COMMERCE, Texas - Going undefeated on the week, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team swept Texas A&M-Commerce 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) with the help of double-double performances by sophomore
Kyndal Payne and senior
Faith Panhans Saturday at Commerce Field House.
The Islanders (4-15, 4-1) earned their fourth conference win and third of the week after beating Texas A&M-Commerce (5-13, 2-3) in straight sets. Three of A&M-Corpus Christi's four wins have been sweeps.
"I am really proud of our team and the efforts and resiliency they showed this weekend," said head coach
Steve Greene. "Commerce is a really solid team and they played really well."
Payne and Panhans set the tone for the match, both earning double-doubles as Payne turned in 16 kills and 11 digs while Panhans totaled 35 assists and went 11-for-13 in kills to lead the team with a .692 hitting percentage. This marked Payne's second game in a row to earn a double-double. Sophomore
Leah Stolfus also turned in double-figures in kills, recording 12 for a .400 mark.
As a team, the Islanders outhit the Lions .301 to .196, garnering 53 kills compared to A&M-Commerce's 29. The A&M-Corpus Christi defense was paced by senior
Carissa Barnes who led the match with 16 digs. Sophomore
Kayla White and freshman
Zoria Heard both picked up six digs. Heard also earned a match-high three service aces.
"Kyndal had kind of a slow start but made a distinct change in her game and was outstanding today. Her ability to adapt and change throughout a match especially on the road really shows how she's maturing as an all-around player. Faith played a really smart and aggressive match today. It's such a difficult matchup for other teams when she is attacking as well as running our offense at such a high level. Zoria has really been improving match to match and had another great defensive and serving match for us. It's really nice to see her confidence grow and grow," said Greene.
Kills by Stolfus, Payne and junior
McKenna Reiswig got the Islanders out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first set and a later kill by sophomore
Morgan Baese maintained their lead through 7-2. The Lions came out of a timeout to go on a 5-0 run to tie the score at 7-all, and the set would be a back-and-forth affair all the way to the end. A pair of kills by both Payne and Reiswig aided in a 6-point spurt to pull A&M-Corpus Christi ahead 21-18 and despite A&M-Commerce responding with a 4-0 run, the Islanders took four of the last five points to win 25-23 for a 1-0 lead.
The Lions took a 4-0 lead in the second until Panhans earned a kill to reverse the score and give the Islanders a 7-6 lead. A&M-Corpus Christi never allowed the Lions to overturn or tie the score the rest of the way as the Islanders kept A&M-Commerce to a .143 hitting percentage. Back-to-back kills by Stolfus gave the Islanders set point at 24-20 before a service ace by
Zoria Heard ended the second set in favor of A&M-Corpus Christi to go up 2-0.
The third set featured A&M-Corpus Christi's best team hitting, turning in a .407 mark. A pair of service aces by both Heard and junior
Ella Litterell helped the Islanders to an eight-point advantage at the 21-13 mark which only grew as an ace and a kill by freshman
Halle Gibson closed out the 25-16 set and match victory.
Payne now improves to a 3.37 kills per set average for a total of 229 kills. She has earned 10+ kills in the last five consecutive matches and 10 total this season. This was Panhans' fourth double-double this season and she averages 9.59 assists per set and 2.35 kills per set in conference play.
The Islanders will continue with conference play, competing next on Thursday at McNeese. The match is set for 6:30 p.m. CT. and will be the last road match for the Islanders before a three-game home stand.
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