SAN ANTONIO, Texas – In its first of three conference matches this week, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team earned the decisive 25-16, 25-11 and 26-24 victory over UIW after turning in its season-best hitting percentage of a .474 Tuesday night at McDermott Center.
The Islanders (10-18, 10-4) completed the season sweep over the Cardinals (6-18, 5-9), with both matches being 3-0 decisions. A&M-Corpus Christi's top-two hitting performances this season came against UIW, turning in a .383 in game one and a .474 in game two.
The attack was fueled by five different Islanders hitting above a .400 with sophomore
Leah Stolfus hitting the match-high .625 off 11 kills.
Sophomore
Kyndal Payne turned in 20 kills while freshman
Tayah Little got eight as both hit for a .500 mark. Junior
Ella Litterell hit for a .429 off seven kills and senior
Faith Panhans registered five kills for a .417 hitting percentage. Panhans also tallied 47 assists to aid the offense.
"We had a tremendous offensive performance tonight," said head coach
Steve Greene. "I'm really pleased to see our serve receive make big improvements over last week and we took some great first-ball swings.
"Faith was amazing tonight. She made the offense flow so well and really worked hard to put herself and everyone in good positions from start to finish. I also thought we had a nice balance to our attack thanks to nice performances from [
Aurora Carnes], Tayah and Ella," Greene said.
A kill by Payne got things started in the first set but UIW kept the score within three until the Islanders separated themselves to a 18-13 lead off a kill by Litterell. The Cardinals rallied three more points, but strong efforts by Panhans and Payne helped secure the 25-16 set win for the Islanders.
The second set was all A&M-Corpus Christi the whole way after a quick 4-0 lead set the tone. A big defensive effort at the net from Little, Payne and Panhans allowed for a five-point spurt by the Islanders to go up 20-10. Panhans earned the final kill to close out the 25-12 set two win.
Set three was tight from start to finish as UIW fought to keep the match alive. The Cardinals took their first lead of the match when they went up 18-17 off a block and threatened a fourth set through a 23-22 lead. However, back-to-back kills by Payne gave the Islanders a 24-23 advantage and despite UIW tying it up 24-all, another pair of kills by Payne closed out the 26-24 final set edge.
The all-time record between the programs extended to 18-1 in favor of A&M-Corpus Christi, who hasn't lost to UIW since 2000.
The Islanders are currently in a three-way tie with HCU and Southeastern for second place in the Southland standings with just four conference matches remaining.
A&M-Corpus Christi will compete in its home finale Thursday night against McNeese, who currently sits in first in the conference standings. The Islanders will then travel to matchup with HCU on Saturday. The Islanders need to win both matches for a chance to clinch at least a share of the regular season title.
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