissa Barnes repeated as SLC Libero of the Year and to the First-Team. Senior
Rachel Young was tabbed to the First-Team, and senior
Montez Uigaese and freshman
Kyndal Payne were both voted to the Second-Team.
Barnes leads the nation in digs per set with a 6.52 average. She has a wide lead over the No. 2 ranked student-athlete, Jenna Story from Wright State, who averages 5.72 digs per frame. Barnes was a seven-time SLC Defensive Player of the Week winner this year.
Panhans is the reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week honoree and won that award three times this season. She helped the Islanders hit above .300 as a team in half of their SLC matches.
The Cardinals are paced by Bethany Clapp, an All-Conference Second-Team selection at the outside hitter position. Clapp had seven kills and 10 digs in the regular season finale between the Islanders and Cardinals.
The winner of the match will advance to Sunday's finals at 2 p.m. against either No. 2 HBU or No. 3 McNeese on ESPN+.
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