HAMMOND, La. – An all-around effort resulted in a 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 25-20) victory for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's volleyball program over Southeastern on Thursday at the University Center.
The teams were tied 1-1 at the intermission when A&M-Corpus Christi (15-9, 11-1 SLC) pulled away from the Lady Lions (8-16, 6-6 SLC) in sets three and four.
"Winning on the road is always a challenge. Southeastern played really tough tonight and we did a great job of responding with our effort level to pull out a nice win," said head coach
Steve Greene. "Our defense really stepped up in sets three and four. That's been an area that we've needed to improve upon so it was really nice to see."
Senior
Rachel Young matched her season-high with 14 kills and hit for a .423 percentage. She smashed an attack on match point to end it.
All over the court on both offense and defense was junior
Faith Panhans. She registered 38 assists, eight kills and seven digs. Panhans helped the Islanders outhit SLU by a .286 - .163 disparity.
"
Rachel Young was determined to make sure everyone played their best and put forth an outstanding performance," Greene said. "
Faith Panhans did another stellar job of running the offense and putting our hitters in a good position all night."
The reigning SLC Defensive Player of the Week winner and the nation's leader in digs per set, junior
Carissa Barnes, dug up 27 balls. Her 6.42 digs per set average coming into the night will increase. Barnes is a six-time SLC weekly award honoree.
Nearing double-figures were senior
Montez Uigaese, freshman
Kyndal Payne and senior
Julia Carter. Uigaese and Payne tallied nine kills apiece, while Carter recorded seven.
SLU was led by Cicily Hidalgo's double-double of 14 kills and 12 digs.
A&M-Corpus Christi started slow and trailed 15-11 in the first set before turning on the jets. A kill by Carter sparked a 5-1 run to tie it 16-16, and the Islanders used a 5-0 spurt to catapult in front 22-17 on a spike by Young. The final point of the set was a kill by Panhans, 25-22.
After the Lady Lions bounced back to take the second, the Islanders took control early in the third and went up 9-3 after an ace by Young. A&M-Corpus Christi never let SLU back in it as a kill by Panhans increased the advantage to 18-9. The frame ended on a service error by the Lady Lions.
The fourth was even 11-11 when the Islanders pulled away. A kill by Payne got it started and an ace by Panhans made it a 17-12 game. An attack by Young put it out of reach 24-17 before she closed it out herself with a kill.
A&M-Corpus Christi improved to 17-2 all-time against SLU and have won 10 straight meetings.
The Islanders will play their road finale Saturday when they travel to Northwestern State for an 11 a.m. match at Prather Coliseum. A&M-Corpus Christi won the first meeting this year 3-0 at home. With another win, the Islanders would clinch at least a share of the SLC regular season championship.
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