CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team cruised to an undefeated week of conference play after earning a 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-23) sweep over Northwestern State Saturday at the Dugan Wellness Center.
The Islanders (9-18, 9-4) completed the season sweep over the Lady Demons (13-11, 6-7) and finally took a 12-11 lead in the all-time record between the programs. The win was an all-around effort as the Islanders turned in a .358 hitting percentage while keeping Northwestern State to just a .076 mark.
Sophomore
Kyndal Payne recorded 16 kills to hit for her season-best .625 while also earning a double-double after picking up 10 digs. Sophomore
Leah Stolfus and senior
Faith Panhans each tallied nine kills while junior
Ella Litterell got eight.
Defensively, senior
Carissa Barnes continued her trend of being the dig-leader in every conference match this season after turning in 15 against the Lady Demons. Litterell matched her season-best digs in a match at six with freshman
Zoria Heard getting five digs. Freshman
Tayah Little led the defense at the net with six blocks, four of which were solo, and graduate student
Aurora Carnes assisted with three blocks.
"Our team really did an outstanding job of staying focused and working throughout a couple of tough situations that Northwestern State put us in," said head coach
Steve Greene. "Kyndal was so calm and collected throughout the match and she played with such confidence that really helped us. Leah and Faith really took over their positions and showcased all their talents and created many difficult matchups for the opposition today."
Set one opened with an A&M-Corpus Christi 2-0 advantage after a service ace by Barnes. The Lady Demons would tie the score up on four separate occasions, but the Islanders never gave up their lead. Despite Northwestern State coming within one late in the set, a pair of kills by Stolfus propelled A&M-Corpus Christi to the tight 25-23 edge to go up 1-0.
Northwestern State had the quick 3-1 lead in the second set before kills by Payne and a block by Little reversed the score and gave the Islanders a lead that only grew the rest of the way. A kill by freshman
Brooke Copley put A&M-Corpus Christi up by 10 at the 17-7 mark before back-to-back blocks by Little closed out the 25-13 set two win.
The third set featured the most back-and-forth between the teams. A four-point spurt powered by a pair of kills by Panhans finally separated A&M-Corpus Christi to a 17-12 lead. The Lady Demons contested the score by going on a 6-2 run late in the set to fight off match-point three times and get within one at 24-23. The Islanders came out of a timeout with a kill by Stolfus to end the set 25-23 in favor of A&M-Corpus Christi for the match win.
"We have very high expectations for each match and I am happy to watch us continue to improve and meet and even surpass those standards," Greene said.
A&M-Corpus Christi will head to UIW for a midweek matchup on Tuesday before competing in the home-finale on Thursday against McNeese. With five matches left to play in the conference-slate, the Islanders sit second in the standings just one win behind McNeese and HCU who are tied for first.
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