BEAUMONT, Texas – In its second to last match of the regular season, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball defeated Lamar for the second time this year in a 3-1 decision Thursday night at McDonald Gym.
The Islanders (12-19, 12-5) took down Lamar (9-19, 3-14) 29-27, 27-29, 25-18, and 25-21 for the season sweep over the Cardinals. This marked the 12th match this season for A&M-Corpus Christi that featured extra-point sets.
Sophomore
Kyndal Payne recorded her 14
th double-double after turning in the match-high 18 kills along with 12 digs. Fellow sophomore
Leah Stolfus followed with 17 kills after hitting for a .400 mark. Junior
Ella Litterell joined the double-digit kill club against the Cardinals after recording 10 kills while senior
Faith Panhans was one shy at nine, tallying 46 assists as well.
Senior
Carissa Barnes continued her trend of being the digs-leader in every conference match this season with 21 digs. Freshman
Zoria Heard picked up 12 digs and threes service aces, while Barnes earned the match-high of four.
"Winning on the road is always a difficult task and our team showed a lot of resilience, and we were able to turn things around tonight," said head coach
Steve Greene. "Faith made a distinct change in her game midway through the match and really started to put our offense in a good position. We had solid defensive performances from Carissa, Kyndal, and Zoria tonight which also kept us in highly contested points."
The first set began with Lamar jumping out to a commanding 10-3 lead before a kill by graduate student
Aurora Carnes warmed the Islanders up. The comeback attack by junior
Ella Litterell tied things up 13-all before the Cardinals quickly jumped back ahead. Another tie came late at the 22-22 mark off the kill by Litterell which sparked an exchanging of rallies into extra points. The Islanders fought off three set-points before getting and winning their own in the 29-27 opening battle.
Set two started similarly with the Cardinals earning the first advantage and keeping it through a 13-12 score. Payne gave the Islanders their first lead of the second at 14-13 with a kill before she earned another kill and a solo block to extend the lead to 19-15. Lamar fought back to regain a lead at the 22-20 and the set required extra points again with Lamar ending with the 29-27 favor this time to even the match 1-1.
Again, in similar fashion, Lamar took the first lead of the third set but the Islanders responded early on for a lot of back-and-forth through the first half of the set. Panhans attacked to tie the set at 12-all and begin a 9-0 run by the Islanders to take control with a 20-12 lead. The Cardinals dished six more points before A&M-Corpus Christi closed out 25-18 off the kill by freshman
Brooke Copley for a 2-1 advantage.
The Islanders were the ones out front first in the fourth, taking a 6-4 lead off the attack from freshman
Tayah Little before Lamar responded to reverse the score and take a 14-11 lead. A 8-3 run by A&M-Corpus Christi helped reverse the lead once more for a 19-17 Islander head. Two services aces by Barnes maintained the lead at 23-18 and despite the Cardinals threatening within three, the Islanders closed out the 25-21 set and match win.
The match win helped the Islanders improve to a 18-13 lead over Lamar in the all-time record and 17-6 in the conference record.
A&M-Corpus Christi will close out the regular season Saturday at Nicholls at 11 a.m. The 2022 Southland Tournament is set for Nov.17 in Hammond, Louisiana with the championship match scheduled for Nov. 20. The Islanders sit tied for second in the conference standings, with the tournament seedings still not secured as the Southland goes into its final day of play on Saturday.
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